Dr. Md, Shirazul Islam
Chief Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Joydebpur, Gazipur
M Nurul Amin
Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Joydebpur, Gazipur
BARI-developed Power Tiller Operated Inclined Plate Planter (IPP) was demonstrated for planting soybean in Laxmipur and Noakhali and Maize in Bogra in 2006-07. The technical and economical performance of the planter for maize planting was reported last year. So, in this year, detail technical and economical performance of the planter for soybean was compared with traditional practice. The average field capacity of the IPP was 0.29 ha/h for soybean and it saved about 46.28% total cost of and about 85% labour costs for soybean planting over traditional practice. In addition, about 30% yield increase was also observed in mechanical method. Similarly, for maize, the cost saving was 90%. The price of the planter is Tk 25000. The planter can be used profitably as an attachment behind a power tiller for planting soybean and maize in tilled soil.
Field capapcity, power tiller, planter, maize, soybean
Gazipur, Laxmipur, Noakhali, Bogra
Farm Mechanization
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the planter among the soybean and maize growers of the selected araes
Two sites were selected for the demonstration of soybean planting (BARI soybean 5) in two MLT sites of OFRD, Noakhali. One was in East Char Martin, Kamalnagar, Laxmipur and the other was in Uttar Kar Sufia, Charjublee, Noakhali. Soybean is the main rabi crop of the two areas. Maize planting was demonstrated in Sherpur, Bogra. A planter and a power tiller were carried to the site from Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering (FMPE) Division, BARI, Gazipur. The soil was tilled and leveled. Rice stalks and weeds were cleaned from the land. BARI recommended doses of fertilizers were applied. Machine planting was compared with traditional method in the sites.
In traditional method of soybean cultivation, the farmers plant soybean in four steps: (1) line marking by foot; (2) opening seed holes by gathi (made from tree branch); (3) placing seeds manually; and (4) covering seeds by foot or ladders. Figs. 1(a-d) present the photos of these four operations. The machine planted soybean with one pass of the machine is shown in Fig. 2. Appropriate metering plate was used out of three sizes for soybean. No irrigation was applied, but weeded the crop once in Uttar Kar Sufia and twice in East Char Martin in IPP and traditionally planted plots. In Char Martin, 10% seedlings were thinned out in IPP plot, but none in traditional plot. For thinning in machine planted plot, about 3.77 man-d/ha was required. Machine and crop related data were recorded. A field day was arranged in East Char Martin to show the IPP and traditionally planted plots to neighboring farmers.
Research Report
The power tiller operated inclined plate planter was developed from locally available materials which had an average field capacity of 0.29 ha/h for soybean. It saved about 46% planting cost which included about 85% labour cost. Similarly, for maize, the cost saving was 90%. The relative ease with which the mechanical planter was adjusted and maneuvered in the field suited the technical know-how of a power tiller operator. However, the profitability of using the planter as an attachment to the power tiller instead of land preparation should be studied.
Report/Proceedings