Performance assessment of tractor-operated bund former for mulched field

Managing paddy field loaded with straw before wheat sowing in paddy-wheat crop production system is cumbersome due to various operations involved in the process. Bund forming for irrigation remains difficult among these operations due to mulched conditions. Simultaneous removal of straw (up to 1.25 m width), soil pulverization, and trapezoidal-shaped soil bund forming in one pass is required. Field evaluation of a tractor-operated bund former for mulched fields was conducted to observe the effects of rotor speed ratios (3:1, 4:1, 5:1), opening width of bund forming plates (270, 340, 410 mm), and straw loads (4.0–4.5, 6.0–6.5 t.ha⁻¹) on the pulverization index (mm), height of bund (mm), width of bund (mm), fuel consumption (l.h⁻¹) and field capacity (ha.h⁻¹) of the machine. The effects of rotor speed ratio, opening width of bund forming plates, and straw load were significant (p<0.05) on pulverization index, bund height, bund width, and fuel consumption. Best performances were obtained at rotor speed ratio of 4:1 and bund forming plates opening width of 340 mm under both straw loads. This combination gave the optimum height of bund (277.6 mm), bund width (720 mm), pulverization index (12.76 mm), and fuel consumption (7.05 l.h⁻¹) under both straw loads. The effective field capacity of the tractor-operated bund former was 1.17 ha.h⁻¹ at forward travel speed of 1.5 km.h⁻¹. The operational cost of the bund former was 792.36 ₹.ha⁻¹.