Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of a Seed-Cum-Fertilizer Broadcasting Machine

Abstract

A seed cum fertilizer broadcasting machine was designed and fabricated in the Agricultural and Industrial Engineering Lab of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) Dinajpur, Bangladesh. The field performance study of the machine was done in the agricultural field lab of HSTU. The machine is portable and can be moved easily by hanging at the backside of a man and is operated by a rechargeable battery of 12 volt. The machine is built with a steel frame with a hopper in which seeds or fertilizers can be inserted and an opening hole with a metering device proceeds seeds or fertilizers to drop on the beater arm platform. Then a beater arm swings the falling seeds or fertilizers and throws them towards the field. After development, the machine's performance study was conducted in the lab and the field. In the laboratory performance, the average Uniformity Co-efficient of Distribution (UCD) for urea, green gram, wheat, and black gram was found to be 94.7%, 91.7%, 94.12 and 95.38% respectively. To assess the actual field performance of the machine, planting was done with black gram seeds both manually and mechanically. The field was divided into 4 plots. Manual broadcasting was done in two plots of the field and mechanical broadcasting was done in another two plots of the field. The average value of the Coefficient of Variation (CV) for mechanical and manual broadcasting was found 13.99% and 65.26% respectively from the field. The amount of variation was much higher in manual broadcasting. This higher variation indicates that there was less uniformity in the field where manual broadcasting was done. In conclusion, the machine is aesthetically good for farmers to use for broadcasting purposes.