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ThesisItem Restricted Development and Evaluation of Strip Till Seeder for Simultaneous Tillage and Sowing of Wheat in Paddy Residue Conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2020) Chaleka, Ashley Tafadzwa; Manpreet SinghA Strip-till seeder (STS) was developed to sow wheat in paddy residue conditions, and a study was conducted to evaluate and compare the performance of the machine with the already existing direct seeding machines i.e. Happy seeder (HS) and Super seeder (SS). Three levels of straw load (4.2, 5.2 & 6.0 t ha-1), three levels of forward speed (2.1, 2.6 & 3.2 km h-1) and two levels of machine rotor speed (127.5 and 137.2 rpm) were selected. Ratio of forward speed and rotor speed was expressed as speed index. Optimal combination of variables was selected on the basis of fuel consumption, effective field capacity, wheel slip, plant germination, weed emergence and grain yield. Effect of straw load was more pronounced on dependent variables than the effect of speed index. The STS performed best at a forward speed of 2.6 km h-1, rotor speed of 127.5 rpm and straw load of 6 t ha-1. Average fuel consumption using STS was between that of HS and SS. Weed density (30 DAS) in STS treatments was 36.7 and 53.7 % lower compared to HS and SS respectively. Plant germination was also comparatively higher in STS treatments. Average grain yield in STS-sown wheat was 12.7 and 18.9 % significantly higher than SS and HS, respectively. The STS performed better than the existing direct seeding machines. Therefore, strip tillage seeding technique proved to be a better option for in-situ straw management and it has the potential to combine benefits of residue mulching and incorporation.ThesisItem Restricted Development and evaluation of tractor operated bund former for mulched field(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2020) Sood, Ashish; Dixit, Anoop KumarIn paddy-wheat crop production system, managing paddy straw fields is a cumbersome process. In these mulched fields bund forming is one of the major problem due to handling of loose as well as standing stubble of paddy straw. To deal with this a tractor operated bund former for mulched fields was developed and evaluated in the actual field. It performs three operations such as straw removing (up to 1.25 m width) followed by soil pulverization and trapezoidal shaped soil bund forming simultaneously in one pass. Field evaluation of the developed tractor operated bund former for mulched fields was conducted in harvested paddy field at University Seed Farm, Ladhowal, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab. The effect of independent parameters such as three rotor speed ratio (3:1, 4:1 and 5:1), three opening width of bund forming plates (27, 34 and 41 cm) and two straw loads (4.0- 4.5 and 6.0 -6.5 t ha-1) was observed on the dependent parameters namely height of bund, width of bund, pulverization index, fuel consumption and field capacity. The effect of rotor speed ratio, opening width of bund forming plates and straw load was found significant (p<0.05) on height of bund, width of bund, pulverization index, fuel consumption. The best results were obtained at rotor speed ratio 4:1 and opening width of bund forming plates 34 cm under both straw loads. This combination gave optimum height of bund (27.76 cm), width of bund (72 cm), pulverization index (12.76 mm) and fuel consumption (7.05 l h-1) under both the straw loads. The effective field capacity of developed tractor operated bund former was found to be 1.17 ha h-1 at forward travel speed of 1.5 km h-1. The operational cost of the developed bund former machine was found to be Rs 1921.86 ha-1 while cost of forming bund per metre length was Rs 1.45 m-1. There was 77.78 % saving in labour over the conventional bund forming method.ThesisItem Restricted Development and Evaluation of Tractor Operated Pea Pod Picker Mechanism(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2020) Bhad, Rahul; Goyal, RajeshThe pea is most consistently the little spherical seed and belongs to Fabaceae family. India isn't just the biggest consumer of green peas, yet in addition it takes second place in worldwide green pea cultivation, following China. In India the area under green pea cultivation is 540.5 thousand hectares. Presently, green pea crop is cultivated on approximate 35 thousand hectares in Punjab. Out of this 90% area is cultivated under early maturing variety of green pea. Picking of green pea is labor intensive. Therefore, to lower the cost of manual labor, mechanized picking of pea pod is required. A conceptual design of tractor operated pea pod picker