DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A TWO-ROW ANIMAL DRAWN SORGHUM PLANTER

Abstract

Most Ethiopian farmers are still using traditional methods of farming due to their low income to use the available costly modern machines. Design of animal drawn row planters is very essential to increase production in small scale farming by facilitating good plant and row spacing. The main objective of this study was to design and develop animal drawn sorghum row planter for small scale farmers of Eastern Hararge. The essential physical seed properties such as sphericity, angle of repose and coefficient of static friction and agro ecological parameters of the area were considered for design of the planter. The components were made based on the design calculations and using selected materials. The weight of materials and seed were determined for design of shaft and estimate the power required to propel the planter. The developed planter was tested in laboratory as well as on the field and its performance was evaluated interms of seed damage and seed spacing and distribution efficiency. Statistical analysis was made for the seed spacing values measured from different tests of varying forward speeds such as 2, 3 and 4 km/hr and their interaction to three levels of hopper filling with 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kg of seed in laboratory and field. The percentage of seed miss index (Imiss) was directly proportional to speed of operation with 3.51 % at 2 km/hr, 5.26 % at 3 km/hr and 10.53 % at 4 km/hr. The multiple index (Imulti) was 29.82 %, 24.56 % and 32.45 % with increase in speed. Quality of feed index (Ifq) increased from 66.67 % at 2 km/hr to 70.17 % at 3 km/hr and decreased to 57.02 % at 4 km/hr and the precision index (Ip) had an inverse relationship to the increase in speed. In general, the prototype planter has shown good performance interms of all parameters at forward speed of 3 km/hr. Field performance parameters such as field efficiency, actual field capacity and average depth of furrow were determined as 67.74 %, 0.153 ha/hr and 5.225 cm respectively. The performance of the planter could have been better than the obtained value if there was a system to make a good pulverized soil prior to planting and a trained animal. Therefore, the concerning bodies should focus on such and related studies for betterment of the production system from tillage to harvesting.