Development of an animal-drawn, inclined-roller crust breaker

An animal-drawn, inclined-roller crust breaker was designed, developed and evaluated in the Alfisol field. It completely breaks the soil crust, causes negligible injury to seedlings, and promotes emergence of pearlmillet [Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.f.) Stapf & C. E. Hubb.,syn. P. americanum (Linn.) Leeke] and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moench] to the level expected in the absence of crusting. It covers a im wide strip, and its average field capacity is 0.35 ha/hr. The design is simple and it can be made locall

A concept of time-density reducibility for soil

A concept of time-density reducibility for soil samples, analogous to time-temperature and time-moisture simplicity is presented. Stress relaxation tests were conducted to determine the time-dependent relaxation modulus and the time-density shift function of one soil sample. The hypothesis that the concept of time-density reducibility is valid was verified for one soil sampl

Development of Rolling-Type Soil Crust Breaker

Soil crusting or capping is a serious problem in arid and semiarid regions; it restricts the emergence of crop seedlings. A mechanical, rolling soil crust breaker was designed, developed, and tested in the field. The equipment is of simple construction and breaks the soil crust over the rows of germinated seeds effectively, improving emergence significantly without any damage to seedlings. It can be manually operated as a single-row unit or a multiple row unit and can be pulled by animal draft power or a small tracto

New Implements for Crop Production in the Semi-Arid Tropics

A suite of simple bullock-drawn implements has been developed at ICRISAT to form broadbeds and furrows and to carryout subsequent field operations easily. Agribar II, an improved version of the Agribar fitted with a four-row planter, can sow various crops and per form tillage operations. Simple implements based on a T-bar have been developed for making broadbeds, applying fertilizer, sowing, and interrow cultivation. A crust breaker was developed to enhance seedling emergence through the surface crust . A spinning-disc knapsack sprayer and a groundnut digger have also been developed to meet specific requirements of farmers who grow groundnut in the semi-arid tropics

New implements for small farmers of the semi-arid tropics

A range of implements have been developed at ICRISAT for farmers in the semi-arid tropics. They include: Agribar II, used for various tillage operations and which can be fitted with a four-row planter, and simple T-bar bullock-drawn implements for making broadbeds, applying fertilizer, sowing and interrow cultivation; three different models of crust-breaker, covering one row, two rows and a metre-wide strip, to enhance the emergence of seedlings through the soil crust; a twin spinning-disc knapsack-sprayer for low-growing crops; a groundnut digger for hard soil, with chisel points to assist penetration; and a donkey-drawn cultivator-cum-seeder for sowing pearl millet and sorghum in hills and for interrow weeding on light-textured soils

Soil crust and its impact on crop establishment: A review

Soil crusting is a worldwide problem occurring under a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. Soil crusts affect seedling emergence and reduce the infiltration rate causing loss of water and crop yield. Considerable research has been done in order to understand the process of crust formation and the factors affecting it. Soil crust strength and impedance to seedling emergence have been studied in detail and measures to avoid crusting and methods to ameliorate its adverse effects have been suggested. The findings of such studies are summarized in this paper

Development of a Chisel Digger for Harvesting Groundnut

A chisel digger was designed and developed at ICRlSAT Asia Center for harvesting virginia bunch type groundnut crops. It consists of a digger-bottom and a standard. The digger-bottom has two shares that are inclined at 120" to each other and contain chisel points for inc~eased penetration into the soil. A single digger-bottom attached to a draw pole can be pulled by a pair of oxen and two or more digger-bottoms attached to a tool bar can be pulled by a tractor. The bullock-drawn chisel digger can harvest a 60-cm wide strip or two rows of the crop sown at a 30-cm row spacing. It can harvest about 0.7 ha per day (8 h) with less than 5% losses. It undercuts the tap roots of groundnut plants and leaves the plants upright without any dragging. The chisel digger performed satisfactorily even under soil conditions where blade type diggers could not penetrate up-to the desired depth

Performance of low-draft tillage implements on a hard setting Alfisol of the SAT in India

Four bullock-drawn tillage implements (mouldboard plough, chisel plough, sweeps, and shovels) were evaluated on a hard-setting Alfisol. Measurements included draft requirement, bulk density, cone index, soil crust strength, water content of the plough-layer and crop yield. Changes in bulk density and cone index due to tillage decreased with time and were negligible by the end of the growing season. After tillage with a mouldboard plough the crust was stronger than after tillage with other implements. The shovel cultivator enabled the soil to store more water, and required least draft per unit effective area of cu

Implement development for SAT Alfisols

Field operations in Alfisols and related soils require timeliness and precision for the early establishment of a crop in the rainy season. Animal-drawn, multipurpose wheeled tool carriers (WTCs) have been found to be the most appropriate machinery for this purpose. Three designs discussed in this paper covered 1 ha in 3-4 hours for different tillage operations, and could be drawn by a pair of oxen of average size. A WTC fitted with a planter-and-fertilizer applicator, consisting of an inclined plate for seed metering and1416 oscillating mechanisms for fertilizer metering and a double-shoe furrow opener, gave excellent results in sowing various crops, and covered 1 ha in 4-5 hours with an average draft of 1530 N (156 kgf) for four rows. A rolling crust breaker, developed to enhance seedling emergence through the surface crust, gave good results. Intensive primary tillage of Alfisols showed advantages in the early stages of crop growth, but they tended to disappear late in the season. Results of tillage studies conducted for 4 years indicate a need for further research to find out the comparative advantages of different intensities of primary tillage during the cropping season and off-season