Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

Sowing has a dominant effect on germination of seed, plant growth, plant population in the field and ultimately on the total production. Electronic metering mechanism may be one of the options to achieve accurate seed spacing for small and marginal farmers who uses animal as a source of power. The seed rate during calibration in laboratory for three crops (soybean, pigeonpea and maize) at 3.0 km/h were recorded as 22.82 kg/ha, 12.08 kg/ha and 20.0 kg/ha, respectively. RSM analysis provided 13 different treatment combinations at three levels of angle of pull (20degree, 25degree, 30degree) and at three levels of angle of penetration (20degree, 25degree, 30degree). The theoretical field capacity was found between 0.504 ha/h to 0.525 ha/h. The effective field capacity was found between 0.352-0.383 ha/h. The field efficiency was found between 70.00-73.00 %. The draft and power requirement were obtained in range of 58.52 to 70.48 kgf and 0.630 hp to 0.743 hp, respectively. Depth of seed placement and uncover furrow were observed between 4.7 to 7.8 cm and 0.4 cm to 5.2 cm, respectively. After analysis of data, optimization of the design was worked out. The most desirable level of angle of pull was 30degree and angle of penetration was 20degree. The missing and multiple per cent were recorded between 5.00 % to 8.30 % and 3.33 % to 6.67 %, respectively. Plant to plant spacing of soybean, pigeonpea, maize crop was observed 10.9, 20.9 and 20.8 cm, respectively.