Achievements

Development of Equipment/ Instrumentation system for Draughtability Studies

It has been designed, developed and evaluated by CIAE Bhopal and is used to study draftability of draught animal i.e. bullocks, buffaloes, camel, mules etc. on test track (tar road).

CIAE has a designed a tread mill with associated instrumentation for simulated laboratories studies on draughtability, work-rest-cycle and fatigue for optimizing the work output of draught animals under varying loads, speeds, slopes and environment conditions.

Nagpuri yokes are widely used in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. This was modified for use with Malvi and local breeds of bullocks in Madhya Pradesh. It is made from wood of Babool, Halduand Ber trees and weights 4.5 kg. Curvature is given in the yoke according to the hump of the bullocks.

The body weight of bullocks available in the hill region of Uttarakhand varies from 200-300 kg. Tun and Haldu wood commonly available in Uttarakhand is used for fabrication of this yoke. The basic feature is the increased contact area with the hump of the bullock resulting in higher pulling capacity of bullocks.

Indira yoke is made of locally available ber wood and weighs 4.3 kg. Based on draughtability studies, the maximum draught capacity for 4h sustained operation is 10% of body weight during summer season and 12% during rainy and winter season.

UAS Raichur Centredeveloped a Sekon harness, which is fitted around the neck of the donkey. It is made of wood and curved to fit the neck of donkey. The two pieces are joined at both ends. The size of Sekon harness depends upon neck size and breed of donkey.

GBPUAT, Pantnagar developed a collar harness for single buffalo for farm operations and transport. It is designed to fit on three sides of neck of buffalo which has two clamps for attaching to implement/cart. These yokes and harnesses have been demonstrated through front line demonstration for its popularization.

It is a modified design of indigenous plough and developed by IGKV, Raipur centre. All the parts of this implement are made of iron. It can easily pulled by a pair of bullocks. Its field capacity is 0.02 ha/h and draught requirement is621.20 N.The power required to operate Tendua plough is 0.38 kW, which is significantly less than the power requirement of 0.60 kW in case of traditional plough.

It is used for primary tillage for seed bed preparation in wet and dry conditions terrace farming in hills.CAE&PHT, Gangtok centrehasdeveloped this plough which consists of handle, shoe, share and beam (overall dimension: handle height 800 mm, shoe length with share 600 mm, width 210 mm. Its weight is 12 kg and cost Rs 1200/-.

CAE&PHT, Gangtokcentre has also developed an animal operated wing plough suitable for shallow tillage and puddling at depth of 80-100 mm. Itsweightis 8 kg. The central part of the plough consists of replaceable share made of high carbon steel. The plough body has an in-built suction for easy penetration into the soil. On the sides two mild steel plates are fitted which serves as wings.

The OUAT iron plough has been developed as a substitute to traditional wooden ploughwhich consists of wooden frame and wooden soil engaging parts. The wooden soil engaging parts are replaced with mild steel share. Based on the draughtability of the bullocks, the width of the plough is kept as 300 mm. Its field capacity is 0.057 ha/h and draught requirement is 450- 500 N.

Animal drawn blade harrow is a commonly used tillage implement for primary and secondary tillage in central and southern India in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. CIAE, Bhopal developed the improved blade harrow with V shaped blades using 600 mm blade for primary tillage and 900 mm blade for secondary tillage.

CAEPHT Gangtok Centrehas developed a three tynecultivator suitable for use in narrow terraces of Sikkim. The unit is lightweight, weighing 12 kg and having a width of 540 mm. The depth of operation is 80-100 mm. The unit is lighter than the traditional wooden plough, which weighs 13 kg and has four times field capacity of traditional plough. The field capacity for secondary tillage operation is 0.08 ha/h and for inter-culture operation it is 0.10 ha/h.

