Development of Power Tiller Driven Minimum Tillage and

Zero Tillage Maize Planter

G.K. Kaflea,b* S. Upadhayaa Y.K. Raia J.S. Kima A.K. Shuklaa

a
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Purwanchal Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University,
Nepal
b
Department of Biosystems Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Kangwon-do, Republic of
Korea

Abstract

Maize planting using traditional methods is time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive. In this study, a maize seed metering system was
developed and its performance was tested under both laboratory and field conditions using power tiller. The minimum tillage and zero
tillage furrow opener was developed for planting maize seed. The seed breakage was increased with increase in speed and found to be less
than 3% at speed of 1.25 to 2.0 km/hr. The field capacity of the developed maize planter was calculated to be 0.171 ha/hr at the speed of 1.5
km/hr. The performance of maize planter was found to be better under minimum tillage conditions than under zero tillage conditions. The
cost of planting was found to be more than 79% cheaper for the developed planter compared to other traditional methods used in Nepal.

Keywords: Maize planter, Resource conservation technology, Minimum tillage, Zero tillage.

1. INTRODUCTION metering system of Chinese power tiller driven

wheat seeder was replaced by developed metering
The tillage operation in conventional agriculture is system for maize seed and its performance was
time consuming and costly process. For some crops, evaluated.
tillage and sowing operations require up to one-third
of total cost. Conservation tillage is one of the 2. METHODOLOGY
important means to sustain and increase soil fertility
and crop productivity [1]. In conservation tillage 2.1. Description of the Power Tiller
cost of land preparation and sowing can be reduced
The power tiller/ two wheel tractor with attached
to a great extent [1]. Minimum tillage and zero
rotavator was used as power source for maize
tillage are popularly accepted resource conservation
planting in this study. The power tiller was made in
technologies in different parts of the world.
China (trade mark: huiyou), and its rated power was
Minimum tillage and zero tillage can save
15 hp. The engine, used in power tiller, contained
substantial amount of time, irruption, and
one cylinder and operated by diesel. The forward
momentary cost in crop production [1-3].
speed can be maintained in the range of 1.54 to
16.83 km/hr, and reverse speed can be maintained in
In Nepal, the agricultural mechanization has very
the range of 1.20 to 4.18 km/hr.
slow pace, and most of the farmers are continuing
the traditional methods of farming which are labor
2.2. Construction and Design of Seed Metering
incentive, costly, and time consuming. The average
System and Furrow Opener
land holding per family across Nepal is found to be
less than 0.8 hectare [4]. Due to low investment
The developed seed metering system and the seed
capacity and lack of infrastructure and market
cut off device is shown in the Figure 1. The ground
opportunities, majority of farmers in Nepal are
wheel with tread (made using iron) was attached to
adopting traditional technology in their production
the seed metering system as shown in Figure 1(a).
systems [4]. Therefore, cheap and small size
The ground wheel was used as power source for
machines are more suitable for promoting
seed metering. When the power tiller moves, the
mechanization. Maize is the second major crop after
ground wheel rotates and according to rotation of
rice in Nepal, and its demand is increasing day by
ground wheel, the seed plate rotates. The seed plate
day. There is urgent need for the mechanization of
contained number of holes (Fig. 1(b)), and holes are
maize farming systems in Nepal.
occupied by seeds. The power transmission system
was designed to maintain the plant to plant spacing
The main objective of this study was to develop the
of 25 cm using equation (1) [5]. The row to row
power tiller driven minimum tillage and zero tillage
spacing was fixed to 70 cm for both minimum
maize planter. In the present study, the seed
tillage and zero tillage tests.
__________________
*Corresponding Author: Tel: +082-010-5844-8262, E-mail:
gopikafle@yahoo.com D n N2 (1)

b N1

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Where,
D = Diameter of the Ground wheel
N = Number of cells in the rotor
N2 = Rpm of the rotor (seed plate)
N1 = RPM of the ground wheel
b = Seed spacing

Figure 2: Furrow opener (a) minimum tillage, (b)

zero tillage.

Figure 3 shows the picture of developed maize seed

metering system attached to Chinese power tiller
Figure 1: (a) Developed seed metering system, (b)
and the tests plots (minimum tillage and zero
horizontal cell feed type seed plate with seed cut off
tillage). For the field test under minimum tillage
device
conditions the rotavator attached to power tiller was
operated; however, under minimum tillage
The developed minimum tillage and zero tillage
conditions the maize planting was done without
furrow opener are shown in Figure 2. The slit width
operating rotavator (shovels of rotavator were
of furrow opener was fixed 2cm.
opened). The speed of the power tiller was fixed 1.5
km/hr and the field capacity of the designed maize
2.2. Laboratory and Field Testing
planter was calculated. Similarly, the depth of
planting was fixed 5cm. Evenness of seed spacing in
Laboratory and field testing for developed maize
the field test was determined by taking the plant to
planter was performed following the standard test
plant distance after the maize plant was grown up as
protocol [5]. The seed rate and seed breakage % was
shown in Figure 3.
determined in the laboratory by jacking up the axle
of the power tiller and rotating the wheel of the
power tiller at different speeds (11, 17, 22, 28, 32
revolution per minute (RPM)). The plastic bags
were fixed in each furrow openers to collect the
seed. Uniformity of the seed spacing was measured
by employing sand bed method. The germination
test (seed viability) was performed for the seeds
collected from metering mechanism.

