Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
AA Deogirikar, KG Dhande, VV Aware, PU Shahare, JS Dhekale, AG Mohod and AR Jadhav

Abstract:
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is mainly cultivated by transplanting method by using seedlings raised in the nursery grown by manual seed drilling or broadcasting in the field. The small size of the seeds hinders uniform metering. Usually more seeds are dropped manually for the assurance of getting sufficient seedlings. The densely raised seedlings may not have healthy and uniform growth. This results in discard of unhealthy seedlings that in turn is the loss of seeds and the nutrients supplied. The mechanical transplanting requires uniform seedlings. Considering this, a four row manually operated seed cum fertilizer drum seeder has been developed for the uniform distribution of seeds in the nursery bed for proper growth of seedlings. The main frame of the drum seeder is made up of MS while the drums are made up of PVC pipes. In single filling of drums, the drum seeder can grow seedlings required for transplanting one hectare area. It was tested with two different diameter ground wheels (165 and 230 mm as D₁ and D₂), three different operating speeds (1, 1.5 and 2 km/h-¹ as S₁, S₂, S₃) and two different numbers of orifices on the drum (12 and 24 as H₁ and H₂). The drum seeder was tested in laboratory in the jacked condition to determine the seed rate. It was further tested in the field on sticky plate and in actual working condition to determine the seed uniformity and seedling density. The required plant population to satisfy the transplanting need was obtained when the seed drill was operated with 24 orifices drum at 1.5 km/h^-1 speed using 165 mm diameter wheel and at 2 km/h^-1 speed using 230 mm diameter wheel.