mechanism was conceived by keeping in view the agronomic practices and harvesting of pea pods. The developed machine consists of crop guide, picking drum, continuous belt conveyor and aspirator unit. As the machine moves in the field the rotating drum strips out the pea pods from the vines. The machine was evaluated in terms of picking efficiency, percentage of damaged pods, trash content in detached pods, fuel consumption and field capacity at different independent parameters like forward speed 1.5 km/h (F1), 2.0 km/h (F2) and 2.4 km/h (F3), drum peripheral speed 95 rpm (D1), 110 rpm (D2) and 125 rpm (D3) and curved (T1) & straight (T2) tines. Forward speed showed significant effect on picking efficiency and field capacity. The best combination of independent parameters for the pea pod picker mechanism according to maximum picking efficiency (68.27%), minimum damaged pod (8.57%), trash content in detached pods (22.45%) and fuel consumption (1.17 l/h) was found with 95 drum rpm (D1), 1.5 km/h forward speed (F1) and straight tine (T2). To maximize the picking efficiency and further minimize the damaged pea pods and trash content in detached pea pods, modifications and refinements are needed to be done in the developed pea pod picker mechanism.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of system for torrefaction of paddy straw(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Gurpreet Singh; Soni, RajeshThe disposal of surplus paddy straw is a serious problem in North-West India. About two-third of the 22 MT paddy straw produced in Punjab is openly burnt in fields. All the existing onsite and offsite methods to manage paddy straw have met with limited success. Biomass co-firing with coal in large thermal power plants is a promising technology for its utilization. Agricultural residues including paddy straw are herbaceous type of biomass. This herbaceous biomass have several unfavorable characteristics that hinder their use in power plants. These include low bulk density, hydrophobicity, high moisture content, and degradation during storage, and low energy density. Pre-treatment of biomass through torrefaction (followed by pelletization) can resolve most of these problems. In this study, the paddy straw was torrefied in an oven at various temperatures viz 230, 240 and 250°C and various durations viz 20, 30 and 40 minutes. The effect of torrefaction on paddy straw properties were studied. Thereafter, a bench scale reactor for torrefaction of around 0.8 kg of paddy straw was designed and fabricated. The unique feature of this reactor was the division of the reactor into four vertical zones. The lower most zone was meant for combustion of the paddy straw to provide additional heat to the upper zones and to assist heat transfer to the upper zones. On the basis of lab studies done earlier, the duration and temperature of 30 minutes and 250°C respectively were selected for bench scale studies. With proper insulation of the reactor, the desired torrefaction condition could be achieved in the lower 10 cm of the reactor. The studies show that with the existing mode of heating, the height of the torrefaction reactor should be limited to 10 cm only. The grinding energy reduced to 6-7 kW/kg. The average particle size decreased, moisture content of straw also decreased to less than 6.4% while the gross heating value increased to 17.07 MJ/kg, mass yield and energy yield of torrefied paddy straw was 0.87 and 1.05 respectively. Thus torrefied straw acquired more coal like properties. This improves the suitability of torrefied straw co-firing with coal in unmodified thermal power plants.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of chain pot paper type onion (Allium cepa L.) transplanter(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Kamalpreet Singh; Thakur, S.S.The present study was conducted to develop and evaluate the chain pot paper type transplanter for onion crop. The transplanter was developed using Solid Edge V20 and then fabricated with the help of local manufacturer. Two varieties of onion were selected i.e Punjab Naroya and PRO 6. Two ages of seedlings were kept i.e 30 days and 40 days. Evaluation of the developed transplanter was performed using two surface treatments i.e flat and raised bed. Performance was evaluated on the basis of field capacity, plants per metre length, damage to seedlings, seedling height, bulb size and yield. There was significant effect of age of seedlings on their height. The average height of seedlings after 80 days from transplanting observed were 31.50 cm, 25.93 cm, 31.17 cm, 24.27 cm, 34.00 cm, 28.17 cm, 34.63 cm and 27.97 cm for treatments S1V1A1, S1V1A2, S1V2A1, S1V2A2, S2V1A1, S2V1A2, S2V2A1 