Development of a Double Row Tractor Operated Yam Minisett Planter

Drudgery in manual yam minisett planting was identified as a major constraint facing yam cultivation in Ghana. The main objective of the study was to develop a double row yam minisett (DRYM) planter using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). A potato planter was adopted and modified to suit the design of DRYM planter. The main task was to perform 3D modeling of the planter major components using FEA method. Analysis of systems (ANSYS) software was used for FEA. Minisett and soil physical properties were factored into the design processes. Total deformation and equivalent (Von-Mises) stress were 0.442 mm and 7.37 MPa for hopper; 0.01 mm and 9.18 MPa for ridger bottom and that of furrow opener were 1.8-0.6 mm and 6.27 MPa, respectively. Maximum total deformation and equivalent (Von-Mises) stress were below material specification of 50 mm and 250 MPa for structural steel, and 20 mm and, 440 MPa for mild steel, respectively. The study concluded that the entire design was within the material property and permissible stress limits of the materials used. Yam planter development will enhance farmer satisfaction.

Grounding of Design and Technology Parameters of Combined Coulter Furrow Opener of Precision Seed Drill

A formation of a seedbed is an important step during seed sowing process. A quality of seedbed formation influences on seeds distribution along both a row and a depth and is triggering the opportunity to obtain early and even sprouts. The design of the furrow opener is the main element that has a direct impact on the qualitative formation of seedbed and technological parameters of coulter operation. During the research, there has been analyzed the modern construction of precision seed drills coulters and specified advantages and disadvantages of their operation. It has been established that the most advanced are coulters having a working section with a combined angle (sharp and obtuse) of entry into the soil. The attained results afforded to develop an improved design of the coulter furrow opener of the precision seed drill. There was brought forward a combined wedge furrow opener, the upper part of which has a working section with a sharp angle of entry into the soil, lower - and compactor, located in the rear part of the furrow opener, which forms seedbed has a working surface with an obtuse angle of entry into the soil. There were obtained analytical dependences targeted to determine the main structural and technological parameters of the operating elements of a combined coulter furrow opener which is used to seed cultivated crops: the angles of entry into the soil of the upper and lower part of the furrow opener, compactor in the rolling plane and the angle of tip of the furrow opener in the horizontal plane.