This equipment was developed by CIAE Bhopal for adoption in Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. It is a secondary tillage implement for clod crushing, trash collection, leveling and smoothing of land surface before seeding. The width of the harrow is 2 m for large bullocks and 1.5 m for small and medium size bullocks. The field capacity ranges from 0.30 to 0.40 ha/h and the cost of operation ranges from Rs 600-750/ha.

A bullock operated clod crusher cum puddler has beendeveloped by IGKV Raipur Centre for use by bullocks of Chhattisgarh region. It can be used for clod breaking and puddling. It consists of a main frame and a shaft attached to the frame. Its field capacity is 0.26 ha/hand the pulverization wassignificantly higher.

It was developed by CIAE Bhopal Centre for puddling of soilto prepare field for paddy transplanting. The puddler consists of rolling lug wheel, float, operator seat, hitch point, frame and beam. Two passes of the puddler is adequate to develop the puddle bed as compared to six passes of traditional spike tooth harrow type puddler. The field capacity of the implement is 0.10 ha/h and the cost of operation range from Rs 450-500/ha.

The bund former is usefulimplementto make bund on field during seed bed preparation. While operated in tilled soil it gathers the loose soil in rows. Its draft requirement is 400 N and the implement weighs 30 kg. The size of the bund former varies according to the size of the animal. Its field capacity is 200 m/h. It saves 55% of cost of operation besides ensuring timeliness as compared to manual bund making of 100 meter length by spade.

CIAE, Bhopal centre developed an animal operated manure spreader of 480 kg capacity. The chassis of a two-wheel bullock cart was modified and adopted for development of animal drawn manure spreader. Field capacity of the spreader for continuous operation is 0.18 ha/h. Application rate varies from 2-10 t/ha for different openings of plate covering the auger. The average draught was 676 N and power output was 0.46 kW.

To facilitate cleanliness and sanitation in animal farms, GBPUAT Pant Nagar centre developed dung collection machine to collect the dung from the floor of cattle yard for the safe disposal The two version of the machine is available, first can be operated with a 1hp electric motor while second model can be operated with 1.5 hp diesel engine. Capacity of box is 225 kg for electric operated model and 105 kg for engine operated model. The maximum dung collection capacity is 2740kg/h. Power required to operate dung collector is 0.49kW.The cost of the unit is Rs.32000/-.

A three row seed cum fertilizer drill for the line sowing of paddy as an alternative to the biasi system of rice cultivation in Chhattisgarh was developed by IGKV, Raipur. It is used to carry out sowing at depth of 30-50 mm. The draught requirement of the implement was 554 N and the field capacity of the implement was 0.10 ha/h. The cost of operation works out to be Rs 400-500/ha.

It is an animal drawn simple, light weight and compact machine which is used for line sowing of soybean, wheat, gram, sorghum, lentil and pigeon pea in black cotton soil. The power to the metering mechanism is obtained through a ground drive wheel of 300 mm diameter through chain and sprocket.The machine has arrangement for varying the row to row spacing between 20-45 cm with three rows and 50-90 cm with two rows at a time. It is used to carry out sowing at depth of 30-50 mm. The draught requirement of the implement is 500 N and the field capacity of the implement is observed to be 0.10 to 0.15 ha/h. The cost of 3-row seed-cum-fertilizer drill is Rs. 15,000/-.

It is suitable for sowing of wheat crop after paddy under zero tillage conditions. Three models of zero till-cum-fertilizer drill have been developed by GBPUAT Pantnagar Centre. The one row unit has been developed for use in narrow terraces of hills, two row unit for broader terraces whereas the three row unit is recommended for valleys and plain areas. Seed metering device is of fluted roller type. For fertilizer, stationary opening with agitator is used. The furrow opener is of inverted T type. The weight of unit varies from 4.5 to 25 kg depending on the size. Draught requirements vary from 400-600 N. The field capacity of the unit varies from 0.02 to 0.06 ha/h depending on size of the drill. Under zero tillage there is a saving of Rs 1000-1200/ha.

