DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF GARLIC PLANTER.
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Date
2019-08-26
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola
Abstract
The modern method of sowing is planting with the help of planter. Planter is a device that deposits seeds at equal distance in rows at specified rates and covers them with soil, so it is the time to have the machine which can perform function of planter and raised bed former in one combine unit. Considering the lack of appropriate planting, cultivation and harvesting machinery for mechanized garlic production, it is still grown in relatively small fields using traditional method. It requires about 60-65 man days to sow one hectare which costs around Rs. 16250 per ha. Therefore, in this study an innovatively designed tractor operated, ground wheel driven, ten row raised bed, crop precision planter capable of planting ten rows of garlic cloves at a spacing of 10×15 cm was designed, fabricated and tested at Department of Farm Power and Machinery, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dr. PDKV, Akola.
During the course of experiment, efforts were made to study biophysical characteristics of garlic cloves in terms of size, unit mass, bulk density and angle of repose. Laboratory test for germination percentage was also carried out. For finalization of metering mechanism three different types of metering mechanisms viz. cup type, spoon type and inclined plate of metering mechanism were tested on sticky belt set up and considering the performance of each metering mechanism with respect to average seed spacing, miss index, multiple index, and damage percentage for the forward speed of 1.8, 2.65 and 3.10 km/h. From these experiments, spoon type mechanism was found to have better performance than cup type and inclined plate mechanism. Hence spoon type mechanism was selected and its size was optimized by considering three different sizes of spoon for agri-found G-41 variety. The selected spoon size based on its performance was used in metering mechanism of prototype and was tested for its performance in the field for theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity, field capacity, field efficiency, miss index, multiple index, germination percentage etc for three different speeds of 1.8, 2.6 and 3.1 km/h and for two bed heights of 20 and 30 cm.
The data obtained during the course of experiment were analyzed and based on results it is concluded that the tractor mounted, 10 row, raised bed precision planter was found suitable for planting graded garlic cloves on a raised bed of 2.1 m wide with the forward speed of 1.8 to 2.65 km/h for minimum multiple index, miss index, seed damage, fuel consumption, draft and power requirement.
Ten row raised bed garlic planter gives best results for 1.8 km/h speed and 20 cm bed height combination. The highest germination of 89 percent with lowest seed rate of 615 kg/ha was observed for the same combination. Lowest miss index of 10.51 per cent and multiple index of 3.14 per cent indicated better performance of the machine. More specifically with a theoretical spacing of 10 cm in the study only 3.14 percent of clove spacing was less than or equals to 5 cm. The level of multiple index is considered to be low and acceptable. This combination demands lowest power of 3.45 hp and gives highest field efficiency of 77 per cent.
The maximum germination percentage of 89 percent was recorded at forward speed of 1.8 km/h and 20 cm furrow depth suited to best soil moisture conservation practice. The minimum germination percentage of 65 percent was recorded at forward speed of 3.1 km/h and 30 cm furrow depth.
It was observed that there is saving in cost of operation by 78.12 per cent over traditional practices and saving in seed by 20 to 30 per cent with increase in yield by 25 to 30 per cent over traditional method.
Description
The present study was undertaken at college of agricultural engineering Dr PDKV Akola which deals with mechanization of garlic planting. Garlic has great demand in export market but due to lack of appropriate planting equipment, expensive payment for employment of man power to plant by hand also the acute shortage of man power availability at the time of sowing during the season, impose the limitation on the farm size and become a hurdle to increase the area under cultivation of garlic. This machine helps in reducing the cost and time of operation and helps in increasing the yield and quality due to raised bed planting.
Keywords
Agricultural engineering, Equipment, Planting equipment, Raised bed garlic planter, Metering mechanism, Multiple index, Miss index, Draft and power requirement,
Citation
SOLANKI, MISS. SMITA NATWARLAL. (2019). Design development and performance evaluation of garlic planter. Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Ph. D. 2019.xviii, 206p. (Unpublished).