Development and evaluation of seed-cum-fertilizer drill suitable for low stature bullocks of Jharkhand

Draught animal power is one of the major farm power sources of Jharkhand state which falls under agro-climatic zone VII (Eastern Plateau and Hilly region) due to poor financial condition of farmers and fragmented land holdings. Considering the draught animal size as well land holding capacity of farmers of Jharkhand state, an animal drawn multi crop seed-cum-fertilizer drill has been developed. The seed drill was evaluated in laboratory as well as in field condition. The average draft and power requirement of the developed seedcum- fertilizer drill were 416.74 N and 0.372 kW, respectively. The average effective field capacity and field efficiency of the developed seed-cum-fertilizer drill were 0.069 ha/h and 65.9%, respectively at an average speed of 2.37 km/h. The cost of operation for sowing of wheat by developed animal drawn seed-cum-fertilizer drill was Rs. 1078/ ha whereas cost of sowing by existing animal drawn Birsa seed drill and traditional method (sowing behind country plough) were 2308 Rs./ha and 3675 Rs/ha, respectively).Thus, there is a saving of an amount Rs. 2597/ ha with the developed seed drill. The overall performance of the machine was found satisfactory for sowing of different crops (wheat, horse gram, upland paddy, black gram etc) in Jharkhand state.