Tractor Operated Garlic Planter
A tractor operated six row garlic planter has been developed at PAU, Ludhiana with actuating spoon (23 mm diameter and 2.5 mm depth size) type metering mechanism for planting of garlic at 150 mm row spacing. It consists of seed metering plate, seed hopper, agitator and seed covering device. The power to the metering mechanism is provided from the ground wheel with the help of chain and sprockets. The garlic planter is evaluated for sowing garlic (Punjab Garlic 1 variety) on 1.0 m wide beds. The effective field capacity of the machine is 0.18-0.21 ha/h at a forward speed of 2.00 to 2.25 km/h. An average percentage of missing and multiples are 9.13 and 26.70%, respectively with the garlic planter. There is a saving of 82% in labour requirement and 57% in cost of operation as compared to manual planting. The approximate cost of the machine is Rs. 150,000 and cost of operation is Rs. 6200/ha.
Tractor Drawn Turmeric Rhizome Planter
A tractor mounted turmeric rhizome ridger planter has been designed and developed at TNAU, Coimbatore. The overall dimensions of machine are 2.00 x 2.06 x 1.03 m. It consists of 3 ridger bottoms and planting mechanism for planting on one side of the ridges in one pass. The planting mechanism includes rhizome hopper, cup feed seed metering mechanism, rhizome metering shaft, shoe type furrow opener and spike tooth ground wheel with chain sprocket drive for transmitting power from ground wheel to rhizome metering shaft. Three rows can be planted at a time at the required spacing. The effective field capacity of the implement is 0.15 ha/h and it costs Rs. 70,000/-. There are savings of 51%, 88% and 50% in cost of operation, labour and rhizome quantity, respectively as compared to traditional method of planting.
Tractor Operated Sett Cutter Planter for Sugarcane
The whole stick sugarcane cutter planter has been developed at ICAR-IISR, Lucknow and consists of ridger body attached to frame to create furrows, sett cutting unit, fertilizer application unit, chemical application unit, sett covering unit and seed box. The planter is PTO driven and mounted at three point linkage system of a tractor. The cutting of the cane of 350 mm length is done automatically in the machine and setts are treated with insecticides at the cutting point. The setts are placed in the furrow created by ridger bodies with overlapping up to 30%. The pesticide is also sprayed at the ends of sett in the furrows. The sett placed in the furrow is covered immediately after the treatment, the furrow is closed and rows are leveled by the leveler provided in the machine. The field capacity of the machine is 0.20 ha/h. The approximate cost of equipment is Rs. 50,000/-. The cost of operation of equipment is Rs. 2800/ha as compared to Rs. 4300/ha by traditional method.
Tractor Operated Sugarcane Seedling Transplanter
The tractor operated semi-automatic sugarcane transplanter has been developed at MPKV, Rahuri for transplanting sugarcane seedlings. It consists of main frame, two rotary drums, power transmission system, seedling tray, furrow openers, ground wheel, press wheels, seats for workers and depth control mechanism. The plant to plant and row to row spacing of the machine are 600 and 1500 mm, respectively. The working width and depth of the machine are 1500 and 148-150 mm, respectively. The average effective field capacity and field efficiency are 0.30 ha/h and 80.78%, respectively at forward speed of 2.56 km/h. The machine results in net saving of Rs. 2055/ha as compared to conventional method.
Tractor Operated Multi-crop Planter for Seed Spices
The sowing of seed spices is mainly done by broadcasting method or drilled in small plots at a spacing of 250-300 mm and depth of 10-15 mm. A 7 row multi-crop planter with individual hopper boxes and fertilizer drilling attachment has been developed at MPUAT, Udaipur. The seed metering mechanism of the planter is mounted on a common frame. The seed metering mechanism of star wheel (plastic) was made of circular rotor of 90 mm diameter with 10 cells of 20 mm length. The height of seed dropping from hopper was kept at 400 mm to get the placement of seeds at a depth of 10-15 mm. The inverted T type furrow opener of smaller size was fitted in the drill. The machine was tested for sowing of cumin, coriander and fenugreek at NRC on Seed Spices, Ajmer and farmer’s fields. The seed rate of 6.5-7.5, 12-15 and 9-10 kg/ha was recorded for cumin, fenugreek and coriander, respectively. The field capacity of machine was 0.28-0.30 ha/h with depth of seed placement of 12-15 mm.
Tractor Operated Pneumatic Planter
Tractor operated pneumatic planter has been developed at MPKV, Rahuri and is suitable for precision planting of single seed of crops like cotton, okra etc. at pre-determined spacing. It consists of main frame, aspirator blower, disc with holes, metering plate, individual hopper, furrow openers and ground wheel. Seed coming in contact with rotating disc gets stuck to the holes on the plate through suction and falls when suction is cut-off at the lowest position near the ground. The effective field capacity of the machine for planting okra is 0.29 ha/h with 85.22% field efficiency. There is saving in operating cost of Rs. 4826/ha as against traditional method for planting okra. The effective field capacity of the machine for cotton planting is 0.30 ha/h with 55.55% field efficiency. The saving in operating cost is Rs. 4600/-ha as against traditional method for cotton planting. There is a saving of costly seeds and labour requirement as compared to traditional method as thinning operation is eliminated.
Tractor Operated Vegetable Transplanter (Picker Wheel Type)
One of the major problems in vegetable cultivation is transplanting of seedlings. This requires lot of labour, which is very costly. A two row semi-automatic planter having picker wheel type metering mechanism has been developed at PAU, Ludhiana to transplant root wash type seedlings on the beds as well as on flat fields. Two persons (one for each row) are required to place the seedlings in the flappers when these open at the top position. After the seedling is dropped in the furrow, the soil is compacted around it with the help of two moving inclined wheels. The average field capacity of machine is about 0.10 ha/h at forward speed of 1.0 km/h. The cost of operation with the machine is Rs. 2200/ha as compared to Rs. 2800/ha with manual transplanting.
Tractor Drawn Planter cum Boom Sprayer for Groundnut
A planter with four nozzles herbicide spraying attachment has been designed and developed at PJTSAU, Hyderabad for groundnut crop. The planter cum herbicide sprayer is suitable for simultaneous sowing and spraying of herbicide in groundnut crop. It consists of piston type pump, flat pattern nozzle on the boom, two drums of 220 l capacity each, seed box of 40 kg capacity and inclined plate metering mechanism for planting of seeds. The piston type pump receives the power from PTO shaft of tractor to pump the chemical from tank into nozzles through inlet and outlet pipes. The spraying attachment is fitted at the back of the planter which sprays the chemical uniformly after the furrow is closed by the covering blade. The effective working width of spraying is 2.40 m and the pump operating pressure ranges 200-500 kPa. The application rate of spraying unit is 492-612 l/ha. The effective field capacity of 8 row implement is 0.62 ha/h at forward speed of 2.5 km/h.