A Mechanical Dibber Planter for Selected Seeds

作者：Jayan P R^*; Kumar V J F

来源：AMA-Agricultural Mechanization in Asia Africa and Latin America, 2010, 41(3): 75-82.

A mechanical dibber planter was developed for planting selected seed namely maize, redgram, and cotton The unit consisted of six dibbers arranged radially on a dibber wheel, which actuates the seed metering mechanism and allows the seed to fall on the seed transfer cup and travel to the tip of the dibber The dynamic performance of the dibber wheel was evaluated in a test track in terms of depth of placement of seed, pattern of seed placement, and hill spacing at forward speeds of 1 0, 1 25, 1 5, 1 75, and 2 0 km h (1), dibber depth settings of 20, 35, and 50 mm, and soil moisture levels of 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 percent (d b) Tests were conducted using vertisol The dibber depth setting and forward speed Influenced the pattern of seed placement The soil moisture did not affect the number of seeds placed inside the dibbed hole The hill spacing was strongly influenced by all the selected soil and machine parameters A dibber depth setting of 50 mm resulted in the best performance at the forward speed of 1 0-1 25 km h (1) and soil moisture content of 10 percent (d b) From the field experiments, the frequency distribution of number of plants per hill indicated that two seedlings were germinated for maize in 75 +/- 2 percent of the hills But, three seedlings were germinated in 68 5 +/- 1 5 and 62 percent of the hills for redgram and cotton, respectively The frequency distribution of hill spacing for the three crops indicated that about 32 percent of the hills were spaced at 300 mm About 82 +/- 2 percent of the hills were spaced at a distance of 285-300 mm The missing hills were 3-5 percent The field capacity of the dibber planter was 0 27, 0 20 and 0 34 ha h 1, respectively for maize, redgram and cotton

• 出版日期2010