Author(s):

Vinayaka, M Veerangouda, Sushilendra, Devanand Maski, BK Desai and SR Doddagoudar

Abstract: Planting is a critical field operation that has direct impact on the germination rate and subsequent yield of field crops. Cotton, being a major cash crop needs to be planted precisely as the cost of seeds is quite high. The machineries available for planting of cotton pose many problems besides being expensive. Hence, a tractor operated seed dibbler was developed for dibbling of cotton. Engineering properties of cotton are important consideration in developing any planting operation. Engineering properties help in designing various machine and operational parameters like type of seed metering mechanism, seed hopper capacity, angle of seed metering plate, speed of operation etc. ACH5 variety of cotton was selected in the present study and various engineering properties viz., size, sphericity, moisture content, bulk density, thousand seed weight, angle of repose and coefficient of friction were determined. The results of the study revealed that size, sphericity and moisture content of the cotton seeds were 5.53 mm, 0.66 and 7.53 % (d.b), respectively. Bulk density of cotton seeds was measured to be 575.05 kg m^-3. Thousand seed weight, angle of repose and coefficient of friction of cotton seeds were determined as 77 g, 31.96 degree and 0.535, respectively. Functional components of the seed dibbler were designed on the basis of values of engineering properties obtained in the study.

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