Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24203/ajafs.v8i4.6286Keywords:
Development, testing, tractor-drawn turmeric, planterAbstract
Planting of turmeric has been a challenge to the farmers in Nigeria due to the absence of planting machine. The farmers are left to the traditional method of planting with hoes and cutlasses. This method is time consuming, labour intensive, associated with human drudgery and a high demand for human energy. As a result, a mechanical planter was designed and fabricated. The main objective of the study is to develop and evaluate the performance of a tractor- drawn turmeric planter. The planter was designed, fabricated and tested in the Agricultural and Bioresources Department of The Federal University of Technology, Minna. It consists of a ground drive wheel, hopper, metering system furrow opener, residue cutting edge, furrow closing device press wheel and power transmission mechanism. The performance tests of the fabricated machine were carried out using three levels of turmeric rhizome lengths (30 mm, 45 mm and 60 mm) at three levels of operational speeds (8km/h 10km/h and 12km/h). The results revealed that there was no steady pattern in the increase or decrease of miss index with increase in turmeric rhizome length and machine operational speed. The highest percentage turmeric rhizome miss index of 35% was recorded for turmeric rhizome length of 30cm at machine operational speed of 10km/h whereas the lowest percentage turmeric rhizome miss index of 15% was obtained for turmeric rhizome length of 60cm at the machine operational speed of 12km/h. The machine operational speed and size of the turmeric rhizomes affect the field capacity of the machine. The highest capacity of 0.96ha/h was recorded at the highest operational speed of 12km/h. The lowest field capacity of 0.63ha/h was recorded at the lowest machine speed of 8km/h. The developed machine could reduce drudgery involved in manual turmeric planting and save about substantial amount of labour and operating time.
References
Nwaekpe, J.O., Anyaegbunam, H.N., Okoye, B.C.and Asumugha, G.N., “Promotion of Turmeric for the Food/PharmaceuticalIndustry in Nigeria”, American Journal of Experimental Agriculture vol, 8, no. 6, pp. 35-341, 2015,
FAO, “Turmeric- Post-Production Management”, 2004, http://www.fao.org/3/a-ax446e.pdf
Sahdeo P. and Bharat B.A., “Turmeric, the Golden Spice”, 2011 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/nbk9272/
Balakrishnan K.V., “Postharvest technology and processing of turmeric: The Genus Curcuma”, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. pp. 193–256, 2007
Ajit, k.S., Carroll, E.G., Roger P.R., Dennis, R.B., “Engineering Principles of Agricultural Machines”, Second Edition. ASABE Publication SO1M0206, 2006
Olaoye J.O. and Bolufawi S.J., “Design, Fabrication and Performance of Multipopurse Row Planting Machine”, J. Sustain Agric. Environ”, vol, 3, no. 1, pp. 7-20, 2001
Khan k., Mosses S.C, Kumar A., “The Design and Fabrication of Manually Operated Single Row Multi-Crops Planter”, Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, vol, 8, no. 10, pp. 47-158, 2015
Macmillian, R.H., “The Mechanics of Tractor-Implement Performance, Theory and Worked Examples”, a Text Book for Student and Engineers. R.H Machmillian, 2002.
Khurmi, R.S., Gupta, J.K., “Machine Design, First Multicolour Edition”, Enrasia Publishing House (PVT) Ltd., Ram Nagar, New Delhi-110 055, 2005
ASAE, “Standard Agricultural Machinery Management Data ASAE D 497”, 1999
Kachman S. D and Smith J. A., “Alternative Measure of Accuracy in Plant Spacing for Planters Using Single Seed Metering”, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 379-387, 2007
Singh, T. P. and Gautam V., “Development and Performance Evaluation of a Gladiolus Planter in Field for Planting Corns”, International Journal of Agricultural and Biosystem Engineering, vol, 9, no. 12, pp. 1243-1248, 2015
Khan k., Mosses S .C, Kumar A., “The Design and Fabrication of Manually Operated Single Row Multi-Crops Planter”, Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, vol, 8, no. 10, pp. 147-158
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 A. Gbabo, C. P. Muogbo, Ibrahim M. Gana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