and S2V2A2 respectively. The average plants per metre length was found to be 10 in all the treatments. The effect of varieties and age of seedlings on the bulb size was found to be significant. The average bulb size observed were 5.18 cm, 5.10 cm, 5.51 cm, 5.60 cm, 5.70 cm, 5.70 cm, 5.61 cm and 5.55 cm for treatments S1V1A1, S1V1A2, S1V2A1, S1V2A2, S2V1A1, S2V1A2, S2V2A1 and S2V2A2 respectively. The effect of varieties of onion and field surface on the yield was found to be significant. The average yield observed were 33.5 t/ha, 32.8 t/ha, 29.5 t/ha, 28.5 t/ha, 34.9 t/ha, 34.1 t/ha, 30.9 t/ha and 29.8 t/ha for treatments S1V1A1, S1V1A2, S1V2A1, S1V2A2, S2V1A1, S2V1A2, S2V2A1 and S2V2A2 respectively. Theoretical field capacity of the transplanter was 0.024 ha/h and actual field capacity of the transplanter was 0.016 ha/h.ThesisItem Restricted Development and evaluation of tractor operated pebble digger cum collector machine(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Tola, Abreham Arebe; Narang, M.K.India is a large country and shows the diversity of climatic and natural conditions. The nature of the soil in one place is strongly affected by climate, natural vegetation cover and rocks. In arid and semi-arid areas, the soil contains several small pebbles that hinder agricultural activities, such as land preparation and intercultural operations. The stones in the soil interfere with growing plants, damage tillage tools and harvesting machinery. Mostly women are engaged to remove pebbles in dry agriculture before the start of the cropping season and experience intense physical stress while performing field work. Manual removal of stones/pebbles is also practically ineffective since some pebbles buried below the surface which aren't easily seen by workers. Hence, by knowing all these problems, a pebble digger cum collector machine was developed and evaluated which can be an alternative solution to overcome the problem faced in such areas. The pebble digger cum collector developed by using CAD model and it consisted of digging blade, belt pulley mechanism, conveying unit, shafts, gearbox and pebble collecting and unloading systems. The machine was evaluated in terms of percentage of pebbles collected, field capacity, fuel consumption and size of pebble collected at different independent parameters like level of tillage operations (cultivator and moldboard plow), depths of operations (12 and 18 cm) and different forward speeds (1.0,1.5,2.0 and 2.5 km h-1). The machine was capable of collecting pebbles ranges from 3.55 to 8.79 cm size from depth of 18 cm. The average optimum values of percentage of pebbles collected, field capacity and fuel consumption of 88.40 %, 0.09 ha h-1 and 3.35 l h-1 respectively for tillage operation by cultivator at a depth of 12 cm and forward speed of 1.5 km h-1.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of seed drill for small seeded fodder crops as attachment with walk behind tractor(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Moges, Smegnew; Khurana, RohinishIntegrated dairy farming and livestock production have been intensively increase in India. The main challenges are the un-availability and high cost of production of green fodder crops throughout the year. Cultivating legumes, however, provide a nutritious, palatable feed that will satisfy the growing demand for milk and other sources of animal protein, maintain the soil health and increase soil fertility. At present, sowing of small-seeded fodder crops like berseem and lucerne is being done manually. To save manpower, time and energy for fodder production, a machine for sowing small-seeded fodder crops as an attachment with the walk behind tractor was developed to suit local condition farming system and to fill mechanization gap. Physical properties such as size and shape, thousand-grain weight, coefficient of static friction, angle of repose, bulk density and true density are important for the development of seed drill have been investigated. Based on the properties of the seed, two fluted rollers having trapezoidal and asymmetric grooves and cell type roller metering mechanism was developed for berseem and lucerne seeds. Preliminary evaluation with four metering device including inclined plate was performed in the laboratory for both crops at forward speeds of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h. The performance was evaluated on the basis of seed rate, seed damage percentage, seeds per meter length, seed to seed distance and missing index. The observed data were statistically analyzed by using statistical software ´SAS`. It was found that there is a significant effect of metering device, forward speed and crop type on dependant parameters studied at 5 % of level significance. Based on consideration of seed rate and seed damaged percentage value as a major factor, the trapezoidal grooved fluted roller performed better for both berseem and lucerne crop. For trapezoidal grooved fluted roller at forward speed 2 km/h and for berseem and lucerne crop, the seed rate was 10.14 and 13.97 kg/ha, seed damage percentage (1. 