Performance of Tractor Operated Horizontal Rotor Plate Planter

In rainfed conditions the success of crop production depends on timely seeding. The seed rate for various dryland crops varies from 4 to 140 kg/ha. Availability of a multi crop planter with replaceable metering plate is crucial to meet the seed rate requirements and to reduce the cost involved in machinery management. Though different types of planters having different seed metering mechanisms were evolved, their performance is not up to the mark. Hence, a horizontal rotor seed metering plate mechanism was developed and tested both under laboratory (2.5,3.5 and 5km/h speeds) and field conditions. The mean number of seeds metered at different forward speeds for maize and castor crop varied from 184.8 to 192.6; 185.8 to187.6, respectively when compared to theoretical metered seeds of 180. The quality of feed index of the planter ranged from 85 to 90.5 per cent and 82.7 to 97 per cent, clearly indicated the frequency distribution of seeds with in space intervals > 10 to < 30 cm. The horizontal rotor metered 85 - 93 frequency percentile seeds within 15 - 30 cm spacing intervals at operation speeds of 2.5 to 3.5km/h. At average field speeds of 2 and 3.5km/h, 70 and 65 per cent of the seeds were sown, respectively in a spacing interval of 15 - 30cm, which also indicated the higher quality of feed index for the developed planter.