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Theses

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2005 - 200922010 - 20173
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Subject: Farm, Machinery and Power × End date: 2017 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of multi row self-propelled rotary weeder for narrow spaced crops
    (CCSHAU, 2017) Gatkal Narayan Raosaheb; Vijaya Rani
    Farm mechanization is one of the most important elements of modernization of agriculture. In India, weeding is mostly done manually, which is time consuming and labour-intensive. Due to labour shortage for weeding operation farmers most of times experiences heavy loss. In developed countries like USA, Australia, China weeding operations are done with machine. Thus, this study undertaken to development of multi row selfpropelled rotary weeder for narrow spaced crops. The developed rotary weeder consists of engine, main frame, rotary unit, J type blade, handle and tyre. Power was transmitted from engine shaft to 1st intermediate shaft through v belt and from 1st intermediate shaft to 2nd intermediate shaft through chain sprocket system and from 2nd intermediate shaft to rotor shaft through chain and sprockets. It was evaluated under the operating parameters viz two blade length 195 mm and 180 mm, three rotary speed 330 rpm, 360 rpm and 390 rpm, three forward speed 1.6 km h-1, 1.8 km h-1, 2 km h-1. The optimized machine variable obtained for developed rotary weeder were blade length 180 mm, rotary speed 360 rpm and forward speed 1.6 km h-1. The weeding efficiency, field efficiency and plant damage were 80.12 %, 67.96 % and 1.2 %, respectively at optimum machine variable. Effective field capacity of weeder was 0.95 ha h-1. The labour requirement in man-h ha-1 with weeder and manual harvesting was 11.11 and 160 respectively. The cost of operation was 1736.49 Rs ha-1. It can be operated with 5 horse power engine. It saved time and cost of operation 44.45 % and 75.41 % respectively in comparison to manual method of weeding. The break-even point was 91.84 hours. The payback period was 1.18 years.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Alternate tillage and crop establishment methods for sustainable paddy cultivation
    (CCSHAU, 2017) Pannu, Rahul Singh; Vijaya Rani
    Rice (oryaza sativa L.) is one of the important cereal crops for food security in India, it is cultivated on an area of about 45 mha, with a production of 90 mt. Conventional rice transplanting is highly labour intensive. The problem is further intensified with timely unavailability of labour and increasing labour wages. The potential solutions include a shift from intensive tillage to no tillage and/or from manual transplanting to mechanical transplanting or dry direct–seeding of rice. Thus, this study was undertaken to evaluate different tillage and crop establishment methods in paddy for their effects on crop productivity, water use efficiency, energy and economics in rice cultivation. The different treatments were direct seeded rice (DSR) both dry and vattar, transplanting by mechanical transplanter in unpuddled condition (UN-MTR) and manual transplanting in puddle condition in both laser and planker levelled field. Grain yield of UN-MTR was significantly (4 to11 per cent) higher than all other treatments in both laser leveled and planker leveled field of the study. The unpuddled mechanical transplanting condition consumes 2 per cent more water and DSR (dry and vattar) consumes 2 to 4 per cent less water as compare to manual transplanting. DSR (dry and vattar) field conditions required 3 per cent more labour and unpuddled mechanical transplanting field conditions save 34 per cent labour in comparison to manual transplanting. The output: input energy obtained for unpuddled mechanical transplanting (5.39) followed by manual transplanting (4.90), DSR dry (4.93), and DSR vattar (4.78). In case of planker levelled field the output: input energy for unpuddled mechanical transplanting was 5.30 followed by manual transplanting (4.98), DSR dry (4.88), and in DSR vattar (4.69). The B:C ratio in unpuddled mechanical transplanting was 1.23 followed by manual transplanting (1.09), DSR dry (1.05) and DSR vattar (1.03) in laser levelled field.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Design, development and evaluation of potato cum sugarcane bud planter
