Design and Testing of Power Tiller Driven 2-Rows Reduced Tillage Maize Planter
Keywords:
Design, Reduced Maize Planter, inclined cell plate type metering mechanism, field capacity, economicAbstract
The indigenous methods adopted for planting maize are not only labor intensive, but also time consuming and expensive. Inadequate plant density and delayed planting are the major yield limiting factors in maize. The Minimum and Zero tillage technologies had been successfully adopted to sort out above problems in the maize production. In this study, a reduced maize planter was designed based on design survey, fabricated, modified and its performance was tested under both laboratory and field conditions using 12 hp power tiller in the workshop of research fields of the station. The design of planter consists of two cylindrical seed hoppers of 0.5 ha. capacity, an inclined (14 degree) cell plate type seed metering device having cell no.=24 and cell dia.=9mm, a pair of seed tube, a pair of adjustable furrow opener (hoe type) and a handle which engage or disengage the bevel gear (gear teeth ratio=10:16, final transmission ratio=3:10). Power transmission occur through axial of power tiller with the help of chain and sprocket which further transmitted to metering device by bevel gears. The cost of fabrication of planter was NRs 23000/-. The planter can be operated both in tilled and no-tilled conditions of fields with singulation and no breakage of graded seed with plant to plant spacing=25 cm (adjustable), row to row spacing =60 cm(adjustable) and depth of planting =3-5 cm. The seed rate was about 20 kg/ha. and the germination was 98 %. The actual field capacity was 0.18 ha. /hr. at speed of 2 km/hr. and with field efficiency of 70% which save 40 % time compared to conventional method. The total cost of sowing (NRs 1725/ha) was found to be 77% cheaper than the traditional method of sowing (@ NRs 7500/ha).
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