CIAE developed animal drawn inclined plate planter for planting of pigeon pea, maize and gram crops. The design is modular in nature. The unit consists of a frame seed boxes and fertilizer box. The seed box is mounted on a MS shaft and can be slide to adjust row spacing. Inside the seed box, there are two compartments; a seed plate is fitted on the outer compartment. The seed plate is fabricated with number of cells and shape of cell depending on seed size and seed rate. Drive to seed plate is obtained from ground wheel through chain and sprocket and bevel gear mechanism. The field capacity of the planter is 0.12-0.15 ha/h and the cost of operation is Rs 260/ha. The draught required to operate the planter is 800-900 N.

MPUAT, Udaipur developed an animal drawn seed cum fertilizer drill for seed spices. It consists of a rectangular frame consisting of hollow square section of mild steel on which a seed and fertilizer box of 10 and 12 kg respectively are mounted. The seed and fertilizer box has two parts namely storage and feed box. Two pneumatic wheels are provided for transportation on either side of main frame. One of these wheels acts as ground wheel and supplies power to the metering mechanism through a chain drive. A clutch is provided to engage or disengage the power transmission to seed metering device. Five nos. shoe type furrow openers have been provided. The draught requirement was 250 N and field capacity was 0.27 ha/h.

Animal drawn four row seed drill has been developed at MPUAT, Udaipur centreunder the project for inter-crop.It consists of rectangular frame made of MS angle iron square section on which a seed cum fertilizer box are mounted. The seed and fertilizer box is of two sections, viz., storage box and feed box. Feed box consists of plastic discs having grooves/cups on the periphery. Two pneumatic wheels are provided for transportation on either side of the main frame through axles. One of these wheels supplies power to the metering mechanism through a chain drive and counter shaft.Total weight of the seed drill is 69.6 kg. A clutch is provided to engage or disengage the power transmission to seed metering device. Wheat was sown with low cost seed drill. The performance results indicated that the draught requirement was 305 N which is well within the draught capacity of bullocks. The field capacity of machine was 0.24 ha/h with field efficiency of 82 %.

It has been developed at MPUAT, Udaipur for sowing of multi-crop. A clutch is provided to engage or disengage the power transmission to seed metering device.The performance results indicated that the draught requirement was 220-230 N which is well within the draught capacity of bullocks. The effective field capacity and field efficiency were 0.21 ha/h and 82%, respectively.

Bullock drawn inclined plate cotton planter cum fertilizer drill has been developed at MAU, Parbhani for sowing of cotton. It comprised of main frame, transport wheels, planting unit, power transmission unit and hitching unit. It gives desired seed rates of 3.5-5.0 kg/ha, 2.5-3.5 kg/ha, 2-2.5 kg/ha and 1.2-1.5 kg/ha for the spacing of 90×45 cm, 90×60 cm, 120×45 cm and 120×60 cm, respectively. The average draft requirement of the planter was 639.2N for 900 mm spacing and 594.3N for 1200 mm spacing, respectively. The operational cost of the planter was estimated to be Rs.313 per ha for 900mm plant spacing and Rs.236 per ha for 1200 mm plant spacing. The machine can be easily transported from one field to the other.

It has been developed at IGKV, Raipur Centre for making ridges & furrows and planting of turmeric rhizomes at the required row to row and plant to plant spacing. The overall length × width × height of the machine is 1050 × 600 × 900 mm. The rhizome box capacity is 0.037 m³. The draft required is in the range of 625 to 765 N and the power required to pull the implement is found 0.42 kW. Its field capacity is 0.11 ha/h with field efficiency of 65%. Its unit cost is is Rs.15000/. There is a saving of 87% in cost of planting of turmeric rhizomes as compared to manual planting.

A bullock drawn fertilizer applicator-cum-ridger has been developed at OUAT, Bhubaneswar. Its field capacity is 0.05 ha/h with field efficiency of 67.94% at average depth of operation of 118 mm. The overall fatigue score of the bullocks has been found to be 14.5 after 1 hour continuous operation indicating that the equipment has been pulled comfortably by them.

