Improvement and evaluation of crop planter to work on ridges in irrigated schemes of Sudan

摘要

Manual sowing is the traditional method to grow crops on the top of 80-cm spaced ridges in irrigated schemes. No seeding machines are available to perform this job. Improper crop geometry in farmers' fields is considered as a main factor in reducingyields. This work was carried out to improve the work-ability of tractor-mounted 4-row crop planter to place seeds in the middle of ridges top without slip-ping-off or swinging. The improvement comprised assernhly of furrow wheels to maintain planter stability. Furthermore, the roll pins and the three-point hitch were replaced by stronger units. Then the improved planter was evaluated and compared with manual sowing for sunflower, sorghum and cotton. Results indicated that the required time of manual sowing was 95. 19 and 19 times the requirement of planter sowing for sunflower, sorghum and cotton, respectively. Compared to manual sowing, planter sowing reduced operation cost for sunflower, sorghum and cotton by about 50, 18 and 29 percent, respectively, and reduced the seed rate of sunflower and cotton by about 17 and 40 percent, respectively. Manual sowing resulted in significantly wider spacing bwtween plants for sunflower and sorghum whild planter sowing resulted in significantly narrower spacingfor cotton. Planter sowing resulted in insignificant greater yields of sunflower and cotton but significant increase in sorghum yield. Hence, the improved planter could be recommended for crop sowing on top of ridges and the recommended seed rate and spacing between plants for manual sowing should be revised with the use of planter.