Performance Evaluation of a Tractor-Drawn Multi-Row Garlic Clove Planter
Abstract
Abstract
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is very precious spice crop having with its spices and medicinal values. Garlic planting is carried out manually and about 60 man per hectare are required to plant the garlic manually against the cost of approximately 222.22 USD/ha. To decrease the production cost and for better yield by achieving the plant population, a tractor-drawn planter for planting garlic cloves had been designed and developed at AMARC (Awash Melkassa Agricultural Research Centre), Ethiopia prior to this study. This present study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the machine using Gojjam variety of garlic seeds. The overall size L×W×H of the planter was 1500 *1250*1114 mm respectively. Sixteen number of cups on each roller chain with a special attachment for four rows operated through chain sprocket sets were used. The theoretical seed rate per hectare was calculated as 4,44,444 cloves per hectare by taking row width 30 cm and clove to clove spacing as 10 cm. The theoretical seeding mass rate was calculated to be 0.3 ha/h. Percentage of missing slightly increased as operating speed increased. The seed missing and percentage of double were depending on hopper fill level and forward speed of operation. Wheel slippage increased as the speed increase. As speed increased the time to contact traction wheel to the soil mass of the field reduced which increased the wheel slippage due to less soil resistance on the traction wheel. 2.5 km/hr is Optimum speed for the operation. The minimum value of theoretical field capacity observed at 2 km/hr speed was 0.3 ha/hr and maximum values at 3 km/hr speed was 0.45 ha/h. The values of effective field capacity on 2, 2.5 and 3 km/hr were 0.242, 0.271 and 0.293 ha/h respectively. The minimum field efficiency occurred at 3 km/hr operating speed was 64.45 % and the maximum field efficiency noticed that at a speed of 2 km/hr was 80.77 %. The highest 80.77% field efficiency was observed at lower speed. The major reason for the reduction in the field efficiency by increasing forward speed was due to the less theoretical time consumed in comparison with the other test plots. The following suggestions may be exploring to improve the performance of tractor drawn garlic planter, 1. Increase the number of rows to enhance field capacity and efficiency, 2. Incorporate a seat chair at the back of the planter for laborers to manually place seeds in cups to reduce missing and double percentages, 3.Test the planter with different crops and gather feedback for further design refinements.
KEYWORDS: garlic planter; verities; hopper capacity; machine forward speed
