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A Promising Animal-drawn Plough

M.A. Wahab
Scientific Officer
Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Joydebpur, Gazipur Bangladesh

S. Borhan
Senior Scientific Officer
Agricultural Engineering Division Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Joydebpur, Gazipur Bangladesh

M.A. Satter
Principal Scientific Officer
Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Sultan Ahmmed
Scientific Officer
Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

F.R. Khan
Senior Scientific Officer
Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An animal drawn moldboard plough appropriate for Bangladesh conditions has been designed, fabricated and tested at the Agricultural Engineering Division of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). The available draft animal can pull the plough comfortably. The results of the field performance test of the plough in dry land tilling as well as wet land tilling were satisfactory. Comparative studies were also conducted to evaluate the performance of moldboard plough with that of local plough. The average tilling capacity of the moldboard plough was 0.04 ha/h and the local plough was 0.035 ha/h. Time as well as cost of ploughing by moldboard plough was 50070 less than that of local plough. The total energy required to prepare the land up to final land preparation by local plough was 3 times higher than that of the modlboard plough. Except the beam, all the parts of the plough are made of ferrous metal. The weight and cost of the plough without beam are 7 kg and Tk.300.00, respectively.

Keywords: Plough, Cost, Performance

Location: Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Farm Mechanization

Commodity: Plough, Plough

Objectives:

1. To develop a plough for the draft animal available in Bangladesh

2. To test the performance of the plough under field conditions

3. To compare the cost of land preparation of the developed plough with that of the traditional ploughs.

Methodology:

The animal-drawn moldboard plough or BARI plough has been developed and fabricated in the workshop of the Agricultural Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute. The locally available materials were used to keep the construction of the plough as simple as possible. The materials used to fabricate differ- ent parts of the plough were M.S. angle bar, M.S. flat bar, M.S. sheet, M.S. plate, M.S. nut bolts, cast iron and wood. The description of different parts of the plough are as follows: 1. Beam - This part is made of wood, 210 cm long and 7 em wide. One side is 5 cm thick and the other side is gradually reduced to 3 cm thick. The thinner end is grooved to hitch the plough with harness. 2. Handle - This part is made of 4 cm x 4 cm M.S. angle bar of 85 em long. There is a grip in one side of the handle welded at 110° with the angle bar. The diameter and length of the grip are 3 em and 15 cm, respectively. The other part of the handle is hollow squared with a 23 em M.S. angle bar of same size to bear the torque during plough operation. 3. Cross bar - This part of the BARI plough is M.S. angle bar 2.5 cm wide and 60 cm long. This part is used to adjust the pull angle. One end is bolted to handle and the other end is bolted to the beam. There are some holes on the handle, cross-bar and beam for required adjustment. Pull angle adjustment is done through this cross bar. 4. Connector - Two pieces of M.S. flat 4 em wide and 20 em long were used to clamp together the beam and handle. Three nut bolts were used to fit the connector with the beam and handle. 5. Moldboard - M.S. sheet of 2.5 mm thickness was used to make the moldboard. The length and width of the moldboard are 26 cm and 15 cm, respectively. The size of a plough largely depends on the moldboard size. There is a special curvature shape on moldboard to turn the soil. The moldboard is bolted to the frog with two nut bolts. 6. Share - This is the soil cutting part of the plough, made of 4 mm thick M.S. plate. The size of the share also varies with the size of the plough. The cutting edge of the share is hammered to thin and then tempered to harden- ing. This is bolted to the frog with plough nut bolts. It is repairable and replaceable. 7. Land side/frog - This is a cast part of the plough bottom. The land side and frog are cast together.

Test Procedure: The plough was tested also at the Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARS) of BARI. Different sizes of draft animals were used at different soil types to test the plough thoroughly. The soil type ranged from sandy loam to clay loam. Both dry and wet land were ploughed by the experimental plough up to final land preparation. The local traditional plough was also tested in the same procedure to be compared with mold- board plough. Up to final land preparation, the moldboard plough required an average of 3 ploughings and cross ploughings both in dry land cultivation and puddling. Whereas the local plough required an average 5 ploughings and cross ploughings to do the same work. During the test, the Regional Network for Agricultural Machinery (RNAM) test code was followed to collect all data.

Source of Information: VOL.28 NO.1 pp. 23-25, 1997 AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION IN ASIA, AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1. World Bank	Budget:
2. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council	Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

1. The BARI plough turned and inverted the furrow slice to the right, thus weeds and stubbles got buried in the soil that becomes organic matter.

2. Soil inversion and pulverization by the BARI plough is better than the performance of the local plough. This helps pre- pare the land for seeding/plant- ing with less number of tilling operations.

3. The BARI plough required less time and energy for good tilth. As a result, the cost of land preparation was less than that of traditional local plough.

Knowledge Management: Journal