Performance of tractor mounted vertical belt paired row potato planter

On farm evaluation of tractor mounted vertical belt paired row potato planter was conducted for planting potato variety Kufri Jyoti on beds in controlled traffic. The planter consisted of two vertical rubber belts fitted with metal cups in paired rows for picking potato tubers, shovel type furrow openers and provision for fertilizer application. Arrangement of cups on the belt was in zig-zag manner. Field capacity of the paired row planter was 0.24 ha/h at an average forward speed of 2.5 km/h. Bed dimension i.e. width x slant height x bottom width was 30x20x40 cm. Missing, doubling and seed damage for paired row planter was 3.3, 1.5 and 1.5%, respectively, whereas in case of automatic planter, it was 5.0, 1.8 and 10.0%, respectively. Performance evaluation of vertical belt paired row potato planter was also conducted at farmer's field covering an area of approx. 117 ha. The results obtained were on the similar pattern. Overall planting performance of the machine and potato crop stand was found to be satisfactory.