Evaluation Tesing of Inter Row Cultivator in Broad Bed Furrow Method of Sowing for kharif crops

The feasibility study of tractor drawn inter row cultivator on broad bed furrow sown field was carried out at village Kutasa on farmers field for Kharif season during 2011- 2012. The green gram and soybean crop was sown by broad bed furrow planter which is developed by Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukg Krushi Vidyapeeth, Akola. The same implement was used for inter cultural operation by changing its furrow opener by the inter cultural sweep. The inter row cultivator was tested as per the RNAM test code 1995 for both green gram and soybean crop. The inter culture operation was carried out after the 20 days of sowing for both the crops. The inter cultivator was tested in the laboratory as well as in the field as per standard procedure. The working width and depth of inter row cultivator was recorded to be 136.9 cm and 2.73 and 2.46 cm for green gram and soybean, respectively. The weeding efficiency of inter row cultivator was found to be 86.19 per cent and 86.54 per cent for green gram and soybean, respectively with negligible plant damage during operation for both the crops. During inter row cultivation the speed was recorded which was 3.75 km/h and 3.69 km/h for green gram and soybean, respectively. The net saving of 12.45 per cent in green gram and 14.55 per cent in soybean was observed in cost of operation for mechanical inter culture operation over traditional practice. The energy requirement for interculture operation of green gram and soybean was found to be 73.38 kWh/ha and 77.32 kWh/ha and for traditional it was 22.10 kWh/ha and 22.67 kWh/ha, respectively. The per cent saving in cost of energy in BBF sown interculture operation was 74 and 74.97 over traditional method for green gram and soybean, respectively. The overall performance of inter row cultivator was found satisfactory. The BBF method of sowing was more feasible, reliable than the traditional method of sowing, which resulted in high yield and selective mechanization of farm.