Ajay Verma and Prabhat Kumar Guru
Abstract
The prototype cultivator-cum-seed drill was designed, fabricated and tested for sowing of paddy. The machine consisted of cultivator frame, tines, seed box, seed tubes, metering mechanism, power transmission unit, furrow opener and hitching attachments. The drawings were prepared using CAD software. At the average working speed of 3.8 km/h of tractor drawn cultivator, depth of operation was found 129 mm, average weed efficiency was found 76.42%, effective field capacity was found 0.826 ha/h with field efficiency of 87.40 %. The cost of operation and energy requirement of cultivator was found to be Rs 387 per ha and 241 MJ/ha. The seed rate of cultivator-cum-seed drill was found to be 80.87 kg/ha when flute exposure was 15 mm. At the average working speed of 3.09 km/h, the effective field capacity of the cultivator-cum seed drill was 0.537 ha/h with field efficiency of 82.8 %. Average plant population per m2 was found to be 280. The cost of operation and energy requirement for cultivator-cum-seed drill was found Rs 591per ha and 320.58 MJ/ha.