ESTIMATIVA DA DEMANDA ENERGÉTICA DE UMA SEMEADORA-ADUBADORA DE PRECISÃO EM SEMEADURA DIRETA DA SOJA

ESTIMATIVA DA DEMANDA ENERGÉTICA DE UMA SEMEADORA-ADUBADORA DE PRECISÃO EM SEMEADURA DIRETA DA SOJA CRISTIANO MÁRCIO ALVES DE SOUZA1, EDUARDO LEONEL BOTTEGA2, LEIDY ZULYS LEYVA RAFULL1, SÁLVIO NAPOLEÃO SOARES ARCOVERDE1 1 Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Rodovia Dourados/Itahum, km 12, 79.804-970, Dourados, MS, Brasil, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 2Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Campus de Cachoeira do Sul, Rodovia Taufik Germano, 3013, 96503-205, Cachoeira do Sul, RS, Brasil, [email protected] RESUMO: A otimização dos sistemas mecanizados é essencial visando a melhoria da demanda energética dos conjuntos nas operações agrícolas e, consequentemente, redução dos custos de produção. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a demanda energética de um conjunto trator-semeadora-adubadora, em função de diferentes mecanismos sulcadores e teores de água no solo sob sistema de semeadura direta da soja. O experimento foi montado em esquema de parcelas subsubdivididas, em que as parcelas constituíram os teores de água no solo (0,258; 0,277 e 0,290 g g-1), as subparcelas o tipo de sulcador (haste e disco-duplo) e as subsubparcelas os níveis de cargas aplicadas (451, 685 e 893 N) na linha da semeadora-adubadora, no delineamento em blocos casualizados, com três repetições. O teor de água no solo influencia diferentemente a demanda energética do conjunto trator-semeadora-adubadora em função do tipo de sulcador. O uso da haste sulcadora aumenta a patinagem, a potência e força específicas de tração, sendo a força maior para a haste independentemente da profundidade de corte do solo. Houve aumento da força e potência específicas de tração com o aumento da profundidade de corte do solo para ambos os sulcadores, bem como do consumo específico de combustível quando utilizada a haste sulcadora. Palavras-chaves: haste sulcadora, patinagem, umidade do solo, potência. ESTIMATION OF PRECISION SEEDER-FERTILIZER ENERGETIC DEMAND IN SOYBEAN NO-TILL ABSTRACT: The optimization of mechanized systems is essential to improve the energy demand of the sets in agricultural operations and, consequently, reduce production costs. The work's objective was to evaluate a tractor-seeder-fertilizer system's energy demand due to different furrow openers and soil moisture under soybean's no-till. The experimental delineation adopted was the complete random blocks in a split-split-plot scheme in which the plots consisted of three soil moisture (0.258, 0.277 and 0.290 g g-1), the subplots of two mechanisms for furrow opening (hoe opener and double disk), and the sub-subplots of three applied loads (451, 685 and 893 N) in the seeder row on the soil, with three replications. The soil moisture influences the energy demand of the tractor-seeder-fertilizer system differently due to the furrow opener type. The hoe opener's use increases the wheel slippage, power demand, being the power greater for hoe opener regardless of the cutting depth. There was an increase in power demand with the rise of the cutting depth for both furrow openers, while the greater specific fuel consumption was using the hoe opener. Keywords: furrow opener, wheel slippage, soil moisture, power.

Concept Design of a Portable Carrot Seeder

A concept design of a carrot seeder, filed for patent application, was successfully developed in this study. Farmers were visited and interviewed and the data regarding their existing practices in planting carrots, corresponding tools and equipment and planting requirements such as hill spacing, row spacing and plant bed size were gathered. These data were used as input in the preparation and simulation of the seeder design with the aid of Solidworks software. The seeder consisted of seed metering assembly, frame, ground wheels, skid, handle, power transmission, furrow opener and seed covering mechanism. It has 5 metering discs and the spacing between rows is adjustable. The metering disc is provided with grooves on its periphery of size that can accommodate 2 to 5 carrot seeds. Draft force to push the device in usage is 10 kg-force. The designed overall weight is 12 kg.

Development and Evaluation of Solenoid-Actuated Check Valve for Electro-Mechanical Inclined Plate Metering System Under Laboratory Conditions

The seeds in the conventional seed metering mechanism are metered and transferred through seed tube to the furrow created by the furrow opener. In this type of delivery, non-uniformity occurs due to the uncontrolled seed falling through seed tube from the metering device to the furrow. In conventional precision planters, the seed rate is controlled, whereas placement of seeds in furrow cannot be controlled. To achieve control over seed placement in the furrow, the solenoid-actuated check valves have been developed and fixed to the electro mechanical inclined metering system. The check valve system was tested with an opto electronic measurement system in laboratory conditions. For CO 6 variety of maize seeds, the quality feed index, missing index, multiple index and precision indexes found out as 86.2 – 89.6 %, 8 – 11.8 %, 1.9 – 2.9 % and 14.6 to 16.5 %, respectively. Using solenoidactuated check valve, the precision index of the developed electro mechanic metering system (14.6 – 16.5 %) increased.

