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Open Access
PERFORMANCE STUDY OF DISC COULTERS FOR CUTTING PADDY STRAW IN TEST SOIL BIN
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) DHUPAL, GEETANJALI; Dash, Dr. Rama Chandra; Behera, Dr.D
Combine harvesting of paddy and wheat is a common practice leaving large amount of crop residues in the fields. The turnaround time between paddy and wheat is less resulting in increase in demand of no-till drills. Proper seed placement is very important factor in any crop production system. The basic problem associated with seed placement under no-till and direct drilling of paddy straw residue is the accumulation and wrapping of loose straw on the tynes and frames of no-till drills. Hence, use of disc rolling coulter may be considered as an option for effective management of paddy straw, as it cut trashes, crop residues to enhance performance of tyne and sweep type implements and help the furrow opener to create a clean slot for seed placement. The present research work was undertaken to evaluate the performance of three plain disc rolling coulters on cutting of paddy straw in the laboratory soil bin at three different forward speeds of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km/h, depth of cut of 40, 50 and 60 mm and straw density of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 ton/ha. The soil condition of the harvested paddy field was simulated in the test soil bin for the study. The performance of the coulter was evaluated in terms of draft requirement and cutting percentage of paddy straw. Four factors complete randomized design was used in the study. Observations and analysis of data indicated that the draft requirement of coulters increased with the increase in the depth of cut and diameter of coulter. Minimum draft of 141 N was recorded for smallest diameter coulter and maximum draft of 156.94 N was observed for largest diameter of coulter. Mean draft requirement of the coulter was 139.33 N at straw density of 1.0 ton/ha while the draft requirement was 158.56 N at straw density of 3.0 ton/ha. Thus, there was an increase of 13.81% draft as the straw density increased from 1.0-3.0 ton/ha. Mean value of the straw cutting percentage for 300 mm diameter coulter was 65.78 whereas straw cutting percentage was 97.48 for 460 mm diameter of coulter resulting in 48.20% increase in the straw cutting. Coulter C having largest diameter of 460 mm achieved highest percentage of straw cut at all levels of depth of operation followed by 380 and 300 mm diameter of coulter, respectively. Increasing the forward speed from 1.0 to 2.0 km/h decreased the straw cutting by 7.12 per cent. Increasing the straw density from 1.0 to 3.0 ton/ha decreased the percentage of straw cutting by 18.72 percent. Mean draft requirements of 300, 380 and 460 mm diameter coulters increased by 16.70, 19.19 and 22.37%, respectively, when operating with straw than without straw.
Open Access
DEVELOPMENT OF A POWER TILLER OPERATED AUTO FEED POTATO PLANTER
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) POOJA, PRAGYA PARMITA; Pradhan, Dr. Padma Lochan; Behera, Dr.D
Potato is one of the most important food crop of world as well as in India and Odisha. Tuber potato is being cultivated manually in Odisha, which represent 85% of total cultivated potato area. Manual method of potato planting is very slow, tedious and labour intensive which is a major problem in cultivation. To perform timely operations mechanization plays an important role. The land patterns of Odisha are fragmented type. Power tillers are being widely used Odisha in recent years. So, to overcome the above problem, a study has been conducted on the project title “Development of a power tiller operated auto feed potato planter”. To achieve the objectives, an auto feed type prototype potato planter was developed that comprises of main frame, seed metering unit, hopper, seed delivery duct, furrow opener, ground wheel and a covering device. The prototype planter was first tested in laboratory to optimise the forward speed (four nos.) with three different ground wheel. Three different ground wheel were taken to get different belt speed with respect to the forward speed. The developed potato planter was evaluated in laboratory to test the metering unit considering average spacing, coefficient of seed uniformity, miss index, multiple index and quality of feed index. Optimum result with respect to average spacing, seed uniformity, miss index, multiple index was quality of feed index was achieved at forward speed of 1.2 km/h and the seed conveyer belt speed corresponding to 420 mm diameter ground wheel. Average spacing was found to be 23.96 cm. Seed uniformity was found to be 91.51 per cent .Quality of feed index was found to be 91.90 percent. Miss index was found to be 3.60. Multiple index was found to be 4.50 percent .Field evaluation of the potato planter was conducted by taking 420 mm diameter ground wheel at a forward speed of 1.23 km/h. The actual field capacity was found to be 0.051 ha/h with a field efficiency of 67.6 percent .The payback period of the potato planter was calculated to be 67 hours considering the cost of the planter unit only. The cost of the prototype potato planter was calculated as Rs 15,100. The cost of operation of power tiller operated potato planter was found to be Rs 285/- per hour. Comparison was made with traditional manual method of planting. There is a saving of Ra 4412/ha by planting with power tiller operated planter as compared to traditional practice.
