Development and testing of a power tiller operated single row potato planter with bucket elevator type metering mechanism

A study was undertaken for the design and development of a power tiller operated singlerow potato planter with bucket elevator type metering mechanism. The potato planter consisted of seed hopper, bucket elevator type metering mechanism, seed pipe, furrow opener, plate type ridge former, depth control wheels, ground drive wheel, and chain drive for power transmission to the bucket elevator mechanism. Two depth control wheels were provided for maintaining an optimum depth of sowing. The developed machine performed satisfactorily for sowing potato seeds with a mean seed spacing of 173 mm at a depth of 222 mm from the ridge top surface. The mean ridge height and width was 122 mm and 360 mm, respectively. The field capacity (fc) and field efficiency (fe) of the machine was 0.074 ha.h⁻¹ and 65%, respectively. Fuel consumption of the driving power tiller (9.7 kW) was 0.84 l.h⁻¹ (11.39 l.ha-1) during field operation. The operational cost of machine planting with the potato planter was 2,307 per ha as against 16,500 per ha for manual planting using spade; thereby providing a saving of 86% in planting cost.