MANUALLY OPERATED AEROBIC RICE DRUM SEEDER

Introduction
In legend and religion around the World, rice is regarded as a precious gift of
God to the Earth. For most Asians, rice is the staple food. Modern agriculture
gives greater emphasis on increased production per unit area per unit time
leading to exploitative agriculture. It has become imperative to increase the
productivity and also to sustain higher productivity through aerobic rice
cultivation. The term "Aerobic rice" means growing high yielding rice
varieties in non-puddled and non-flooded aerobic soil. Aerobic cultivation
entails the growing of rice in aerobic soil, the method of sowing is important.
Direct seeding and transplanting are two general methods for planting rice.
The primary difference between the two methods is that in the transplanting
method, seedlings are first raised in the seedbed before they are planted in
the main field whereas in direct seeding, the seed is sown directly in the
main field either by broadcast seeding in wet or dry field. Drill seeding in dry
soil makes the use of mechanical seed drills feasible. It improves soil
structure since puddling in minimized. Lower labour cost is the major
advantage of direct seeding. This method eliminates scedbed preparation.
care of seedlings in the seedbed. pulling seedlings and hauling and
transplanting operations. The savings in labour may substantially reduce
production cost. particularly in areas where labour cost is high. Also directly
seeded rice may mature 7 to 10 days earlier than transplanted rice. This
saving in time is important especially where multiple cropping pattern is
used.
Weeding is a problem if broadcast seeding is used. The weeding problem is
less in row seeding because it allows the use of mechanical weeders. This is
true, especially in countries where chemical weed control is not yet widely
practiced due perhaps to the fact that herbicides are too expensive for the
ordinary farmer. Direct seeded rice also have a greater tendency to lodge
than transplanted rice because roots of directly seeded rice develop poorly
and anchorage is poor. International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
researchers are of the opinion that there is no significance difference in yield
of transplanted or directly seeded rice if good management practices are
used with each method.
The problem in direct seeding is to devise suitable methods which would
reduce the labour problems during peak seasons. For accomplishing the
timeliness of operation an attempt was made to develop a manually
operated aerobic rice drum seeder. The design of drum seeder should be
based on ergonomic consideration to make it comfortable to the operator.
The planted rice seeds should achieve an acceptable germination
percentage, using local rice variety under garden land conditions.
Construction

A manually operated aerobic rice drum seeder unit consists of the functional
components such as seed drum, furrow openers, furrow closer, ground wheel
and handle.
Seed drum
The seed drum of optimized shape i.e., hyperboloid (truncated cone) with 20
cm diameter was fabricated with 12 mm flat spikes of 25 mm length kept
parallel to the axis of rotation. The slopes of the cone facilitate the free flow
of seeds towards the metering holes. Nine numbers of seed metering holes
of 10 mm diameter were provided along the circumference of the drum at
both the ends for a row-to-row spacing of 20 cm. The drums for the
prototype were fabricated with the optimized values of variables using
plastic sheet provided with 25 mm diameter plastic bushes on either sides.
Main shaft
The main shaft of the aerobic drum seeder consists of a 25 mm mild steel
pipe of thickness 1.5 mm to accommodate the three seed drums and ground
wheel.
Ground wheel
Seed drums are rotated by the motion of the ground wheel without slippage
to get a uniform and desired seed rate. Ground wheel of 60 cm diameter was
fabricated by using 18 mm diameter mild steel pipe and 25 mm internal
diameter wheel hub for mounting the wheel on the main shaft. For better
traction, 12 numbers of lugs made of 22 gauge galvanized iron sheet were
welded on the inner periphery of the wheel.
Furrow openers
Furrow openers were provided with the drum seeder to make the seeds to
fall on opened furrows and to avoid the scattering of seeds. They were made
of 22 gauge galvanized iron sheet. The furrow openers were mounted on a
12 mm mild steel plate and connected to the main shaft by inserting the pipe
into a pin welded to 25 mm pipe bush on the main shaft. The position of the
opener was set to mark a furrow on the soil surface. The depth of furrow can
be adjusted by the position of bolt and nut on the travel hole of the furrow
opener.
Furrow closer
After the seed fall, the furrow closer is used to slightly and gently close the
seeds with soil without disturbing their position. The flat rod type furrow
closers are mounted on 12 mm mild steel pipe and connected to the main
shaft by inserting the pipe into the main shaft.
Handle
The handle of the drum seeder is made of 18 mm mild steel pipe and hitched
to the main shaft by 25 mm mild steel pipe bushes. The height of the handle
from the ground level can be adjusted by using the holes provided in the
main handle frame depending on the height of the operator.

The performance of the manually operated aerobic rice drum seeder was
designed, evaluated and the performance of the machine found out. The
results of the study indicated that wedge type furrow opener gave
satisfactory performance and its operation was free from clogging. An
average seed was placed at 17 mm depth with a row-to-row spacing of 20
cm. Ground wheel of 600 mm diameter with 24 external lugs, 90o lug angle
offered 8.53% slip. The power requirements to pull this seed drill were within
the capacity of an average man (0.0746 KW). The field capacity of the drum
seeder was 0.114 ha/h at the speed of 1.0 km/h under dry soil condition. The
rate of seed requirement was 35 kg/ha and grain yield of aerobic rice 4.35
t/ha. The PMK 3 rice variety seed was achieved very well in aerobic rice
cultivation practices. The seed rate was 42 and 56% as compared
transplanting and manually broadcasting methods.