STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF ZERO- TILL HAPPY SEEDER UNDER DIFFERENT SOIL CONDITIONS OF ANDHRA PRADESH
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Date
2023-05-11
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ACHARYA NG RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
Abstract
After the harvest of crop, the disposal of the rice stubble is a notable area of interest in all the growing areas of rice. The main reason of crop residue burning is the creation of narrow gap between the harvesting of paddy and sowing of next crop. During the harvesting of paddy, the large units of harvesters leave 8-10 cm of paddy stalk and removal of this stuff is a labour intensive process. Till date, the farmers are following traditional method burning crop residues followed by clearing burnt matter by tree bushes, dibbling operation for punching holes and manual sowing of pulses and cereals especially paddy in south India, mainly the rice growing areas of Andhra Pradesh region which in turn has a significant negative impact on people’s health, regional climate and crop output. The present study conducted at Research Farm of Dr. NTR College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla.
The Happy Seeder was tested to find the suitability of crops like black gram, green gram and Maize in different soils of the locality. Different performance parameters such as plant height, theoretical and effective field capacity, draft, field efficiency, ground wheel slippage, speed index, germination percentage were measured. However, the machine is unable to cover the furrow after dropping of seeds which may affect the germination percentage of the seeds. Hence, developed a suitable furrow closer of furrow closers for happy seeder which is a small but needy thing for closing the furrows to increase seed- soil contact to get good germination. Developed furrow closers like L-Type at 30° and 120° inclination, roller type and double wheel type were evaluated and statistical analysis was applied to depict the furrow coverage of different furrow closers. L-Type blade with120° inclination and double wheel type gave the best results of furrow coverage. Happy Seeder was evaluated in three different types of soils namely sandy, clay loam and sandy taking three crops as reference black gram, green gram and maize in the Andhra Pradesh region for its feasibility.
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It was found that high field efficiency of 63% was obtained in sandy soil at an operating speed of 3 km h-1 and low in black soil with 60%. The ground drive wheel slip of Happy Seeder was found more in sandy soil with 6.5% because of low resistance produced in the lugs of ground wheel causing more slip whereas in clay loam it was less i.e. 3.5% due to more traction provided to the lugs due its compact soil structure.
The maximum draft observed was 6.64kN at a depth of 7.2 cm in black soil whereas in case of sandy soil, it was 4.68kN at a depth of 6.7cm and in clay loam soil it was 5.42 kN at a depth of 6.3cm. The speed index was found more in sandy soil i.e. 0.25 indicating less clogging of soil in the straw management rotor followed by clay loam with speed index of 0.19 and black soil with a value of 0.17. The optimum speed of 3 km h-1 obtained the best results of field efficiency, fuel consumption and ground wheel slip in sandy, clay loam and black soil. Plant height of green gram, black gram and maize was almost more or less equal to that of traditional method compared to Happy Seeder technology.
The overall cost of operation for Zero-Till Happy Seeder was Rs.975.24 /- per hour whereas for paddy- maize traditional method it was Rs. 1143 /- per hour and for paddy- pulse traditional method it was Rs 859.6/- per hour. There was a saving of 100%, 6.6%, 75%, 50% and 33.3% in Happy Seeder method compared to traditional method of paddy-pulse cultivation in terms of tillage operations, fuel consumed, man and machine hours and number of irrigations, respectively and saving of 2.3%, 87.5%, 50%, and 33.3% in Happy Seeder method compared to traditional method of paddy- maize cultivation in terms of fuel consumed, man and machine hours and number of irrigations, respectively. It was concluded that to make the Happy Seeder feasible in the Andhra region, the use of rotary slasher after combine harvesting of paddy.
Keywords: Zero-Till Happy Seeder, Germination percentage, Ground wheel slippage, Speed Index. Rotary Slasher
Description
STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF ZERO- TILL HAPPY SEEDER UNDER DIFFERENT SOIL CONDITIONS OF ANDHRA PRADESH