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An Improved Method of Broadcasting Seeds and Fertilizers for Small Farmholders

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  021058,  2002 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.10371) @2002
Authors:   Abutaher M. Ziauddin and Ferdous H. Khan
Keywords:   Distributor, seed, fertilizer and uniformity

A manually operated seed-fertilizer distributor was designed and developed in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to broadcast seeds, fertilizers and granular insecticides in the field. Theory of Kinematics of particle and the principle of gravity flow were used in designing the machine. Experiments were conducted for determination of Uniformity Co-efficient of Distribution (UCD), field capacity of the machine and application rate of the seeds (lentil, black gram & wheat) and fertilizers (fine urea & TSP). The UCD of the seeds and the fertilizers were determined by Catching Paper Box method and were compared with that of traditional hand broadcasting method. This simple mechanical device of 6.0 kg weight was designed to carry on the shoulder of an operator during operation. It had a fabrication cost of TK.1000 (US $20) only (in year 2000). Normally, the UCD of traditional hand broadcasting system ranges between 40% to 70%, depending upon the operators skill. The average UCD of this device at a beater speed of 700 rpm for fine urea, TSP, wheat, lentil and black gram were found to be 97.75%, 93.5%, 88.75%, 97.21% and 96.25%, respectively. The average effective field capacity of the device was calculated as 2.26 ha/hr, whereas it was about 0.32 ha/hr only in case of traditional hand sowing method. The extensive performance tests conducted in the farmers fields indicated that the seed-fertilizer distributor could be used by farmers with high satisfaction. The technology has already been transferred formally to four machine manufacturers in the country for manufacture and marketing. To day, a good number of machine, known as BAUZIA Seed-Fertilizer Distributor are being used in the field. It is expected that the machine, with its own advantages, will penetrate the farmers world within a very short period of time.

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