Performance evaluation of tractor drawn onion seed planter

Abstract

The existing onion seed planter was tested in lab of SVCAET&RS, IGKV Raipur and the seed rate, quality of feed index, multiple index, miss index, seed to seed spacing and theoretical seeding rate was found to be 9.67 kg ha-1 at 3 km h-1 with 18 plate grooves, 88.80% at 3 km h-1 with 30 plate grooves, 5.24% at 3 km h-1 with 18 plate grooves, 5.09% at 3 km h-1 with 30 plate grooves, 7.49 cm at 3 km h-1 with 18 plate grooves and 8,88,888 seeds/ha. After lab testing best combination of speed of operation (3 km h-1) and plate size (18 plate grooves) was selected. The field test of existing onion seed planter was performed in instructional farm of IGKV. The theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity, field efficiency, speed of operation and plant population per hectare was found to be 0.585 ha h-1, 0.462 ha h-1, 78.97%, 3 km h-1, and 755039 respectively. The total input energy required for onion cultivation was calculated as 13810.77 MJ ha-1. The cost economics of existing onion seed planter was found to be 1312.14 Rs ha-1.