Paddy straw management by chopping for sowing wheat in combine harvested field

Management of paddy residues left in the combine-harvested fields is a major problem in rice-wheat crop rotation in northern India. The study was under taken to develop paddy stubble harvester-cum-chopper for the chopping of residues left after by combines harvesting. A prototype of paddy stubble harvester-cum-chopper had been developed in the Department of Farm Power and Machinery. The performance of the machine was evaluated in the combine-harvested paddy field at different moisture content of stubbles (3 level), forward speed of the machine (3 level) and chopper speed (3 level). Three seeding machinery i.e. traditional seed drill after incorporation with two disking and two planking, no-till drill and strip-till drill without incorporation were used for sowing of wheat. Fuel consumption and size of cut of paddy residue were taken as performance parameters. Percent size of cut (less than 10 cm length) of paddy residue increased with the increase in the chopper speed and moisture content but decreased with increase in the forward speed. For better performance, the stubble harvester-cum-chopper should be operated at 70% (wb) moisture content of the stubbles, with a forward speed of 2.00 km/h and at a chopper speed of 1500 rpm. There was no significant difference in the yield of wheat crop in the three seeding systems. Chopping of paddy stubble was recommended immediately after combine harvesting because at higher moisture content chopping performance was found better.