A bullock drawn paddy drum seeder has been developed by OUAT Bhubaneswar Centre for direct seeding of pre-germinated paddy seed on the field. The average row to row spacing is found to be 18 cm. The seed rate was observed to be 30.0 kg/ha. The field capacity of implement is 0.17-0.19 ha/h with field efficiency of 68.25%. The unit cost of the drum seeder was found to be Rs 13,500/- and the cost of sowing with pre-germinated paddy seeder was calculated as Rs 118/ha. The bullocks could sustain the draught for 3 hours as the fatigue score was found to be 17.5 which was within the permissible limit.

OUAT, Bhubaneswar Centre has developed a bullock drawn single row vegetable transplanter to facilitate mechanical transplanting of vegetable seedlings under dry land condition. The depth of planting was adjusted with the help of a pair of transport-cum-depth adjustment wheel, fitted on the main frame. The field capacity of the developed bullock drawn vegetable transplanter was found to be 0.08 ha/h with field efficiency of 70.6%. The average depth of operation was recorded as 8.50 cm. The average speed of operation, draft and power requirement were found to be 1.85 km/h, 280 N and 0.14 kW, respectively. The cost of operation of the bullock drawn vegetable transplanter was found out to be Rs. 1250/- per ha as against Rs.7500/- per ha in case of manual transplanting of vegetable seedlings.

IGKV Raipur Centre has developed an improved animal drawn blade hoe suitable of weeding operation in two rows. The working width is 200 mm. Three types of weeding tools were developed, namely sweep, straight blade and curved blade. These can be used depending on requirements of specific situation. Field capacity of the implement is 0.10 ha/h and the weeding efficiency is 62-79%. The draught requirement for operating the weeder is 550 N.

Biasi is a kind of intercultural operation carried out by farmers in direct seeded/ broadcasted rice fields in standing water of 10-15 cm, 30-45 days after sowing. This operation uproots the plants, loosens the soil and rearranges the plants in rows through thinning. The stirring of soil has been found to be favourable for plant growth in addition to killing the weeds and burying them in the soil.Improved animal drawn 3 tyned implement called biasi plough or ‘Triphal’ has been developed at IGKV Raipur Centre. Its field capacity is 0.07 ha/h. The weeding efficiency with biasi plough was about 66.4%. There is a saving of Rs. 1730/with this improved ploughas compared to indigenous plough.

MAU, Parbhani Centre developed an earthing-up cum inter-culture implement to remove weed as well as placement of fertilizer simultaneously in the crop. The fertilizer was placed at distance of 80 to 100 mm away from plant. The average draft requirement for inter-culture, light earthing-up and final earthing was 526, 693 and 784 N, respectively for sugarcane crop and 544, 721 and 793 N for turmeric crop, respectively. Field efficiency was found to vary from 63 to 77% with weeding efficiency of 83.5% for sugarcane and 90.2% for turmeric crop. This equipment saves Rs.1608/ha for sugarcane and Rs.1230/ha for turmeric for earthing-up operation over the manual method.

CIAE Bhopal centre developed an attachment of pre-emergence herbicide applicator using battery operated knapsack sprayer in existing animal drawn seed-cum-ferti drill. It has three flat fan type nozzles which areoperated at pressure of 1.8 kg/cm² to meet the desired application rate of herbicide. The actual field capacity was found 0.13 ha/h and draft varied from 470 to 560 N.There is a saving of 36% in labour requirement.

It has been developed at CIAE, Bhopal for spraying of chemicals on field crops at required pressure. All the components of the machine are attached to the main frame. Average discharge of individual nozzle varied from 470 to 552 ml/min with boom discharge of 3.02 l/min at mean pressure of 350 ± 2.5 kPa. The mean discharge was 504 ml/min/nozzle with coefficient of variation of 3.17%. The actual field capacity and field efficiency of sprayer were 0.56 ha/h and 82% respectively. The average draft required to operate the sprayer was 905 N at pressure of 343 kPa and speed of 5.2 km/h.The average power required to operate the sprayer in field was to be 0.68 kW within the range of power output (0.61 to 1.1 kW) of a pair of bullocks.

