Design and evaluation of bullock drawn maize ridger for Chhattisgarh plain

Abstract

In Chhattisgarh, maize is a kharif season crop and second most important crop next to paddy in terms of both area and production. Ridging of maize crop 30 day after sowing (DAS) is a very important operation as the major chunk of maize acreage of the state is rainfed. Maize ridging is conventionally done by manually which involves extensive labours compared to other operations, this result in higher cost of cultivation and required higher drudgery. There is a need to popularize low cost ridging technology which is suitable for small and medium farmer under stress environments. The crop, machine and operational parameters were identified and selected and the animal drawn maize ridger was developed and evaluated for its performance in actual field conditions. The ridge dimensions were optimized top width, bottom width and ridge height 12.75cm, 43.75cm and 16cm respectively with total volume of soil cover 452.31cm3 considering plant height and row to row spacing. The average draft of the ridger 69.81 kg-f was observed during ridging operation. The field capacity of the maize ridger was 0.06ha/h with field efficiency of 74.46 percent. The cost of operation of maize ridger for ridging maize was found to be 1737.79 Rs/ha.