DEVELOPMENT OF TRACTOR DRAWN ELECTRONIC MULTI-CROP PLANTER CUM FERTILIZER APPLICATOR FOR PRECISION FARMING

Electronic planter work with a sensor based battery operated metering system, which adds precision to the work. The sensor system in the machine helps in proper metering of the seeds and thus further reduces the losses. A tractor drawn electronic multi crop electronic planter cum fertilizer applicator was fabricated at Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, CAET, Anand Agricultural University. The developed planter mainly consists of the seed and metering plates and shafts, seed hopper, fertilizer box and electronic components to control seed rate. The sensor system in the machine helps in proper metering of the seeds and thus further reduces the losses. The seed rate was controlled easily with the rpm controller and can be used for a variety of seeds with the change in seed metering plates. The planter was tested and the field observation such as theoretical and effective field capacity, field efficiency, power requirement, fuel consumption, draft, wheel slip and cost of operation was studied.