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Subject: Farm Machinery and Power Engineering × Author: Manpreet, Singh × Start date: 2010 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRACTOR OPERATED SEEDER FOR WHEAT AS RELAY CROP IN COTTON
    (PUNJAB AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY LUDHIANA, 2015) Manpreet, Singh; Mahal, Jaskarn Singh
    Wheat planting after cotton is usually delayed due to late cotton picking and time needed for seedbed preparation, resulting in low wheat yield. Few farmers sow wheat through broadcasting in standing cotton for timely sowing but on a small scale. This methodology has also limitations of poor germination and low fertilizer use efficiency. Therefore, to study feasibility of relay seeding of wheat in cotton, a prototype of high clearance platform (110 cm from ground) for tractor was developed to facilitate the movement of tractor in standing cotton. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of newly developed Relay Seeders (RS) attached to high clearance four-wheel tractor for seeding wheat in standing cotton planted at row spacing of 67.5 cm and 101.0 cm. Replicated field experiment included two cotton hybrids having different canopy cover (RCH 776 and MRC 7017), two RS for different row spacing and three types of furrow openers (strip till rotor-STR, zero till double disc-ZTDD and zero till tine-ZTT). The RS with double disc opener vis-à-vis conventional till wheat (CTW) were also evaluated on five farmers’ fields. The forward speed of travel of ZTDD openers was 9.3% and 16.6% higher than the speed with STR and ZTT openers respectively. STR openers consumed more fuel (12.36 L ha-1) than ZTT (8.57 L ha-1) and ZTDD openers (9.15 L ha-1). Number of cotton bolls detached from plants due to operation of tractor mounted RS was significantly lower in 101.0 cm cotton row spacing compared with 67.5 cm row spacing. Overall loss of cotton balls due to the movement of tractor and RS was under 2%. Relay planting of wheat using high clearance tractor allowed one additional boll picking leading to increase in seed cotton yield by about 12% compared with conventional crop. Cotton genotypes and relay seeders had no effect on wheat emergence and wheat yield. Relay seeders with STR and ZTDD furrow openers performed better in terms of wheat emergence and grain yield compared to ZTT openers. Wheat sowing using RS was advanced by 31 days, which increased grain yield by 18.8% as compared with CTW. Net returns from CW system with relay seeding of wheat were Indian Rs. 19,282 to 26,332 per ha higher as compared with conventional CW system. Results from on-farm participatory trials revealed that wheat yield under relay seeding on average increased by 6.4% compared to CTW.