Md. Fardous Alam1*, Md. Abdul Momin1,2, Md. Israil Hossain3, Sharmin Akter4, Arafat Ullah Khan5, and Md. Moudud Ahmmed6
1Dept. of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh; 2Agricultural Engineering Technology, School of Agriculture, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN 38505, USA; 3Farm Machinery Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh; 4Dept. of Agricultural and Industrial Engineering, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh; 5Farm Machinery and Postharvest Technology Division (FMPHT), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh; and 6Workshop Machinery & Maintenance Division (WMM), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
*Correspondence: fardous.kanak@outlook.com (Md. Fardous Alam, Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh).
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ABSTRACT
The research aimed to evaluate the field performance of a potato planter powered by a power tiller at the Regional Wheat Research Institute, BARI, Rajshahi. The study was conducted at a farmer's field in the potato-growing region of Shyampur, Rajshahi, from August 2013 to January 2014. The planter maintained a 250 mm gap between seeds and a single row spacing of 60 mm. Field trials were conducted at different operating speeds and seed sizes for assessment. The study revealed that an optimal forward speed of 2.5 km/hr resulted in the most uniform seed spacing and minimal seed gaps. Field demonstrations in Shyampur showed the potato planters' average effective field capacity was 0.11 ha/hr, with a 5% seed absence rate. In comparison to the traditional manual planting method, which required 53.3 man-days/ha, the potato planter significantly reduced labor requirements to 3 man-days per hectare. The total cost of planting was Tk.1781.82/ha. While the conventional method slightly outperformed mechanically planted plots in yields, using the power-tiller-operated potato planter demonstrated significant savings. A farmer's field day showcased crops from both planting methods, highlighting the substantial labor (95%) and cost (53%) savings achieved by adopting the mechanical planting approach. Considering the comparative performance, it is recommended that low-income farmers adopt the power tiller-operated potato planter to increase planting efficiency, cover more area in less time, and significantly reduce production costs compared to traditional methods.
Keywords: Potato, Potato planter, Field implementation, Performance evaluation, and Cost comparison.
Citation: Alam MF, Momin MA, Hossain MI, Akter S, khan AU, and Ahmmed MM. (2024). Field performance evaluation of a power tiller operated potato planter. Aust. J. Eng. Innov. Technol., 6(1), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.34104/ajeit.024.019025
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