Development and testing of a power operated pre-germinated paddy seed broadcaster

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is important leading food crop and it is widely cultivated in India. The farmers are facing problems due to lack of labour, time, inputs cost and also due to drudgery in work. Nevertheless, mechanization in paddy cultivation can boost higher productivity and considerably reduce the cost of production. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to develop and evaluate the performance of a battery operated pre-germinated broadcaster in paddy cultivation. The power operated pre-germinated paddy seed broadcaster was developed and tested based on the, engineering and physical properties of dry and pre-germinated paddy seeds. The performance parameters of paddy seed broadcaster were the application rate, coefficient of variation, skewness ratio and uniformity coefficient of distribution. The maximum application rate of 149.02 kg ha -1 was observed for the treatment Q2S2O1 in single pass. The minimum application rate of 0.14 kg ha -1 was observed for the treatment Q2S2O1 in single pass. In multiple pass the maximum and minimum application rate of 182.52 kg ha -1 and 47.05 kg ha -1 were observed for the treatments Q2S1O1 and Q2S2O2 for three meter spacing of seven meter effective swath width. The maximum skewness ratio was about 101% for the treatment Q1S1O1 in single pass. The minimum skewness ratio observed was about 48% for the treatment Q2S1O2. The minimum coefficient of variation observed was about 57.15 % for the treatment Q1S2O1 in single pass. The minimum coefficient of variation of about 8.19% was observed for the treatment Q1S102 for four meter spacing application rate. The average effective field capacity and field efficiency for four meter was about 0.59 ha hr -1 and 65% for six-meter effective swath width at walking speed of 1.5 km ha -1 . The savings in cost and time for battery powered centrifugal broadcaster about 76.34% and 78.88% compared to manual broadcasting. From the performance evaluation test, it was concluded that the battery operated centrifugal paddy seed broadcaster can perform paddy seed broadcasting operation efficiently and economically.