In order to mechanize the spraying operation, the high clearance bullock drawn engine operated sprayer has been developed at UAS, Raichur centre for spraying on mainly cotton and pigeon pea crop. The main features of the bullock drawn engine operated sprayer are; the bullock power is engaged in pulling the cart for traction purpose and the spraying operation is carried out by the engine power. . Sprayer boom is fitted with 7 hollow cone nozzles at 45 cm spacing to give a swath width of 5.2 meters. The boom height is adjusted in accordance with height of cotton crop. The wheel of larger diameter (1230 mm) was provided for giving the higher ground clearance. The average discharge rate of 707 lit/h was observed at an operating pressure of 20 kg/cm² at the forward speed of 2.86 km/h. Its field capacity is 1.20 ha/h. The draught requirement to operate the sprayer is 784 N and power output is 0.63 kW. The cost of spraying with developed sprayer is Rs. 110/ha. There is a labour saving of 71.3% and 54% in cost of spraying as compared to manual spraying.

In order to utilize available solar energy and labour saving, a solar powered bullock drawn high clearance sprayer has been devepoed at UAS, Raichur for spraying in cotton and pigeon pea crop. The area covered by the solar powered sprayer was about 0.95 to 1.0 ha/h. The cost of operation of bullock drawn solar powered high clearance sprayer was Rs. 128.10/ha for cotton and Rs. 119.60/ha for red gram crop. The breakeven point and payback period were 123.60 h/annum and 3.6 years. The percentage of financial saving over the manual knapsack sprayer was 56 per cent for cotton and 67.1 per cent for red gram crop. The percentage of labour saving over the manual knapsack sprayer was 56.6 per cent for cotton and 59.48 per cent for red gram crop.

A bullock drawn air mist canopy sprayer developed by UAS, Raichur Centre of AICRP on UAE.It has the ability to spray tall field crops like cotton, pigeon peas and soybean etc. as it has a ground clearance of 1.2 m and adjustable wheels. The average height of the cotton and pigeon pea crop were taken as 1.5 m in order to provide good pesticide penetration to the crop canopy. The discharge capacity of air blower assembly is 1 m³s^-1. The average field capacity of canopy sprayer was 0.7 ha/h at a forward speed of 2.7 km/h for cotton and 0.6 ha/h at a forward of 2.6 km/h for pigeon pea. The average draft for spraying operation for cotton and pigeon pea crop was found to be 759 and 769 N, respectively. The energy requirement for spraying operation on cotton and pigeon pea crops was 65 and 85 MJ/ha, respectively. Cost of operation of bullock drawn air mist canopy sprayer was Rs.355/ha for cotton and Rs.360 /ha for pigeon pea crop.

MAU, Parbhani Centre developed a bullock drawn turmeric and ginger digger to be used for digging of turmeric and ginger plant on raised beds. The main components of bullock drawn turmeric and ginger digger are main frame, handle, beam, ground wheel, shank, sweep and extension bars. It was evaluated in the field having row spacing of 300 mm and bed width of 1500 mm between two ridges. The average depth of operation was found to be 18 mm for turmeric and 17 mm for ginger. The average draft requirement of the turmeric and ginger digger is 843 and 833 N, respectively. The average actual field capacity and field efficiency is 0.18 ha/h and 81% for turmeric and 0.17ha/h and 84% for ginger, respectively. The digging efficiency for turmeric and ginger is 92 and 89 per cent, respectively. There is saving of 55.25 and 38.55% in cost of digging for turmeric and ginger crop over to traditional digging method.

