Design, development and performance evaluation of deep soil volume Loosener-cum-Fertilizer applicator and its response on sugarcane ratoons
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Date
2010-04
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Publisher
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
An equipment named as ‘Deep Soil Volume Loosener-cum-Fertilizer Applicator’ was designed and developed with three main units viz. deep soil volume loosening unit, fertilizer metering and placement unit, and clod crusher unit. Deep soil volume loosening unit consisted of specially designed V-shaped tines mounted on a rectangular frame and positioned exactly behind the tractor rear tyres. The V-shaped tines deform the soil and place it at almost same location without inversion, thereby maintain original level of the field. It operates upto a depth of 300 mm and places fertilizers along both sides of V-tines at 200±50 mm depth. The fertilizer metering and placement unit consisted of four inverted-T openers with attachment for fertilizer conveying and placement, two fertilizer boxes of 75 kg each with independent metering system and a ground drive wheel for power transmission along with its accessories. The fertilizer could be applied at the rates varying from 250 to 1000 kg/ha. The third unit consisted of two floating arms spiked roller clod crushing units positioned behind each V-shaped tine for soil pulverization and consolidation of tilled soil for moisture conservation. The performance of developed equipment was evaluated in the laboratory for uniformity of fertilizer distribution and in the field for the measurement of draft, fuel consumption, field capacity, final field surface configuration etc. The laboratory evaluation of developed equipment showed its suitability for field use with uniformity coefficient of 94-97%. On the basis of field evaluation of developed equipment, the draft, soil disturbance, specific draft, wheel slippage, fuel consumption, field capacity and field efficiency were observed as 10.96 kN, 0.183 m2, 59.83 kN/m2, 17.37%, 11.13 l/h, 0.234 ha/h and 78%, respectively when working at its full depth (deep soil loosening at 300 mm and fertilizer placement tines at 200 mm depth) for 2.5 km/h forward speed of operation. The developed equipment gave least disturbance of field level in comparison to subsoiler and disk plough indicating its suitability for soil cultivation in laser levelled fields. The sugarcane ratoon was selected as a test crop for evaluation of developed equipment. Three sets of experiments were carried out in three different experimental fields for observing the effect of developed equipment on ratoon crop. In the first experiment, the increase in yield of second ratoon crop was found to vary in the range of 16-25% with the use of developed equipment over that of zero-till drill (Control). In the second experiment, subsoiling+ harrow/rotavator+ furrow application of fertilizer (FAF) in sugarcane plant crop followed by off-barring and fertilizer application with ZT-drill increased yield by 17-19%, whereas, subsoiling/cross-subsoiling+ fertilizer application with Pant-ICAR subsoiler in sugarcane plant crop followed by off-barring and soil loosening upto 300 mm and fertilizer placement at 200 mm depth by developed equipment increased yield by 21-30% than that of MB plough×1+ harrow×4+ FAF in sugarcane plant followed by broadcasting of fertilizer + manual mixing with spade in ratoon (Control). The first two experiments were carried out in same soil type (silty clay loam), variety (Co Pant 90223) and row spacing (750 mm). In the third experiment which was carried out in a farmer’s field in clay loam soil with cane variety CoS 8436 planted at 900×300 mm paired rows, the increase in ratoon yield was 7.7% with ZT-drill (fertilizer application at 120 mm depth), 18.8% with developed equipment (soil loosening upto 300 mm and fertilizer application at 120 mm depth) and 30.7% with developed equipment (soil loosening upto 300 mm and fertilizer application at 200 mm depth) in comparison to broadcasting of fertilizer+ mixing with rigid tine cultivator in ratoon crop (Control). Presently, the developed equipment is being extensively used by the farmers of Tarai region for sugarcane ratoon management and it is being patented through NRDC, New Delhi.
Description
Thesis-PhD
Keywords
sugarcane, farm machinery, fertilizer application, soil volume, rationing, ratoons, performance evaluation, design