Development of manually operated single row millet planter cum fertilizer drill

An investigation was carried out for identification of slot size on vertical plate type metering device and development of single row millet planter-cum-fertilizer drill for kodo (Paspalum scrobiculatum) and little millet (panicum sumatrense). Experiments were conducted in laboratory with three slot sizes and three forward speeds (1, 2 and 3 km/h) with kodo and little millets. Slot size of 3 x 3 mm was found to be suitable for kodo millet as it delivered optimum average seed spacing (ASS), seed rate (SR) and coefficient of uniformity (U_c) as 5.90 cm, 4.50 kg/ha and 0.90, respectively. For little millet also, 3 x 3 mm slot size on vertical rotor plate provided optimum ASS, SR and U_c as 5.70 cm, 2.24 kg/ha and 0.82, respectively. No seed damages were observed with any of the selected plates. Vertical plate with 10 × 10 mm slot size at 40% opening of shutter was found suitable for fertilizer metering for both crops. Based on the laboratory evaluation, a manually operated single row planter-cum-fertilizer drill was developed and evaluated under field conditions. The implement field capacity and field efficiency was found to be 0.048 ha/h and 69% for kodo and 0.05 ha/h and 68% for little millet, respectively. Seed saving with developed planter-cum-fertilizer drill as compared to traditional method of line sowing and broadcasting was found to be 76% and 90%, respectively for kodo; for little millet, it was 83% and 93% respectively. The cost of operation was found to be 750/ha for kodo and 662/ha for little millets. Yield obtained with developed planter-cumfertilizer drill were 1870 kg/ha and 1560 kg/ha which was to 139% and 51% more when compared with broadcasted kodo and little millet respectively.