An animal drawn turmeric digger has been developed at IGKV, Raipur Centre with matching to the draught capacity of bullocks of Chhattisgarh. It consists of a frame, clamp,blade and blade cover, handle, hitching system and transporting wheels. The transporting wheels having diameter and width of 300 mm and 50 mm, respectively. These wheels can be lowered or lifted upward to adjust the depth of soil cutting tool. Its field capacity is 0.10 ha/h at a speed of 3 km/h and draught requirement is 445 N. Its unit price is 1500/- and cost of digging is Rs.748/ha.

It is light weight bullock operated potato digger which is comprised of extension rods, shank, mainframe, harvesting blade, hitch, handle and beam. It was tested with a pair of bullocks on terraces and valleys at average bullock speed of 1.7 km/h and depth of operation of 120 mm. The harvested potato size varied between 40-60 mm. The digging efficiency and field efficiency were 93% and 88%, respectively. The draft was found to be 320 N. The effective field capacity and cost of operation were found to be 0.03 ha/h and Rs 1250/ha, respectively. The labour requirement was 35 man-h/ha for digging and 150 h/ha for picking of potato after harvest. It showed that there is saving of 60% in labour and 61% in cost of digging over traditional digging by spade on terraces.

An animal drawn garlic digger with curved type blade having size 550 mm has been developed at CIAE Bhopal. The average draft and power output were found to be 683.5 N and 0.55 kW, respectively at average 12% (db) moisture content and 550 kPa soil cone index. Its field capacity is 0.1 ha/h with 86% digging efficiency. There is a saving of 75% in cost of operation as compared to manual digging.

It has been developed by CIAE, Bhopal Centrewith attachment of tools for tillage, seeding and interculture. The unit consists of main frame, tool bar and wheel (Pneumatic/Iron wheels) with provisions for attachment of tools and lifting of tools on turns. The wheeled tools carrier showed advantage in terms higher command area (1.5-2.5 times) than the conventional implements. The unit with attachments has cost of Rs.20000/-. The size may be optimized as per the size and pulling capacity of draught animals.Its performance was evaluated at UAS, Raichur. Its field capacity is 0.032 ha/h at the forward speed of 2.95 km/h during the ploughing operation. For harrowing operation, its field capacity is 0.23 ha/h at the forward speed of 3.47 km/h. The pneumatic tyred wheels provided the good stability and traction to the tool carrier. The seed drill was used for sowing of jowar seeds. Its field capacity is 0.22 ha/h at the forward speed of 3.32 km/h. The average draft and power output is found 600 N and 0.66 kW.

It has been developed at MPUAT Udaipur Centre for use in light soils of Rajasthan.Ploughing, secondary tillage with cultivator, sowing, bed forming, and bund making can be carried out with the tool carrier. MB. plough, 3/5 tyne cultivator, 3/5 row seed cum fertilizer drill, bund former, bed former, trailer and water tanker are available as attachments. The developed tool carrier was evaluated in light soil by MPUAT, Udaipur Center and in heavy soil by UAS, Raichur Centre. The tool carrier has been satisfactorily used with MB Plough both in light and heavy soil. The size of the plough in light soil is 225 mm and in heavy soil it is 150 mm. The average field capacity observed in light and heavy soil is 0.05 and 0.035 ha/h respectively. The draught requirement for operating the plough is 518N in light soil and 700 N in heavy soil.

Multipurpose Tool Carrier has been designed to provide the advantages of improved implements to animal-power-based farming and comfort to animal and operator (AICRP on UAE, MAU, Parbhani). It has provision of attachment of inclined plate planter, sprayer and three tyneferti-hoe. The average draft required for operating the planter-cum-sprayer with seed covering device was 620 N. The field capacity for the planter-cum-sprayer with seed covering device and three tyne hoe having two furrow opener was 0.19 and 0.30 ha/h, respectively. The average discharge from each nozzle was in the range of 195.9 and 197.6 ml/min. The uniformity coefficient of the sprayer was 74%. The weeding efficiency was found to be 84% in soybean.

IGKV, Raipur Centre developed a wheeled type multipurpose tool carrierfor use by bullocks and buffaloes of Chhattisgarh.