49 and 2.78%), seed to seed distance (6.96 and 7.17 mm), seeds per meter length (153 and 150) and missing index (0.18 and 0.18), respectively. Thereafter, the field evaluation of the seed drill was carried out by selecting trapezoidal grooved fluted roller, the same three forward speeds (1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h) and two crops (berseem and lucerne). The selected dependent variables were seed rate, seedlings per meter length and missing index. Seed rate was considerably increased as compared to laboratory results due to the vibrational effect of the walk behind tractor. The number of seedlings were in the range of 123-136 per m length for both the crops. The missing index for both crops at same speed was in the range of 23 to 27 %.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of multi-nozzle backpack type power sprayer(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Avesh Kumar Singh; Manes, G.S.The study deals with the development and evaluation of multi-nozzle backpack type power sprayer, which can be used to spray at all stages of cotton crop by using the boom both in horizontal (during early stages of crop) and in vertical (during maturity stage) position. Three types of nozzles N1, N2 and N3 were evaluated in laboratory using patternator at three nozzle pressures P1 (3.0 kg/cm2), P2 (4.5 kg/cm2) and P3 (6.0 kg/cm2) and at three target distance D1 (540 mm), D2 (340 mm) and D3 (250 mm) respectively. Based on laboratory results, rate of discharge, angle of spray and swath width were found non-significant for nozzle N1 & N3. Thereby, Nozzle N1 and Nozzle N2 were selected for mounting on the boom according to overlapped pattern (minimum CV) of nozzle N1 and Nozzle N2 at a pressure of 3.0 kg/cm2 at different target distance. The sprayer was evaluated in the field for spraying on cotton crops at four different stages of growth (60,75,90 and 105 DAS) by fixing water sensitive paper on the plant at three locations of plant canopy (up and down of leaf). Uniformity coefficient and droplet density varied from 1.19 to 2.91 and 34.33 to 76.67. However, at a particular stage of crop the uniformity index and droplet density for some combination of locations was found non-significant thus depicting uniform spray. Field capacity for Nozzle N1 and N2 decreased from 0.34 ha/h to 0.09 ha/h and 0.28 ha/h to 0.09 ha/h when the position of boom was changed from or horizontal to vertical positions. Fuel consumption for spraying with nozzle N1 and nozzle N2 increased from 0.42 l/h to 0.60 l/h and 0.37 l/h to 0.50 l/h when the position of boom was changed from horizontal to vertical positions.ThesisItem Open Access Performance evaluation of a tractor operated air assisted orchard sprayer(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Bathla, Rajan; Singh, S.K.Performance evaluation of a tractor operated air assisted orchard sprayer had been undertaken. Hollow cone nozzles and double action nozzles were used to study the performance of the sprayer. The sprayer was tested in laboratory at four operating pressures (3, 4, 6 and 8 kg/cm2) and three blower speeds (1288, 1883 and 2541 rpm) to determine the suitable operational parameters for the sprayer. The combination of 8 kg/cm² pressure and 1288 rpm blower speed was found to be the suitable combination which was selected for field test. Sprayer was operated in the field at three forward speeds (0.76, 1.09 and 1.64 km/h), and different parameters were recorded and analyzed. Volume median diameter and uniformity coefficient for hollow cone nozzles varied from 162 to 300 µm and 1.62 to 2.88 respectively and for double action nozzles, it varied from 127 to 166 µm and 1.29 to 2.34 respectively. The droplet density on upper and underside of leaves for hollow cone nozzles varied from 43 to 178 and 69 to 301 drops/cm2 respectively and for double action nozzles, it varied from 72 to 203 and 51 to 98 drops/cm2 respectively. Volume of spray deposition on upper and underside of leaves for hollow cone nozzles varied from 107.4 × 10-6 to 383.79 × 10-6 cc/cm2 and 100.59 × 10-6 to 781.93 × 10-6 cc/cm2 respectively and for double action nozzles, it varied from 120.23 × 10-6 to 216.05 × 10-6 cc/cm2 and 54.76 × 10-6 to 172.15 × 10-6 cc/cm2 respectively.