Open Access
Development of a decision support system for optimum selection of power source for paddy groundnut cropping system
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) Sahu, Sharmistha; Behera, Dr. Debaraj; Behera, Dr.D
Mechanization of farming sector is the need of the hour to accomplish timely completion of agricultural operations, reduce the cost of operation, lessen the drudgery and above all achieve enhancement in production and productivity of the farms. Looking at the acute shortage of labour in farm sector, the entire gamut of farm operation starting from land preparation to harvesting and threshing of the crops need to be mechanized in order to increase crop yield and thereby increasing the income of the farmers. For increasing the level of mechanization proper selection of farm power is the most important component. At present various makes and models of tractors and power tillers are commercially available in the market. Today a farmer has a number of options to select a particular power source. Under this circumstance, the selection of a power source should be such that the farm operations are to be completed in time because delay of a particular operation reduces the yield considerably and suitability for the farm operations and its availability in that area. Presently the farmers generally select a tractor/power tiller on the basis of the suggestions of the dealers/manufactures or other neighbouring farmers. Therefore, sometimes it results in selection of an under sized or oversized power source leading to huge capital losses. The selection of farm power in a rational and scientific way requires synthesis of large amount of information on the basis of which such decision can be taken. These information includes type of crops, crop intensity, soil type, type of tractor and machinery available, labour availability and their wages. The process is complex and tedious as it requires a lot of computational work. Thus a decision support system (DSS) software was developed using PHP programming language for the optimum selection of farm power. The purpose of the study was developing the software for mechanized operations and its application in paddy-groundnut crop rotation for Odisha. The DSS was tested in two stages, first was sensitivity analysis by changing inputs of the program and second was to compare the predicted power with available power of the surveyed farmers. The study revealed that prediction of power sources is less than 15hp for small and semi medium farmers, the power demand is fulfilled by a power tiller. For medium farmers the optimum power requirement is less than 35hp and beyond 35 hp power is required by large farmers.
Open Access
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF RAGI THRESHER-CUM-PEARLER OPERATED BY BULLOCK POWER IN ROTARY MODE
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) SIAL, SANJAY KUMAR; Swain, Dr. Sangram Keshari; Behera, Dr.D
Small millets are a group of six crops comprising of finger millet, kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet and proso millet which are extensively cultivated by resource poor small and marginal farmers. Generally finger millet crop is harvested manually and transported to threshing yard, where it is threshed either by beating the crop manually with sticks or by foot trampling method which was very labor oriented, tedious, uneconomical and low food value product due to the presence of foreign particle but also leading to considerable amount of loss of grain during the threshing process. It has been aimed to operate the ragi thresher cum pearler by a pair of bullocks in rotary mode. To reduce the economic burden of owning a pair of bullocks, the annual utilization hour is to be increased which can be possible if the bullocks will be used for post harvest and agro processing operations with matching gadgets through rotary gear system. The development of bullock power operated thresher-cumpearler for finger millet would reduce the mixing of foreign materials like stone, dust, sand, dung and urine of animals inadvertently during threshing on farm-floors, roads etc using any of the traditional methods of threshing. The basic considerations for development of a ragi thresher cum pearler were taken into account and the conceptual model of the ragi thresher cum pearler was developed using CATIA V5 software. The principle of threshing and pearling actions were impact and shear by a series of stud type threshing elements and a series of canvas strips respectively which were fitted alternatively on the surface of the threshing cylinder. The stress analysis of the model of the ragi thresher cum pearler was done with ANSYS R18.0 software using Finite Element Method. A feed-in type ragi thresher cum pearler having a threshing cylinder, an oscillating screen and two set of aspirator was developed. The output of the machine was varied in between 79.30 to 89.80 kg h-1 and it was observed that the output was having significant effect by all the three independent parameter of moisture content, concave clearance and threshing cylinder speed. The threshing efficiency was in the range of 88.99 to 92.48 per cent and it was increased directly with increase in cylinder speed but it was decrease with the increase in concave clearance and moisture content of ear head. Similarly, the cleaning efficiency was within the range of 90.85 to 92.88 per cent whereas the cleaning efficiency decreases with the increase in concave clearance. The grain breakage was higher at higher peripheral speed, lower concave clearance and lower moisture content. The breakage percentage was within the range of 1.17 to 2.02 per cent. The total operating cost of the machine operated in rotary mode was calculated as Rs 124 /h and the operating cost for threshing one kg of ragi by the developed ragi thresher-cum-pearler was calculated as Rs 1.44/kg when operated with the help of single phase 1 hp motor the total operating cost of machine was Rs. 76.56 per hour and 0.88 per kg of ragi grain. In case of traditional method it was coming around Rs. 26.65 per hour and Rs. 5.24 per kg for hand beating method but in case of foot trampling method it was about Rs. 4.20 which is costlier as compare to the developed thresher cum pearler.
