CIAE Bullock Drawn Three Row Planter with Fertilizer Drill for Millets/ Multi-Crop Model I - Inclined Plate Type
In India, millets are sown by broadcasting and drilling by tifan or traditional implements. They give the nonuniform distribution of seeds which in turn gave excessive plant population and uneven plant spacings. Nonuniformity in seed plating and plant population results in reduced yield. The seed rate used in the traditional method of broadcasting a line sowing are 30-40 kg/ha and 12-15 kg/ha. The seeds were being wasted because of nonavailability of the suitable seeding machinery. Therefore, considering the economic conditions of the millet growing farmers a bullock drawn three-row planter with fertilizer drill for millets/ multi-crop was developed to provide solutions to the broadcasting and line sowing methods for millet growing farmers. The developed millet planter cum fertilizer drill has an inclined plate type metering device for seed and vertical plate type metering device for fertilizer. It was evaluated in the field and it was found that it 70% and 90% can save compared to traditional method of line sowing and broadcasting, respectively. Cost of the machine and the operational cost was Rs. 14000. It gave 41% and 66% more yield when compared with broadcasting for kodo and little millet, respectively. It is the lightweight equipment can be easily carried by a farmer to the field. This equipment is suitable for sowing small seeds of millet. Use of the multi millet seed cum fertilizer planters can save seeds and cost compared to drilling by traditional methods. The developed equipment can be used by small farmers.