Abstract:
The combination implement for dry seeding and herbicide application developed at
KVK Palakkad was studied successfully. Several drawbacks of this machine were
observed from the laboratory and field test results. The machine consisted of simple
frame, tines, seed box, seed tubes, cup feed metering mechanism, power transmission
unit, furrow opener, hitching attachments and herbicide sprayer units. Variation of
seed rate in different seed tubes, damage occurring in the tine when an obstacle is
encountered, cup cannot be adjusted with various varieties of paddy, clogging of seed
tube and cannot change the spacing between rows are the problems raised during the
test. By correcting all these faults new machine were proposed, designed, and
fabricated. Refined machine can be operated by changing the row to row spacing
either as 20 cm and 25 cm, cup feed metering mechanism was replaced by fluted
roller for more uniformity, seed rate can be vary according to the size and seed
variety, spring was provided in each Tool bar as a tipping mechanism. The effective
field capacity, theoretical field capacity and field efficiency was observed as 0.3316
ha/hr, 0.456 ha/hr, and 72.7%. The seed rate of the machine can be vary in the range
of 17-210 kg/ha. For better uniformity of spray the flat fan nozzles are spaced 105 cm
apart with an overlapping distance of 75 cm.