Open Access
DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANICAL FEEDING SYSTEM FOR TRACTOR OPERATED AXIAL FLOW PADDY THRESHER
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) Sethi, Mayabati; Mahapatra, Dr. M; Behera, Dr.D
Tractor operated axial flow paddy threshers have become popular in Odisha in last few years. Though these machines have reduced the time of threshing to considerable level, safety and comfort of operators still remains a problem. A foldable platform is provided in the axial flow threshers on which a person is to stand on the platform and feed the unthreshed crop into the feeding chute of the thresher. Another two persons manually supply the unthreshed crop to the man standing on the platform. In this method of feeding, first of all the feeder is exposed to high level of whole body vibration (4-5 m/s2) as against the permissible level of vibration (1.15m/s2) which causes serious health hazards. Secondly, the percentage utilization of threshing drum is very less in case of manual feeding. The threshing drum of this type of threshers remains idle for more than 50% of time causing less threshing capacity (Harrington 1970). To get rid of these limitations, a 2737 mm long and 250 mm wide flat belt type endless conveyor with pressing roller of diameter 120 mm was developed for tractor operated axial flow thresher. The performance evaluation of thresher was carried out with three feeds (22.01 q/ h, 25.90 q/h and 29.7 q/h) with seven replications. It was observed that threshing capacity increased significantly with increase of feed rate from 22.01 q/h to 29.78 q/h. However, at feed rate 0f 29.78 q/h (F3), higher percentage of unthreshed grain (0.84%) and broken grain (0.69%) was observed. The percentage of unthreshed grain and broken grain at feed rate of 29.78 q/h (F3) was found to be unacceptable. Therefore, the performance of thresher was found to be better in feed rate 25.90 q/h (F2). At this feed rate the threshing capacity, broken grain percentage, unthreshed grain percentage, cleaning efficiency and threshing efficiency was found to be 11.85 q/h, 0.658%, 0.759%, 98.237% and 99.006% respectively. With the mechanical feeding system fitted to the axial flow thresher, the threshing capacity increased by 14% over existing thresher. There was cost saving of 13% and labour saving of 50% over earlier practice. In addition to this, the problem of transmission of vibration to worker was completely eliminated.
Open Access
Modification and performance evaluation of power weeder for groundnut crop
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) Jena, Jayshree; Goel, Dr. Aswini Kumar; Behera, Dr.D
Groundnut is major oil seed crop in Odisha and is grown in almost all states of India and the state of Odisha contributes 267.68 thousand hectare in groundnut cultivation. Weeding is major problems in groundnut crop that needs to be addressed. Though many types of mechanical weeders are available for vegetable crops, no suitable power weeder is available for groundnut crop. Hence, an attempt has been taken to modify this weeder with some changes in functional parameters. The power requirement of the weeder was first calculated for fabrication of the weeder and on the basis of calculation, one 1.80 hp petrol engine has been taken for the weeder. Hatchet type blades were developed which are proportionate with the existing hatchet type blades of power tiller. The stress analysis of blades were carried out to know the maximum stress points so that these points can be strengthened by hardening. It was found that the maximum stress occurred at the point of bolting with the flange which needs proper hardening. The field evaluation of the developed weeder was conducted for weeding in groundnut crop at three levels of soil moisture content (9.8, 12.2 and 14.5%) and three levels of speed (1.6,1.85 and 2.3 km/h). The performance parameters like width of operation, depth of operation, plant damage, weeding index, field capacity and field efficiency were measured. The cost of weeding with the existing weeder was also determined and compared with the conventional manual weeding. The highest plant damage was observed at higher speed of operation (2.3 km/h) varying from 8.65 to 9.10% when soil moisture content varying from 9.8 to 14.5%. It is seen that as speed of operation increases, the plant damage percentage increases for all three levels of moisture content. The depth of operation of weeder was maximum at lower speed of operation of 1.6 km/h at all three levels of soil moisture contents. It was observed that the field capacity were maximum at higher speed of operation of 2.3 km/h at all three levels of moisture content. In general, field capacity increases with increase in speed for all three levels of moisture content. The highest weeding index of 78 % was achieved at lower speed of operation of 1.6 km/h while the lowest weeding index of 62.57% at 2.30 km/h speed. The highest field efficiency of 76.82 % was achieved at higher speed of operation of 2.3 km/h and at 12.2 % moisture content while the lowest field efficiency of 63.97% in 1.6 km/h speed and at 9.8 % moisture content. The cost of operation of the power weeder was found to be Rs 90/- per hour and the cost of weeding was found to be Rs. 1023/- per ha as against Rs 6000/- per ha in conventional manual weeding.
