High energy inputs are required for production and distribution of commercial fertilizer. As a result chemical fertilizers have become one of the costlier agricultural inputs so, utmost care has to be taken in their application and management. However, the fertilizer utilization efficiency continue to be low. One of the main factors, which contributed for this, is unevenness of fertilizer distribution. Keeping the above limitations, a study was undertaken to develop a double disc manually operated granule spreader and to observe the uniformity of granules spread pattern. The distribution pattern of the granules on the ground was taken for three different conditions viz; left hole opened right hole closed, right hole opened left hole closed and both holes opened. It was observed that manually operator double disc granule spreader gave better spreading pattern. Also, with both openings open, distribution pattern was symmetrical and coefficient of variation was 77 per cent for free swath width of 6 m. However, for free swath width of 4.5 m the coefficient of variation was 48 per cent. Overlapped pattern had minimum coefficient of variation of 22 per cent for effective swath width of 3.25 m. The study revealed that with the right hole opened and left closed, skewness was more towards left and vice versa for free swath width of 5.5 m.
Double disk fertilizer applicator, Granule Spreader, Rotary Spreader
