PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF PNEUMATIC PLANTER FOR PEAS PLANTING

In Pakistan, the pea is one of the leading and popular vegetables grown. Peas are usually sown manually by placing seeds one by one or by broadcasting method. Manual placing is very arduous and time-consuming practice, which limits the pea planting acreage. The broadcasting requires more seed rate causing high input cost. The local farmers were in a dire need of a planter for pea cultivation. The aim of this study was to evaluate a pneumatic pea planter in the field developed by a local manufacturer under the supervision of Agricultural Engineering Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. It was a four-row pneumatic planter. It makes two beds of 0.76 m wide and plants four rows of peas on both ends of the raised beds 5 cm deep. Initially, row to row distance was kept fixed to 0.76 m, however, plant to plant distance was adjustable from 6 to 20 cm by using different combinations of sprockets or by changing the seed metering plate having different number of holes. The working width of the planter was 3 m and can be operated with a 65 hp or higher tractor. The seed sticks well against the holes of seed metering plate due to air suction pressure, when the aspirator blower is operated at 400 to 540 rpm of tractor PTO. The planter was field evaluated at Gujranwala and compared with manual sowing and broadcasting methods. The actual field capacity of the planter was 0.45 ha/h with a field efficiency of 58.6%, when operated in low-I tractor gear and at 1800 engine rpm. The pea planting cost by manual seed placement and broadcasting methods was Rs. 14,940 and Rs. 5,240 per hectare, respectively. The operating cost of the planter was Rs. 3,015, which was 395.52 and 73.8% lower than the manual seed placement and broadcasting methods, respectively. By using pea planter, a farmer can achieve Rs. 64,855 and 21,325 more benefit from one hectare than manual seed placement and broadcasting methods, respectively. Timely sowing, quality of work and less drudgery were additional vital benefits to the farmer using this machine. Similarly, the seed cost was reduced by 291.9% as compared with broadcasting method. In the first version of planter, the row spacing was more than the farmers' used spacing, therefore, plant population was less than recommended. In future manufacturing, the row to row distance would be decreased to get optimum plant density and a higher yield. The pea planter is a good initiative for improving vegetable mechanisation of the country.