Description of the machine:
A tractor drawn zero seed drill consists of a steel frame, a rotary shaft with attached blower are mounted, traction wheel, power transmission system. The furrow openers are of shoe type. The zero seed drill is intended for used with tractors having 35-75 hp and working widths of 127 cm to 229 cm. The drive is via the universal joint assembly, safety clutch, multi-speed gear box and heavy duty chain drive to the rotor. The machine was supported with depth control skids or front steel wheels. The zero seed drill also consists of a seed box for placement of seeds at proper depth. All the parts are connected to the frame whereas the furrow openers are suspended below its back. The seed box is made of galvanized iron or sheet metal. Inclined plate metering device was used to drop the desired amount of seed in the uniform distribution pattern. The machine consists of following parts: 1) Seed metering device, 2) Furrow opener and 3) Covering device. Zero pressure pneumatic press wheels were used. The inclined plate and fluted ruler type metering devices were incorporated for seed and fertilizer, respectively for dual application. The fluted ruler metering devices also could be used for seeding purposes.
Five zero till drill was imported from India by SRFRSI project of CIMMYT. One of which was send to OFRD, Rajshahi. With this machine, field performance test was done at Godagari and Poba upazilla of Rajshahi district during 2018-19 with NK40 maize and BARI Gom 30 wheat.
Experimental procedure:
During 2019-20, the zero till drill was again used to evaluate the field performance at Godagari, Rajshahi. The performance evaluation of zero till drill was done during 2019-20 for testing the performance in both tilled and untilled soil comparing with the conventional tillage followed by broadcasting method. The drill was evaluated for sowing wheat with three treatments: T1=Zero till with the drill, T2= Mechanical line sowing in pre tilled land with the drill and T3= Conventional practice. Conventional practice was conducted with tillage, broadcasting of seed, one more tillage and then laddering. Three farmers cultivated with zero till mode comparing with the conventional practice. Four farmers used the zero till drill in their pre tilled land comparing with conventional broadcasting method. Pre emergence herbicide was sprayed in the plots where zero till was done. Herbicide was applied 5 days before sowing. The sowing date of wheat in the tilled plots was 02 December 2019 and in the zero till plots was 07 December 2019. The field views of using zero till drill. All agronomic adjustments such as seed rate control, depth of seeding, line to line distance adjustment, multiple crops seeding were adjusted in the tractor driven zero till drill.
Agronomic management of crop:
BARI Gom 26 for wheat variety was used for the experiment where seed rate was 120 kgha-1. Seeds were treated with Provax at a rate of 2 g product per kg of seed. Single pass seeding + basal fertilizer application using zero tillage planter operated into 25-30 cm anchored T. aman residue height retention. As no prior tillage needed this treatment was seeded at least a week before the conventional treatment. For conventional, two full tillage passes with a power tiller, followed by hand broadcasting of seed, followed by the power tiller and then laddering were done. Fertilizer rates were applied as per recommendation by fertilizer recommendation guideline (FRG 2018) of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC). N fertilizer was applied through urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in 2-3 splits, P applied through DAP and triple super phosphate (TSP) as basal, K applied through muriate of potash (MoP) and S was applied through gypsum basally. 100 kg N ha-1 (two splits: 67.6 kg N ha-1 basally and 33.6 kg N ha-1 at 20 days after seeding (DAS) immediately before light irrigation, applied as Urea, 24 kg P ha-1 basal applied as TSP, 50 kg K ha-1 basal applied as MoP and 110 kg gypsum ha-1 basal. Maximum four irrigations were applied: (1) at crown root irrigation (CRI), (2) at late tillering, (3) at flowering, and (3) at milking. Overall, all crops were healthy with absence of insect pests and diseases and as such, intervention was not required. Weeds in wheat were controlled by pre- and post-emergence herbicides.
Data processing:
Field capacity, field efficiency and fuel consumption is taken as the dependent variable for the present study. The effective field capacity, theoretical field capacity and field efficiency were calculated by recording the time consumed for actual work and the time lots of other miscellaneous activity such as turning adjustment under field operating conditions.
Theoretical field capacity is rate coverage of the implements based on 100 percent of the rated speed & covering 100 per cent of its rated width.
Tfc= ws/10 (1)
The effective field capacity is calculated by recording the actual area covered by the implement, based on its total time consumed and non-productive time.
Efc= A /(Tp+T1) (2)
It is the ratio of effective field capacity and theoretical field capacity expressed in percent.
Ef= Efc/Tfc × 100 (3)
Where,
Efc = Effective field capacity, ha/h
Tfc= Theoretical field capacity, ha/h
Ef = Field efficiencies, %
A = Total area covered, ha
Tp= Productive time, h
T1 = Non-productive time, h
W = Effective working width, m
S = Effective speed of operation, km/h
All plots were harvested for yield estimation and randomly 1m2 area was harvested for yield contributing characters. Before selecting the yield estimation area, border effects were avoided. All the wheat straw and grain from the harvest area were collected. The harvested wheat were threshed with BARI multicrop thresher. Then the grain were thoroughly dried upto safe moisture content and weighted to measure yield. Randomly 1 m2 area was selected from the main plot for crop biomass, plant height, spike length, spike/m2, grain/spike, and 1000 grain weight. Farmers reaction on the benefit or constrain of the ZT drill were collected and listed to address in the next year development.