Vol. 11, Special Issue 7 (2022)

Author(s):
Falguni Rathore and Atul Kumar Shrivastava

Abstract:
Precise metering of seed is an important performance parameter of a planter. Physical properties of cowpea seed were studied and based on their properties, an inclined plate metering mechanism was developed. Afterward, a performance evaluation of developed inclined plate metering was conducted in the laboratory condition. The metering device was tested at different variables i.e. three forward speeds (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 km/h), at three heights of seed dropping (15, 20, and 25 cm), and at three different angles of inclination (45°, 50°, and 55°). The performance of metering was evaluated based on spacing, missing index %, multiple index %, and quality of feed index. The desired spacing obtained was 17.5 cm at 2.5 km/h speed with 20 cm height of seed dropping at 50° angle of inclination. The optimum missing and multiple index was found to be 2% at 2.5 km/h speed with 20 cm height of seed dropping at 50° angle of inclination and 1.33% at 3 km/h speed with 20 cm height of seed dropping at 50° angle of inclination respectively. The overall quality of feed index was 94.67% at 2.5 km/h speed with 20 cm height of seed dropping at 50° angle of inclination. The satisfactory result was based on spacing, missing and multiple index, and quality of feed index were found at 2.5 km/h forward speed with 20 cm height of seed dropping with 50° angle of inclination.