DEVELOPMENT OF A ZERO-TILL SUGARCANE CUTTER-PLANTER

摘要

Sugarcane planting is an arduous and labour-intensive operation. Equipment has been developed in countries, such as Australia, India, Pakistan, to reduce the manual effort with varying degree of success. In 1992, a two row sugarcane cutter-planter was designed and developed at the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research (IISR), Lucknow. The sett cutting unit of the implement was powered through tractor power take-off (pto) which remained constant at a given engine speed. The number of setts per unit r ow length varied with the change in forward speed of the tractor: The sett planting rate and overlapping between setts was not homogenous. It was difficult to manoeuvre a 27 kW tractor with this rear mounted relatively heavy equipment, especially so with the additional weight of about 200 kg which was required in front of the tractor for smooth operation. A simple, lightweight and energy efficient mechanism was, therefore, required and developed, which enabled planting at a constant seed rate and also o verlapping between setts. The rear-mounted, two row sugarcane cutter-planter developed, was equipped with disctype furrow openers, furrow guides and a ground wheel. The two discs were configured with 20° tilt angle and a 25°disc angle, to open a furrow 30 to 35 cm wide and 20 cm deep. Provision of the furrow guide, behind the furrow opener; helped placement and alignment of the cane setts in the furrow by preventing the crest of soil falling back into it. Sett cutting and fertiliser metering units wer e powered through the ground wheel which assisted in maintaining a constant seed rate per unit row length. Unlike its predecessor (an earlier model of the IISR cutter-planter) this equipment contained minimal fast moving parts. It worked satisfactorily in dry, untilled fields (zero-till) as well as in tilled fields with adequate soil moisture. Chemicals for seed and soil treatments were applied through gravity. Used as a zero-till planter; without adversely affecting crop yield, a saving of about 32% in total cost/energy, required to raise the sugarcane crop otherwise, was achieved. The feasibility of using this equipment in dry field conditions (immediately after harvesting a wheat crop) helps to avoid late planting of the sugarcane crop.