    (CCSHAU, 2017) Jaideep; S. Mukesh
    Generally planting of any crop is very much important as far as the crop growth and yield is concerned. Sugarcane and potato planting is a very labour intensive job and involves considerable human drudgery. India stands second in sugarcane production in the world next to Brazil. In case of potato, India is third largest potato producing country. Manual method of seed planting results in high labour cost and poor depth control of seed placement in addition to fatigue. The high cost of seeds of high yielding crops is a critical component in agriculture and its efficiency determines the overall agricultural productivity. Thus, this study was undertaken to design, develop and evaluate a planter which can plant both sugarcane and potato crop. The developed potato cum sugarcane planter consisted of seed metering unit (cup-belt having cups on belt periphery), main frame, furrow openers, ground wheel for power transmission, ridgers and depth control wheels. The planter was evaluated at different combinations of forward speed and seed hopper level. At forward speed of 3.20 km/h in sugarcane crop and at 3.00 km/h in potato crop coupled with more than half hopper level, planter gave desired performance. Effective field capacity of the planter was 0.47 and 0.49 ha/h for potato and sugarcane crop, respectively with field efficiency of 75 %. The results obtained from the experiment indicated that the forward speed and seed hopper level significantly influenced the missing and multiple index. When the forward speed of planter was increased, the missing index also increased whereas multiple index decreased, significantly. The draft requirement of the planter was 450 kgf in sugarcane planting and 435 kgf in potato planting. Planting of sugarcane buds and potato tubers by developed planter resulted into net saving of Rs. 6433 and Rs. 5141 per hectare in sugarcane and potato crop, respectively as compared to manual planting. The payback period and benefit cost ratio of the planter was 2.06 and 0.60 year, respectively. The labour requirement for the developed planter was 3 man-hours per hectare for both sugarcane and potato planting.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Mathematical modeling of performance characteristics of combine harvester
    (CCSHAU, 2005) Gurmeet Singh; S. Aggarwal
    In this study, mathematical models were developed for pre-harvest loss, header loss, grain breakage, threshing efficiency, threshing loss and fuel consumption for wheat and paddy crop harvested by combine harvester. The data was taken from commercial test reports of twenty-five combines tested at Northern Region Farm Machinery Training &Testing Institute, Hisar. Regression analysis was carried out for developing mathematical models for the afore said variables depending on the independent variables such as crop yield, moisture content of the grains at the time of harvesting, forward speed of the combine, threshing drum speed, and field efficiency. The developed models were tested for their validity with the actual performance of the combines and the developed model for header loss of wheat was compared with existing model given by Audsley and Boyce. The developed model was found more efficient. With the help of developed models various dependent variables such as pre-harvest loss, header loss, grain breakage, threshing efficiency, threshing loss and fuel consumption can be predicted while operating with a combine in a particular field. The total crop residue of wheat and paddy in Haryana was also estimated. It was 44.27 and 24.6 lacks tones respectively for wheat and paddy.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Ergonomic design, development and performance evaluation of a multipurpose agricultural hand tool carrier
    (CCSHAU, 2006) Chauhan, Sujeet Kumar; Sharma, D.N.
