Informatics Publishing Limited

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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V. D. Paradkar ¹, H. K. Mittal ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), IN

Abstract

The colour of plastic mulch influences growth and yield of a particular crop. Plastic mulches has advantage of greater marketable yield (upto 24 to 65% increase) compared to bare soil, which is because of conservation of moisture, improved microclimate both beneath and above the soil surface, light reflection and great weed control. Because of imperviousness of plastic mulches, it prevents direct evaporation of moisture from the soil and thus limits the water losses and soil erosion over the surface. The colour of plastic mulch influences crop growth and yield by altering amount of upwardly reflected light from mulch surface upto plant canopy. These radiation changes has marked effect on plant light environment and consequently on growth as well as yield of crop.

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V. D. Paradkar ¹, D. J. Shrinivasa ¹

Affiliations
1 College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Ratnagiri (M.S.), IN

Abstract

The research was conducted to design and evaluate the performance of portable folding type solar dryer for drying of amla candy. The developed dryer consist of chimney, chimney stand, drying chamber, polyethylene sheet with mosquito net as dome and perforated try. The dryer had capacity of 2 kg per batch of amla candy of thickness 6 to 7 mm. The dimensions of dryer were 0.9 m length, 0.6 m width and 0.6 m height. The collector area was 0.539 m² with drying cabinet size of 0.9 x 0.6 m. The total cost of construction of dryer was Rs. 1349. Wet amla pieces with and without sugar were selected as drying material. The dryer was tested for its performance at without load and with load. During no load test maximum temperature achieved in dryer was 61.6 °C. The moisture content of 6 mm thick amla pieces treated with sugar was reduced from 281.67 % (db) to 29.93 % (db) in 600 minutes. While moisture content of amla pieces without sugar was reduced from 718.33 % (db) to 58.56 % (db) in 600 minutes. The drying rate of amla pieces with sugar and without sugar had peak value of 1.4126 and 1.6777 g water per gram dry matter per hour, respectively during drying time interval of 8.30 am to 9.30 am of the day. The temperature reached in the dryer was 15 to 20 °C higher than atmospheric temperature.

Keywords

Amla, Amla Candy, Foldable, Portable, Solar Dryer.

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V. L. Pawar ¹, V. D. Paradkar ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), IN
2 Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan), IN

Abstract

The research was carried out at Puriya Park Farm, K. K. Wagh College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Nashik, in October 2014. The performance of drip products manufactured by different companies viz., Company A, Company B and Company C was evaluated. Two NPC emitters of 4 lph and 8 lph were tested at operating pressure ranging from 0.5 to1.25 kg/ cm2 and one PC emitter of 4 lph discharge was tested at same operating pressure range. Also, the emission uniformity (EU) and co-efficient of uniformity (CU) of drip system was worked out. In 4 lph and 8 lph NPC drippers manufactured by Company A, discharge variation with respect to pressure was less as compare to standard discharge values of Company B and Company C. In 4 lph PC drippers manufactured by Company B, discharge variation with respect to pressure was very less as compared to standard discharge values of Company A and Company C.

Keywords

Drip, Performance Evaluation.

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