Open Access
STUDIES ON CHAR RECOVERY AND FUEL CHARACTERISTICS OF BIO COAL FROM TENDER COCONUT
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) Roy, Kingshuk; Ghosal, Dr. Manoj Kumar; Behera, Dr.D
Charcoal is a premium fuel that is widely being used in many developing countries to meet the household as well as a variety of other needs. Charcoal is basically prepared from the firewood following carbonization process in traditional and inefficient soil covered kiln. Due to scarcity in the availability and rising cost of fire wood, substitution of wood charcoal by bio coal, i.e., briquetted char and an alternative fuel for fossil coal, obtained from agricultural and forestry residues appears to be an attractive means to meet the traditional fuel crisis faced at present in many developing countries. Being an agricultural based country, a huge quantity of surplus agro-residues are underutilized annually in India as well as in Odisha causing adverse effects on the environment. One such neglected agro-residue i.e. tender coconut, which is usually being used as fuel after drying and direct burning, can be a good source of residues to obtain an energy rich, clean and solid bio fuel by following carbonization-briquetting (CB) process, as this raw material is plentily available in the state of Odisha. An investigation was undertaken to study the feasibility of preparing fuel briquettes from the underutilized tender coconut for its application as an user friendly fuel specially for domestic cooking purpose. During the study, tender coconut was cut into pieces, dried and charred in the charring drum following the carbonization process. The char was used to prepare briquettes with and without binding materials. The binding materials such as cow dung, kitchen waste, food waste, grass and paper waste slurry were selected for the study as per their availability locally and easily. Briquettes were prepared both through hand press method and using a manually operated briquetting machine. Experiments were carried out to study the char recovery percent, physical, chemical and fuel characteristics of bio coal for its suitability as a durable, energy rich, clean, user friendly and a quality as well as substitute fuel for the coal. Harmful pollutants emitted from the burning of bio coals with various binding materials under study were also recorded with the help of a gas analyzer and compared with the dried raw tender coconut through direct combustion by using a solar powered forced draft improved biomass cook stove in all the cases. Based on the experimental observations, the following major conclusions were drawn i. The char recovery percent during charring process was found to be 94.82% following 16 minutes burning time and allowing 3 hours of charring process to continue ii. Considering durability, strength, calorific value and harmful emissions, the bio coal with cow dung as binding material was found to more suitable followed by kitchen waste, food waste, grass and paper waste slurry. iii. The hourly cost of manually operated biomass briquetting machine and its pay-back period was respectively Rs.46 and 8 months indicating its acceptability among small and marginal farmers.
