Field evaluation of a biomass incorporator for green manuring

A tractor mounted two-bottom biomass incorporator was developed. it was a combination of cutting unit, truncated mould board and vertical rotating clod-crusher. the cutting unit cuts the crop mass in small pieces. the share of MB plough cuts the furrow slice; the truncated mould board lifts it and finally the vertically rotating clod crusher, fitted behind each bottom, pulverizes the furrow slice and buries the crop biomass. Field experiments were conducted to study the effect of type of soil (S1: loamy sand, S2: loam), plant height i.e. crop growth stage (H1: 36 DAS, H2: 50 DAS), forward speed (F1: 2.1, F2: 2.8, F3: 3.4 km/h) and rotor speed (R1: 300, R2: 360, R3: 430 rpm) on performance of biomass incorporator for incorporating Dhaincha crop. the average depth of operation of machine was 17.47 cm. The actual field capacity of the machine was 0.25 ha/h at forward speed of 3.4 km/h and there was non-significant effect of soil type, crop growth stage and rotor speed. Plant height and forward speed had significant effect on size of cut of biomass which varied from 16.38 (S2H1F1R2) to 32.65 (S1H2F3R2) cm. Significant effect of S, H, F and R on pulverization index was recorded with minimum value of 3.58 mm (S1H2F1R3) and maximum 30.65 mm (S2H1F3R1). The bulk density index ranged between 21.02–33.48%. There was significant effect of H, F and R on mixing index. Maximum mixing index of 98.05% was found for treatment s1h1F1R3 and minimum 93.62% was recorded for s2h1F3R1. the minimum fuel consumption rate of 6.66 l/h was observed for treatment s1h1F1R2 whereas maximum of 9.49 l/h was observed for treatment s2h2F3R3. For quality work, combination F3R2(H1/H2) for loamy sand soil and combination F2R3(H1/H2) for loamy soil was found most suitable.