Development and evaluation of metering mechanism of tractor operated maize planter
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Date
2017
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L) is the important cereal crop grown throughout the country. Mechanical planting of maize can help in saving of labour and time. Seeding with conventional practices results in the non-uniform plant population which adversely affect the yield. Three varieties of maize seed namely PMH-1, PMH-10 and PIONEER-3396 which are sown on large area in country where select to develop a metering mechanism of maize planter. Physical properties of seed of three verities, which were important from engineering point of view, were studied to fabricate cell size of metering plate. Three plates having different shape and size of cells were fabricated. Performance was evaluated on the basis of average seed spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality feed index and seed rate. Performance evaluation of developed seed metering plates (P1, P2 and P3) was conducted at three angle of inclinations (45º, 50º and 55º) and four forward speeds (2, 3, 4 and 5 km/h) to find optimum combination of those operating and machine parameter for better performance of planting based on average spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality in feed index and seed rate. The quality of feed index was found higher at combination of P1 ϴ2 S2 for seed all three varieties (PMH-1, PMH-10 and PIONEER-3396) respectively. The performance of the machine was found better in average seed spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality in feed index and seed rate than conventional inclined plate planter due to lower height of seed drop and proper placement and pressing of seed by independent press wheels.
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