Open Access
MODIFICATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POWER WEEDER FOR WETLAND PADDY
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) CHANAKYAN, C; Mohanty, Dr. S.K; Behera, Dr. D
Weeds are one of the foremost complications in rice farming. Weeds decrease the yield 20 to 50 per cent which is influenced by weeding time, density and species, so timely weeding is operation essential for rice crop. Mechanical weeders like cono weeder, mandwa weeder are time consuming and drudgery prone in operation. The usage of power weeder is necessary for reducing drudgery and timely operation. The available paddy power weeder is Garuda paddy power weeder. During preliminary evaluation it was observed that the operators felt more vibration in the field operation. This may due to type of rotary blade used. L type rotary blade is generally used in the existing weeders. Keeping the above points in view, the present study was taken to modify the rotary blade and performance evaluation of power weeder for wetland paddy. The hatchet type rotary blade is designed and fabricated. Static simulation analysis was done for both the rotary blades. Existing L type blade and designed hatchet blade were tested in test soil bin at three rotor speeds of 150,180 & 210 rpm and forward velocities of 1.2, 1.5 & 1.8 km/h respectively in sandy loam soil. Field performance evaluation and vibration measurement was also conducted. The plot distribution results shown that the hatchet type blade has less stress, strain and displacement formation than L type blade. The minimum torque 0.296 N-m was observed in hatchet type blade at 1.2 km/h and maximum torque 0.783 N-m was observed in L type at 1.8 km/h. The minimum power consumption 0.725 kW observed in hatchet blade at 1.2 km/h and maximum power consumption 2.740 kW at 1.8 km/h. The L blade has maximum field efficiency of 76 per cent at 1.6 km/h followed by hatchet blade has 75.7 per cent of maximum field efficiency. The hatchet blade has minimum fuel consumption of 0.96 l/ha and 1.02 l/ha at 1.2 km/h and 1.6 km/h respectively. The hatchet blade has maximum weeding efficiency of 85.5 per cent at 1.6 km/h followed by 82.7 percent at 1.2 km/h. The hatchet blade has minimum plant damage of 3.2 per cent at 1.2 km/h followed by 3.7 per cent at 1.6 km/h respectively. The hatchet blade has maximum performance index of 194.5 at 1.6 km/h followed by L blade of 188.8 at 1.6km/h. The hatchet blade has minimum heart rate of 143 beats/min at 1.2km/h followed by 150 beats/min at 1.6 km/h respectively. The hatchet blade has minimum VO2 consumption of 0.88 l/min followed by the 0.95 l/min at 1.6 km/h and 1.2km/h respectively. The Hatchet type blade has minimum energy expenditure rate of 18.5 kJ/min at 1.2km/h followed by L type 19.9 kJ/min at 1.6 km/h. The body part feeling maximum discomfort were left shoulder, right shoulder, left wrist, right wrist, left leg, right leg, left elbow, right elbow, left thigh and right thigh region during weeding operation evaluated using 10 point visual analog discomfort . The hatchet blade has minimum overall acceleration of 0.99m/s2 at 1.2 km/h followed by hatchet type blade has 1.10 m/s2 at 1.6 km/h
Open Access
DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSOR BASED AUTOMATED DRIP IRRIGATION MODULE
(CAET, OUAT, 2018) Yadav, Rashmi; Sahu, Dr. A.P.; Panigrahi, Dr. Balaram
Water is essential for agricultural production and food security. There is a need of saving water and utilize it in efficient manner. Knowing the status of soil moisture and applying the right amount of water to the crop at right time can result in efficient use of water and better crop production. Hence, accurate measurement of soil moisture is of utmost importance and can be helpful in proper scheduling of irrigation to the crops. It can also prevent both under and over irrigation thus conservation of precious water and maximization of crop production is possible. Now-a-days, the soil moisture in the field is being observed using digital soil moisture sensors for better accuracy and instant measurement. Most of the currently commercialized soil moisture sensors tend to have good accuracy by sacrificing cost reduction as they have been developed for research use. The soil moisture sensors available in the market have small double or single probes and most of them have maximum of 5 cm length, which may not be suitable for medium and deep rooted crops. The present study was undertaken to develop a low cost sensor based automated drip irrigation module for irrigation automation. A soil moisture sensor having 30 cm probe length and 1.25 cm diameter made of copper was developed, calibrated and evaluated for its performance. The statistical indicators revealed low RMSE value of 1.02, 1.013, and 1.022 in three different soils indicating the better performance of the developed sensor. The Nash Sutcliff Efficiency and the Coefficient of Determination (R2) were also found to be 0.90, 0.90, 0.89 and 0.92, 0.91, 0.90 respectively. The correctness coefficient of the soil moisture sensor was found to be in the range ± 1.02percent. The automated drip irrigation module was developed through integration of the developed soil moisture sensor and soil parameters in the Arduino platform. The system switches ON the motor when the moisture content of soil is less than the field capacity or the desired set value. The controller unit of the module activates the relay valve and sends signal to the motor to run. When the required moisture content in the field is reached, the controller unit turns the motor OFF automatically. The developed sensor based automated drip irrigation module can be used by the farmers for irrigating their fields automatically supplying required quantity of water to the field at right time. The system can also be used for deficit irrigation.

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