Development and testing of a tractor operated coconut basin lister cum fertilizer applicator

Abstract

The basin listing and fertilizer application are important operations for the optimum growth of coconut palms. The conventional methods of basin listing and fertilizer application for coconut palms are labour intensive, drudgery prone, time consuming, accident prone, cost intensive and requires skilled labour. Therefore, a research work was undertaken to develop a tractor operated coconut basin lister cum fertilizer applicator considering soil, crop, fertilizer and machine parameters. The developed machine composed of gear box, power transmission system, main frame, main shaft and its cover, rotor shaft, cutting blades, frame, chain cover, hitch system, hopper, agitator, metering roller, metering housing, delivery pipe and other parts. The lab model of fertilizer applicator was developed and tested to finalize the metering roller type for prototype of fertilizer applicator. The recommended fertilizer application rate of 1.56 kg palm-1 was obtained for edge cell metering roller with lab model of fertilizer applicator. The recommended fertilizer application rate of 1.56 kg palm-1 , highest coefficient of uniformity of 99.2 per cent and desirability of 0.98 was obtained for edge cell metering roller flute volume of 1.43 × 10-5 m3 and ‘L’ shape agitator with lab evaluation of prototype of fertilizer applicator. The desirable depth of cut of 10.0 cm was obtained for forward speed of 2.0 km·h -1 , blade to plate angle of 110 deg. and skid height from ground level of 17.5 cm; minimum time per basin formation was attained for forward speed of 2.5 km h -1 , blade to plate angle of 100 deg. and skid height from ground level of 20.0 cm respectively; higher bund height, lower bund width and lower soil pulverization index was obtained for forward speed of 2.0 km h -1 , blade to plate angle of 110 deg. and skid height from ground level of 17.5 cm respectively with basin lister in the field. By numerical optimization, the optimum parameters of machine are 2.0 km h -1 forward speed, 110 deg. blade to plate angle and 17.5 cm skid height from ground level. The number of basins formed per hour, actual field capacity and fuel consumption of tractor operated basin lister cum fertilizer 186 applicator is 20, 0.15 ha·h -1 and 6.7 l h -1 respectively. The cost of prototype of tractor operated basin lister cum fertilizer applicator is Rs.85,000. The cost of operation of machine for basin listing and fertilizer application operations is found out as Rs.881 h -1 and Rs.5874 ha-1 . The breakeven point, payback period and benefit cost ratio of the machine is 75 hours per annum, 1.60 years and 3.08:1 respectively. The saving in cost of operation of machine is Rs.18,126 ha-1 and 75.50 per cent when compared to conventional method of basin listing and fertilizer application operations.