The process of planting seeds is called sowing. After the field is prepared to be cultivated, seeds selected by the farmers are scattered in the field. The correct methods should be followed during this agricultural process, such as maintaining the proper depth and distance, and the soil should be clean, healthy, and free of illness and other diseases like fungus.
To make the process of seed sowing easier and more convenient for farmers, there are several equipments available in the market. Here’s a list of the best equipments for seed sowing and how to use them.
Rotary Dibbler
It is a push-type machine that is manually operated for dispersing medium and large-sized seeds including maize, soybean, sorghum, pigeon pea, and Bengal gram in a prepared seedbed. It has a handle, a covering-cum-transport wheel, a seed hopper with a wooden roller shaped like a cell, and a revolving dibbling head with penetrating jaws. Six cells around the center of the cell type are called seed metering.
Depending on how close the seeds are to one another, there are anywhere between five and eight jaws. In order for it to work, the hopper must be filled with seeds, and the transport wheel must be pulled to the backside. Then, with the covering cum transport wheel behind the dibbling head, the dibbler is propelled forward in the direction of travel. The seeds are dropped by default when the jaws reach the dirt.
The seeds are dropped by default when the jaws reach the soil. The size of the polygon plate to which the jaws are fastened determines the distance between the seeds.
Power Tiller Mounted Air Assisted Seed Drill
Small seeds like sesame have a very varied germination percentage. For drilling small seeds at the required seed rate, an air-assisted seed drill fitted to a power tiller has been designed. Row spacing can be changed from 300 mm for four rows to 600 mm for two rows. The machine's actual field capacity is 0.25 ha/h. The power to the seed metering shaft can be turned off by raising the toolbar.
Power Tiller Operated Inclined Plate Planter
For planting maize, soybean, and pea crops in terraced and valley areas in the NEH region, RCNEH, Barapani has developed a power tiller-operated three-row inclined plate planter. Chain, sprockets, and a series of bevel gears are used to transfer power from the ground drive wheel to the seed feed shaft. By adjusting the furrow openers on the toolbar, the planter's row-to-row spacing can be changed from 130 to 280 mm. By switching seed plates and transmission ratios, different crops can be seeded.
Self-Propelled Rice Transplanter
In puddled soils, it is appropriate for transplanting paddy seedlings. It is a riding-style machine with a single wheel and a diesel motor. In a single pass, eight rows of seedlings from a mat-type nursery are transplanted.
Through a V-belt, cone clutch, and gearbox, the drive wheel is given power from the engine. The power for the transplanting mechanism located over the float comes from a propeller shaft from the gearbox. The transplanter may more easily slide across the puddled surface thanks to the float.
Tractor Operated Zero-Till-Seed-Cum-Fertilizer Drill
It has been made possible to plant wheat without first preparing the seedbed on rice fields that have been harvested. It is a 9/11/13-row unit that has agitators over adjustable holes for metering fertilizer and fluted rollers for metering seed. It has a tubular steel section frame, seed and fertilizer boxes, a fluted roller metering mechanism for seeds, two depth control wheels for controlling the sowing depth, inverted "T" type furrow openers made of medium carbon steel with a high-speed steel tip in the front for opening narrow slits in untilled soil, and a ground drive wheel with lugs on its circumference that serves as a power source to drive the metering mechanism of the drill.
Tractor Mounted Raised Bed Planter
PAU in Ludhiana has created a bed-former-cum-seeder for planting wheat. A frame, planting hoppers, a fertilizer box, furrow openers, a bed shaper, and a power transmission wheel make up the bed planter. Sections of mild steel make up the frame. The ridge-style furrow openers have a mould board and share point. The mould board's wing span can be changed. The share is constructed of medium carbon steel or alloy steel that has been properly hardened and tempered.
Two beds are made using the machine. On each bed, it can plant two or three rows of wheat. It has a vertical disc-style seed metering machine. The roller-type bed shaper reduces the machine's draught need. The machine also features a planting attachment that may be used to plant cotton, corn, groundnuts, and other crops on the beds.
Tractor Operated Inclined Plate Planter
A multi-crop planter for planting large and small seeds, the tractor-operated 6-row inclined plate planter was created at the CIAE in Bhopal and the PAU in Ludhiana. A frame with a toolbar, modular seedboxes, furrow openers, and a ground drive wheel system make up the planter. With an independent inclined plate-type seed metering system, it includes six modular seedboxes. Seed plates for a variety of seeds can be easily chosen and changed. The ideal plant-to-plant spacing and the seed size affect the seed plate's thickness, cell count, and size.
For use, the seed is placed into the hopper, picked up by inclined plate cells, and fed through seed tubes to the opening attached to the furrow opener. Deep seed placement in a moist zone for sowing under dryland conditions is ensured using shoe-type furrow openers. Row-to-row spacing can be changed with the help of modular seed box-furrow opening equipment. Changing the gearbox ratio will alter the plant-to-plant spacing. Through a chain and sprocket system, the ground-driving wheel transmits power to the seed metering mechanism. It may be used to plant intercrop on wide beds.
Tractor Operated Small Seed Planter
At PAU in Ludhiana, a tractor-operated six-row planter has been designed for sowing tiny seeds, such as onions. It includes a three-point hitch system, shovel-style furrow openers, seed hoppers for each row, and an inclined plate-type metering mechanism. The seed hopper has a capacity of 1.5 kg, and the plastic measuring plate has a diameter of 130 mm. The lugged ground wheel supplies the energy needed to operate the metering mechanism. The machine's row-to-row spacing is 150 mm, however, the plant-to-plant spacing can be altered by switching out the sprockets or a plate with a variable number of notches.
