International Journal of Agricultural Engineering

D. J. Shrinivasa ¹, Murukannappa ², V. D. Paradkar ³, S. L. Rathod ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering (C.T.A.E.), Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), IN
2 Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, G.K.V.K., Bengaluru (Karnataka), IN
3 Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering (C.T.A.E.), Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), IN

Abstract

Groundnut is the major oil seed crop in India and it plays a major role in bridging the vegetable oil deficit in the country and also serves as a protein supplement to animals in term of feed. Lower penetration of groundnut pegs and weeds grown with the crop are the responsible for drastic reduction of yield. Earthing up destroys weeds and increases pod development by increasing penetration of pegs in the soil. But traditional methods of earthing up are tedious, laborious, and time consuming which leads to high cost of production. Pertaining to this, a simple mechanical earthing up equipment was developed and evaluated under groundnut crop at two operating conditions i.e., 2 and 4 rows at a time. The results obtained at 2 rows and 4 rows earthing up condition were the earthing up efficiency (96 and 93 %), plant damage (1.96 and 3.5 %), effective field capacity (0.096 and 0.126 ha/h), field efficiency (80 and 52.5 %), fuel consumption (4.72 and 3.96 L/ha) and cost of earthing up (628.67 and 500 Rs./ha), respectively.

Keywords

Development, Earthing Up, Evaluation, Groundnut, Mechanical Earthing Up.

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S. L. Rathod ¹, D. J. Shrinivasa ¹

Affiliations
1 Padmashree Dr. D.Y.Patil College of Agricultural Engineering, Talsande, Kolhapur (M.S.), IN

Abstract

Farming is an important feature of our way of life. The challenge for agriculture over the coming decades will be to meet the world’s increasing demand for food in a sustainable way. As long as agriculture remains a soil-based industry, major increases in productivity are unlikely to be attained without ensuring that plants have an adequate and balanced supply of nutrients. To achieve healthy growth and optimal yield levels, nutrients must be available not only in the correct quantity and proportion, but also in usable form at the right place in the soil. Hence, subsurface application of fertilizers at varying depth is the need of time so that nutrients will be placed at the different depth in subsoil to provide adequate amounts of minerals at the different growth stage of the plant, therefore, problem of leaching is avoided. Hence, a mechanical digger (petrol operated) was developed and evaluated under coconut, banana and sapota plants for subsoil fertilizer application. The results obtained were digging capacity at 25 to 30 cm depth, minimum fuel consumption and digging cost incurred were 450 holes/h, 0.520 l/h and Rs. 105/h, respectively.

Keywords

Digger, Digging, Fertilizer Application, Subsoil Application.

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