Development and Performance Evaluation of Multi Crop Planter in Bt Cotton and DSR

A tractor drawn multi-crop planter was developed and evaluated with provision of sowing all major cereal crops, pulses and oilseeds at desired row to row as well as seed to seed spacing especially for paddy by direct seeding technique and Bt Cotton. The machine had provision of chain sprocket arrangement for power transmission through a gear box with varying speed ratio of 1.6 to 4.5 times reduction from ground wheel to seed metering plate. The seed metering plate had varying number of cells and cell size to match recommended spacing of major crops. The speed reduction of ground wheel to fertilizer metering shaft was 2.3 : 1. The fertilizer hopper has inclinations for accomplishing easy emptying and better utilization of fertilizer from hopper to fertilizer box having vertical roller discs with eight cells in each disc. For small seeded crops, separate seed hopper and seed metering mechanism/attachment with six vertical roller discs each having 8 cells on its periphery was also provided. The performance evaluation of developed prototype was carried out under field condition for Bt Cotton and direct seeding of rice (DSR) during 2011 and 2012. The effective field capacity of machine for the crops was 0.50 ha h(-1) and 0.45ha h(-1) respectively at an average forward speed of 3 km h(-1). The field efficiencies were 61 percent and 83 percent, respectively. The distribution of plants in rows and crop response at field indicated that mean plant spacing was 48 cm and 10 cm with a quality of feeding index as 77 percent and 78 percent for Bt Cotton and DSR crop, respectively. The missing index and multiplying index recorded in Bt Cotton were 15 and 8 percent respectively, whereas it was 16 and 6 percent in DSR crop. The precision in spacing observed was 6.3 percent and 7.1 percent in Bt Cotton and DSR respectively. The cost of operation for Bt Cotton and DSR crop was Rs.700 ha(-1) and Rs. 777 ha(-1) respectively.