Development of a Low Cost Two-Row Groundnut Planter

The groundnut seed composed of approximately equal weight of fatty and non-fatty oil. The groundnut cake (kulikuli- Hausa name in Nigeria) contains concentrated protein, minerals, and vitamins in addition research finding revealed that no part of the nut is a waste. The kernel without the nuts can be used as hay to feed animals like, horse or ash manure. Planting machine or planter that is normally required to produce more food is beyond the buying capacity of smallholder’s farmers, which result in low productivity especially in the production of grains. An improved manual two-row groundnut planter was developed and evaluated for its performance using locally sourced materials which can be adapted for gardens and smallholder farmers. The machine has the following parts which are furrow opener, handle, frame, hopper, discharge tube, metering unit, and roller housing. The machine was evaluated for field capacity and metering efficiency (3 hole metering devices) at different forward speeds. It was observed that the machine field capacity efficiency of was 82%. Using standard error bars the highest metering efficiency of 92% was observed at 0.7 m s -1 machine speed. The ANOVA (analysis of variance) shows that speed as significant effect on metering efficiency with a p-value of 5.44E-18. The planter could plant an average of five seeds per point. It is simple, cheap and the ergonomics of the machine was considered which makes it easy to operate.

Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter

Planting of turmeric has been a challenge to the farmers in Nigeria due to the absence of planting machine. The farmers are left to the traditional method of planting with hoes and cutlasses. This method is time consuming, labour intensive, associated with human drudgery and a high demand for human energy. As a result, a mechanical planter was designed and fabricated. The main objective of the study is to develop and evaluate the performance of a tractor- drawn turmeric planter. The planter was designed, fabricated and tested in the Agricultural and Bioresources Department of The Federal University of Technology, Minna. It consists of a ground drive wheel, hopper, metering system furrow opener, residue cutting edge, furrow closing device press wheel and power transmission mechanism. The performance tests of the fabricated machine were carried out using three levels of turmeric rhizome lengths (30 mm, 45 mm and 60 mm) at three levels of operational speeds (8km/h 10km/h and 12km/h). The results revealed that there was no steady pattern in the increase or decrease of miss index with increase in turmeric rhizome length and machine operational speed. The highest percentage turmeric rhizome miss index of 35% was recorded for turmeric rhizome length of 30cm at machine operational speed of 10km/h whereas the lowest percentage turmeric rhizome miss index of 15% was obtained for turmeric rhizome length of 60cm at the machine operational speed of 12km/h. The machine operational speed and size of the turmeric rhizomes affect the field capacity of the machine. The highest capacity of 0.96ha/h was recorded at the highest operational speed of 12km/h. The lowest field capacity of 0.63ha/h was recorded at the lowest machine speed of 8km/h. The developed machine could reduce drudgery involved in manual turmeric planting and save about substantial amount of labour and operating time.

No-tillage furrow opener performance: a review of tool geometry, settings and interactions with soil and crop residue

The primary features of an effective and efficient furrow opener include controlled soil disturbance and low draught and vertical force requirements. When integrated in a no-tillage seeding system, furrow openers should also have the ability to assist, and not hinder, the functions of seeding system components – such as maintaining adequate surface residue distribution, accurate and uniform placement of seeds and fertiliser, and regular inter-plant spacing. This review highlights how these goals are affected by opener type, geometry and settings, and soil and residue conditions. Typically, tine openers cause greater soil disturbance than disc openers whereas disc openers are likely to cause residue hairpinning. Winged tine openers reduce residue interference with seed placement and support greater lateral seed spread. Inverted-T openers can achieve subsurface soil shattering, which helps conserve moisture and provides good seed–soil contact. A tine opener with concave cutting edge reduces soil disturbance relative to straight and convex cutting edges. Increasing rake angle, tine width and operating depth increase degree of soil disturbance and draught requirement. Increasing forward speed reduces residue interference with sowing but might decrease the accuracy and uniformity of depth and separation of seed and fertiliser placement. Relative to common openers, bentleg openers have lower draught and penetration force requirements while combining minimal lateral soil throw with high furrow backfill, even at speeds of up to 16 km h–1. The performance of bentleg openers need to be evaluated under residue conditions and in cohesive and adhesive soils. Recommendations for future research are presented.