    In India, inspite of rapid progress in farm mechanization in small and marginal land holding categories certain operations like sowing, transplanting, hoeing and weeding are mainly performed with traditional hand tools and equipments. In the present day situation, the application of ergonomic principles are relevant for providing proper design of hand tool and farm equipment which can increase output, reduce drudgery and increased compatibility. Therefore, for farmers of small and marginal land holdings categories a multipurpose hand tool carrier along with attachments (seed-cum-fertilizer drill, cycle wheel hand hoe and rolling-type crust breaker) were ergonomically designed developed and tested for performing various operations such as sowing, crust breaking, hoeing and weeding by manual labour. Seed metering roller is the most vital component for the seed-cum-fertilizer attachment that should meter the required quantity of seed accurately and uniform with minimum seed damage. Triangular cells type rollers were used for metering seed and fertilizer in seed fertilizer drill. The lab and field performance evaluation of manually operated seed-cum-fertilizer drill attachment in term of quantity of seed metered at different seed depths in box (full, 3/4th, 1/2nd, and 1/4th positions), seed distribution pattern, placement of seed and fertilizer, draft requirement, field capacities, and cost of operation was carried out in wheat, gram and bajra crops. There was no effect seed-metering roller on seed damage, because higher seed germination percentage i.e 88.66%, 86.0% and 87.33% recorded in wheat, bajra and green gram crops, respectively. The draft of the seed-cum-fertilizer drill was well with in the reach of an average operator. Average draft requirement of the machine were 12 kgf, 11.83 kgf and 11.67 kgf at sowing depths of 5.63, 5.33 and 5.00 cms in wheat, XXXVIIbajra and green gram crops, respectively. But in gram crop it was 14.90 kgf, which is on the higher side, because of increased sowing depth (8.67 cm). Therefore while sowing the gram crop two persons may be used to operate the machine. The performance of improved cycle wheel hand hoe indicates that average weed intensity (No. of weeds/m2) after weeding operation by this attachment recorded were 22, 11, 19 weeds/m2 respectively. As compared to this 27, 13 and 22 weeds/m2 were recorded after the use of iron wheel hand hoe. The average weeding efficiencies of improved cycle wheel hand hoe in wheat, gram and pea crops recorded were 86.85, 92.34, and 88.55%, respectively and with iron wheel hand hoe these values were 83.94, 91.31, 86.84%, respectively. The weeding performance of the cycle wheel hand hoe in all crops was better than the iron wheel hand hoe. There was significant improvement in the seed germination of bajra, green gram and cotton crop with the use of crust breaker. The seed germination ranged between 20 plants/m2 to 24 plants/m2 in bajra crop, 16 plant/m2 to 20 plant/m2 in green gram crop and 7 plants/m2 to 12 plants/m2 in cotton crop in crust formed conditions while after the use of crust breaker the seed germination recorded were 51 plants/m2 to 57 plant/m2, in bajra crop, 57 plant/m2 to 67 plant/m2 in green gram crop and 43 plants/m2 to 51 plants/m2 in cotton crop seven days after breaking of the crust. This means, the plant population of bajra, green gram and cotton crops increased by more than two times that of observed under crusted conditions. Ergonomic performance evaluation of multipurpose tool carrier with attachments (seed-cum-fertilizer drill, cycle wheat hand hoe and crust breaker) was also carried out in different crops. There was significant effect on physiological parameter of the operator at different time durations of use of manually operated seed-cum-fertilizer drill in all the crops. The average energy consumed in operation of the seed-cum-fertilizer drill was much lower and well with in the reach of an average operator. The energy consumed after 30 min of its use by the operator were 6.12, 6.44, 6.76 and 6.59 kJ/min. Thus, the machine resulted in less fatigue to the operator because of ergonomic design (lightweight, less draft and appropriate handle height) in sowing wheat, green gram and bajra crops. Similarly, lesser power/energy was required in the use of improved cycle wheel hoe for hoeing and weeding operation in different crops. Only 5.01, 6.17 and 4.69 kJ/min power of operator was consumed in operation of improved wheel hand hoe in above crops as compared to 5.70, 7.02 and 5.59 kJ/min after 30 min of use of iron wheel hand hoe. Higher values of group force and less decrease in grip force (fatigue) of both the hands of operator indicates that the use of improved cycle wheel hoe in all the crops was less tiring to the operator. The average systolic and diastolic blood pressures of the operator of ergonomically designed crust breaker were lower than the existing crust breaker. Lesser energy was required to operate the ergonomically designed crust breaker. Moreover, decrease in grip force (fatigue) was much less in the improved machine. After operation of existing crust- breaker the grip force of worker reduced by 17.88% and 16.89 % in right and left hand, respectively in comparison to only 5.8% and 7.28%, respectively in improved crust breaker. Therefore, improved crust breaker was ergonomically more efficient and less tiring to the operator.