Design, development and evaluation of tractor operated seeder for mat type paddy nursery
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
A tractor operated seeder for mat type paddy nursery was designed, developed and
evaluated. The machine cuts soil from both sides and transfers it through the inclined belt
conveyor to the horizontally placed soil conveying auger which distributes the soil equally on
the sieving system. The sieving system drops the soil into the hopper of soil distribution unit
placed beneath it. Before soil distribution unit, a soil compaction roller fitted at front of the
machine compacts the soil surface. Polythene sheet roller was provided to lay downs the
polythene sheet on this compacted soil surface. Soil hopper has a soil metering roller which
drops the soil at a uniform thickness on the laid polythene sheet. Simultaneously, seed
metering mechanism placed rear of soil distributing unit distributes the seed on the prepared
soil bed in a uniform manner in one go. The machine was evaluated in the
laboratory/controlled field conditions at three level of sieve oscillation (238, 318 and 398
spm), two level of sieve opening size (25×20 and 50×25 mm) and for two depth of soil cut
(40 and 80 mm). These independent parameters significantly affected the dependent
parameters namely seed spread, soil mat thickness and pulverization index at 5% level of
significance, whereas seed damage and plastic sheet damage were non-significant. The higher
overall seed spread at the middle bite of transplanter cut was 91.00 % and overall soil mat
thickness at 950 mm bed width was 92.93 % corresponding to the best operational parameter
combination of sieve oscillations 398 spm, sieve opening size of 25×20 mm and depth of soil
cut of 80 mm. The pulverization index was 2.01 mm whereas, seed damage and plastic sheet
damage was negligible. The field evaluation was conducted at these operational settings of
the machine on three soil types (sandy loam, loam and silt loam) at three forward speeds 1.7,
2.2 and 2.7 km/h. The soil type had a non-significant effect whereas forward speed
significantly affected the performance of the machine at 5 % level of significance. Best results
were obtained at a forward speed of 1.7 km/h for 950 mm bed. At these operational
parameters the mean overall seed spread was 90.93 %, mean overall soil mat thickness 97.88
%, seed germination 89.73 %, fuel consumption 4.36 l/h and effective field capacity 0.11
ha/h.
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Citation
Modi, Rajesh Uttreshawar (2020). Design, development and evaluation of tractor operated seeder for mat type paddy nursery (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.