Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research
 

Vol. 6(8), pp. 500-508. October, 2018.

ISSN: 2360-7874 

 DOI: 10.14662/ARJASRD2018.083

Full Length Research

Development and evaluation of animal-drawn, single row tillage-cum-multicrop planter

Fitsum Abebe

Agricultural Engineering Research Department, Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research (EIAR),

P.O.Box 436, Melkassa, Ethiopia. E-mail: fitsumabebet@gmail.com, Tel. +251911132822

Accepted 31 October 2018

Sorghum and maize are the leading cereal crops in Ethiopia in terms of production amount and area coverage. However, their productivities are below world standard owing to the traditional method of production farmers have been using for the last centuries. One of the major problems in sorghum and maize production is the broadcasting seed sowing method farmers are using. Though recently, in most parts of the country, farmers have started to adopt row planting of the crops, availability of efficient, affordable and less drudgery seeding equipment are limited. The available seeding equipment are characterized by their low field capacity and higher energy requirement (in the case of manually operated planters), poor performance in achieving agronomic requirements of the crop and high drudgery to the operator (in the case of draft animal drawn types) and high machinery purchase and operation costs (in the case of tractor operated ones). Moreover, the available planters are developed to be crop specific which limits their application area to a certain crop. To alleviate the existing problem, a new, multicrop type single row maresha attached planter (MAP) was developed and evaluated on both maize and sorghum crops against hand row planting technique (HRPT) that farmers are using. The trials were conducted at Melkassa Agricultural Research Center (MARC) on well prepared plots having 10x40m² areas and following RCBD experimental design with three replications. The labor force used in the case of HRPT was four and the parameters for the evaluations were seeding pattern, field capacities, plant population densities and draft requirement. On maize crop trial, MAP achieved 22.98±5.03cm seeding spacing, 73.92±12.71% seed per hill uniformity (ability to drop two seeds per spot as per the design) and 7.31±0.57cm seeding depth. Whereas, the seed spacing and seeding depth achieved by HRPT were 25.15±1.31cm and 6.22±0.70cm respectively. Significant variation was also observed on field capacity between MAP (0.185±0.04ha.hr^-1) and HRPT (0.091±0.01ha.hr^-1). However, on plant population density, no significant variation was observed between MAP (45087±2067No.Ha^-1) and HRPT (47352±3399No.Ha^-1). On sorghum trial, the seeding depth and seeding and fertilizer application rates obtained by MAP were 4.95±0.66cm, 14.51±0.77kg.ha^-1 and 108.37±4.74kg.ha^-1 respectively. Whereas, HRPT achieved 3.79±0.48cm, 12.26±0.45kg.ha^-1and 101.42±2.93kg.ha^-1seeding depth, seeding and fertilizer application rates respectively. Here also significant variation on field capacity was observed between MAP (0.191±0.01 ha.hr^-1) and HRPT (0.128±0.03 ha.hr^-1). On plant population density, it was found that MAP (81556±2629 No.Ha^-1) excelled HRPT (80593±2773 No.Ha^-1) owing to the higher seeding rate of the planter though there was no significant variation observed. The field efficiencies of the planter found to be 74.47% (for maize trail) and 76.52% (for sorghum trial) owing to the variation of speed of operations. The field draft requirement of the planter (combined with the tillage implement) was also found to be 534.62±27.95N.

Key words: planter, seeding pattern, field capacity

How to cite this article (APA Style): Abebe, F. (2018). Development and evaluation of animal-drawn, single row tillage-cum-multicrop planter. Acad. Res. J. Agri. Sci. Res. 6(8): 500-508