Direct drilling helps in timely sowing of wheat after paddy in paddy-wheat rotation. It reduces cost of production, controls soil erosion and weeds, conserves soil moisture and also increases the quantity of organic matter in the soil. However, direct drilling in combine-harvested paddy field is not possible due to loose straw and chaffcoming out from combine. Presently this residue is being burnt along with stubbles after using stubble shaver. This is causing environmental pollution and even partial burning is being discouraged. Direct drilling in combine harvested fields faces the problems of accumulation of loose straw in front of seed drill's furrow openers. The presence of loose straw also results in traction problem in the ground wheel and non-uniform depth of seed placement due to frequent lifting of implement under heavy trash conditions. Keeping in view these operational problems, a tractor operated straw thrower attachment was designed and developed to facilitate direct drilling in combine harvested paddy fields without burning loose straw or stubbles. The first prototype developed in the department of Farm Power and Machinery is a mounted type PTO operated attachment with adjustable ground clearance of straw fingers. It is attached in front of the No-till-drill. As the tractor moves forward throwing of straw and direct drilling operation are performed simultaneously. The preliminary field trials in the paddy fields during current season were found satisfactory. It can clear about 90% of the loose trash from the field in a one pass and spread it uniformly over the adjacent drilled area. This assembly can be very easily attached with any direct drilling machine and its cost is about Rs.2000/-. The detailed research trials of machine performance, wheat sowing and germination etc. are in progress at Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. This attachment is likely to solve most of the operational problems of direct drilling machines in combine-harvested paddy fields.
