Comparative Performance Evaluation Of Bullock Drawn Maize Planters

This study was carried out during winter season of 2015-16 at Sant Kabir College of Agriculture and Research Station, Kabirdham (CG). A single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter were compared for laboratory test and field test. In lab testing seed rate of both planters were found as 26.34 kg ha and 27.65 kg ha, respectively. The theoretical seed rate (Rst) and the seeding mass rate (Rsm) of a single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter were found as 74074 seeds ha, 83333 seeds ha and 19.3 kg ha , 21.7 kg ha respectively. Draught, operation speed, power requirement, depth of seed placement, field efficiency and effective field capacity of both planters were recorded as 56.89 kgf, 1.32 km h, 0.204 kW, 5.56 cm, 68.33 %, 0.041 ha h and 47.54 kgf, 1.50 km h, 0.194 kW, 5.44 cm, 66.66 %, 0.12 ha h respectively where the theoretical field capacity was found to be 0.06 and 0.18 ha h, respectively. Keywords— Maize, single row maize planter, three row inclined plate planter, draught, power requirement

It is basically grown in Sarguja and Jagdalpur region. In Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh maize is highly preferable by the farmers after rice. Sarguja contributes 12272 thousand hectares area and the productivity of maize in Sarguja district is 2200 kg per hectare, production is about 26.99 Mt in the year 2012-2013 (Deputy Director of Agriculture, Ambikapur).
Chhattisgarh has the total geographical area 137.9 lakh hectare, in which 46.04 percent forest, 4641 thousand hectare area kharif cropped, 1542 thousand hectare area rabi cropped. Chhattisgarh has average annual rainfall 1200-1300 mm. (Banjare, 2015). Animals are the largest contributor of farm power in India and yet, the major source of marginal, small and even medium farmers who account for more than 80% of total agricultural holding and 40% of total cultivated land (Nirala, 2011). Planters are used for row drilling (hill dropping) or check row planting of larger seeds than those which normally go through seed drills. They give more accurate results with larger seeds. They may be tractor operated or animal drawn. In the state of Chhattisgarh the average height of bullocks is less as compared to other states and most of the field operations are done by bullocks. So a single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter are taken to the performing in the field.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out during winter seasons of 2016 at Sant Kabir College of Agriculture and Research Station, Kabirdham (CG).

Planters
A single row maize planter (Fig 1) and bullock drawn three row inclined plate planter (Fig 2) were used for sowing of maize crop where combinations of various tillage operations were done.

Theoretical field capacity (TFC)
It is the actual area covered by the implement, based on 100% of time at the rated speed and covering 100% of its rated width. Field capacity was calculated by following expression (Bainer et al., 1960): Where, W = Theoretical width of implement, m; S = Speed of operation, km h -1 .

Effective field capacity (EFC)
The actual field capacity is the actual rate of coverage by the implement. The total time required to complete the operation was recorded and effective field capacity was calculated followed (IS 6288-1971): EFC = Where, EFC = Effective field capacity, ha h -1 ; A = Actual area covered by implement, ha; T = Effective time, h.

Field efficiency
The field efficiency is the ratio of effective field capacity to the theoretical field capacity and expressed in %.
Field efficiency = EFC / TFC × 100 Where, EFC = Effective field capacity TFC = Theoretical field capacity III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The observations and results obtained during the study are presented in this chapter.  In lab testing seed rate of a single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter were found as 26.34 kg ha-1 (74074 seeds ha-1) and 27.65 kg ha-1 (83333.33 seeds ha-1), respectively.

Theoretical seeding rate (Rst)
The number of maize seeds planted per hectare was calculated by using the following relationship;

Field-test
The planters were field tested for their mechanical and functional performances in field area of 0.10 ha.

Draught of maize planters
The average draught was recorded of single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter was 56.89 kgf and 47.54 kgf for maize, respectively.

Operating Speed of maize planters
The average speed of operation for sowing was found to be 1.32 and 1.50 km h -1 respectively, for both the planters.

Power requirement of maize planters
The average power required for single row maize planter and three row inclined plate planter was found to be 0.204 kW (0.27 hp) and 0.194 kW (0.26 hp) ( Table 2).

Field capacity and field efficiency
The field efficiency was calculated using standard method as described earlier and results are presented in (Table 3).