Development and Evaluation of Power Tiller Operated Zero Till-Drill for Mechanizing Wheat Sowing in Hills

摘要

In hills, the soil resource has suffered from degradation particularly due to improper terraces and sloppy land as well as excessive soil tilling with bullock operated soil stirring plough as well as tractor operated disc plough and cultivator. To counter the effects of soil degradation caused by excessive tillage of the soil, one must find and adopt new methods of sowing particularly in annual cropping of wheat. Under zero-tillage, crops are planted with minimum disturbance of soil by placing the seeds in a narrow slits 3-4 cm wide and 4-7 cm deep without land preparation. Number of zero till drills have been developed in India but due to bulkiness, it is not feasible to operate as such in hills. Hence, there is a need to develop and evaluate the power tiller operated zero till drill suitable for hill agriculture. Therefore, a prototype of power tiller operated zero till drill was developed and fabricated for sowing wheat crop with main design consideration i.e. light in weight and easy turning of zero till drill with power tiller in small terraces. The field performance of machine was carried out at University farm and farmers' fields for three consecutive years. The wheat crop was sown at an average moisture content of about 22.80 %. The effective field capacity was observed to be 0.10 ha/h at a forward speed of 2.2 km/h with field efficiency 60 %. The cost of operation with zero-till drill was Rs. 1,475 /ha ($ 22.00 /ha) which was 65 % lower as compared to traditional method. The yield was observed to be the same as compared to traditional methods of sowing. Zero-tillage seeding also offers the benefits of retained surface residues and reduced soil water losses. Zero-tillage allows early and timely sowing of wheat crop and reduces the cost of production through lesser use of fossil fuels and herbicides etc.