Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important commercial crop that contributes virtually 80 per cent of raw material to textile industries. Initial stages of cotton cultivation i.e., sowing of cotton seeds involve large manpower (15%) and are tedious, causing fatigue, backache, high investment cost and energy consuming operation. A comparative study was conducted for combined operation of sowing of cotton seeds and fertilizer placement between mini tractor (25 HP) operated cotton planter cum fertilizer applicator developed at JAU, Junagadh and traditional method i.e., using farm labour and machinery. The performance of cotton planter cum fertilizer applicator for combine operation showed better outcome as compared to traditional sowing and fertilizer application method. The field efficiency for the mechanical method was observed as 84.52 % at an operating speed of 2.5-2.8 km/h. The field experiment revealed the comparative parameter viz., operational time, energy consumption and operational cost were found to be 4.69 man-h/ha, 249.02 MJ/ha and 1215.13 Rs/ha, respectively, which was significantly less when compared with the traditional cultivation method.