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Figure 3: Picture of (a) power tiller with maize
metering device, (b) minimum tillage test plot, (c)
zero tillage test plot.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Lab and Field Performance of Maize Planter
The seed metering system showed good
performance under both laboratory and field
conditions. The seed cut off device allowed only a
single seed to fall to the hose of the furrow opener.
The seed breakage linearly increased with the
increase in the speed (Fig. 4). The seed breakage
was found to be less than 3% at speed of 1.25 to 2.0
km/hr. The use of soft material like rubber (Fig. 1(b))
for separating seeds in seed cut-off device may be
the reason for low breakage of seed in this study.
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3.5
3.0
Seed damage, %
2.5
2.0
1.5 y = 0.0936x - 0.3284
R2 = 0.9782
1.0
0.5
0.0
0 10 20 30 40
Speed, RPM
Figure 4: Effect of speed on seed damage
(laboratory test).
The seed rate was calculated to be 18.7 kg/ha (1000
seeds = 0.283kg). The average seed to seed spacing
was measured 27.5 cm and average evenness was
calculated 0.74. The average seed germination was
calculated to be 95%.Thus results showed that there
is not much effect on seed viability after passing
through developed seed metering system.
The field capacity was calculated to be 0.171 ha/hr
at the speed of 1.5 km/hr. The speed of power tiller
was maintained low due to small size of test plots
and undulations in the test plots. The average plant
to plant spacing in the minimum tillage test plot was
measured to be 24 cm, and evenness in the seed
spacing was in acceptable range. However, in the
zero tillage test plots some non uniformity in seed
spacing was observed compared to minimum tillage.
The average plant population was counted to be 9
plants /m2 on the 12th day of the first germination of
the seed. The depth of the planting was closer to the
designed depth (5 cm) for minimum tillage;
however, depth of planting was non uniform in the
case of zero tillage planting. Further study need to
be conducted to improve the performance of zero
tillage system. We had observed skidding of ground
wheel during operation under field conditions,
which higher for zero tillage compared to minimum
tillage. Thus, the reason for less uniformity in seed
spacing during zero tillage operations may be due to
higher skidding of the ground wheel.
3.2. Cost of Planting
Table 1 shows the estimated cost of planting maize
using developed maize planter and other popular
methods of planting in Nepal. The cost of planting
of maize for developed planter was calculated to be
NRs 910/ha (calculated on 2006), which was more
than 79% cheaper than other traditional methods
used in Nepal (Table 1).
 Table 1. Cost of planting maize by different [4] Shrestha, S., 2011. Status of agricultural mechanization in
Nepal. Citted at
methods of planting in Nepal
http://www.unapcaem.org/Activities%20Files/A1112Rt/np.
Planting Cost of Planting Reference pdf.
methods Operation cost [5] Smith, D.W. and Sims, B.G., 1994. Testing and Evaluation
(NRs/hr)a (NRs/ha)a of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment: Principles and
Practices. FAO agricultural services bulletin, FAO, Rome,
Zero tillage 151.52 910 This study Italy.
and [6] Agricultural Implement research center (AIRC), 2004.
minimum Annual report of AIRC, Ranighat, Birganj, Nepal.
tillage maize
planter
Tractor - 4417 [6]
drawn
cultivator
seed
broadcast
and covering
Tractor - 4980 [6]
drawn
cultivator
land
preparation
+ sowing +
animal
plough
Animal land - 4610 [6]
preparation
and sowing
NRs: Nepalese Rupees
-: Not determined
a
Cost was calculated on 2006

4. CONCLUSIONS
The developed planter can be used for planting
maize under both minimum and zero tillage
conditions. The precision of maize planting was
higher when used under minimum tillage conditions
compared to zero tillage conditions. The use of
minimum tillage and zero tillage planters could
reduce the maize planting cost by more than 79%
compared to traditional methods used in Nepal.
Further study is needed for the commercialization of
the developed zero tillage and minimum tillage
maize planter.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by a research grant, in the
year 2006, from the Department of Agricultural
Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

REFERENCES

[1] Roy, K.C., Meisner, C.A. and Haque, M.E., 2004. Status of
conservation tillage for small farming of Bangladesh. 2004
CIGR International conference, Beijing, China.
[2] Ekboir, J., 2001. Developing no-till packages for smallscale
farmers. Cited at, http://www.betuco.be/CA/No-
tillage%20Cimmyt.pdf.
[3] Paliwal, R.L., Granados, G., Lafitte, H.R. and Violic, A.D.,
2000.Tropical maize improvement and production. Plant
production and protection, series no. 28, FAO, Rome, Italy.

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