Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Engineering - 22652
UNIT V – Agriculture Equipment's and Post
Harvest Technology
(For MSBTE Diploma Engineering students.)
Written by
Naresh B. Chaudhari
Lecturer in Mechanical Engg. Dept.
Agriculture Activities
Cultivation of crops involve several activities undertaken by farmers over a period of time. These activities are similar
to those carried out by a gardener or even by you when you grow ornamental plants in your house.
(ix) Storage
Mechanical manipulation of soil to provide a favorable condition for crop production is called as tillage
OBJECTIVES OF TILLAGE
(i) Turn the soil & loosen it which allows roots to penetrate deeper.
(ii) Loose soil allows the roots to breathe easily even when they go deep.
(iii) Helps in the growth of earthworms and microbes present in the soil.
(iv) Buried the crop residues of previous crop into the soil for increasing decomposition rate as well as adding more
humus into the soil.
(V) Exchange the top layer of soil with bottom layer of soil, it brings the nutrient-rich soil to the top so that plants
can use these nutrients.
(VI) To increase water absorbing capacity of soil and reduce soil erosion.
Primary Tillage: the operation performed to open any cultivatable land with view to prepare a seed bed for growing crops are
known as primary tillage operations. The primary tillage implements are:
1. M. B. Plough – used for :
(i) cutting the furrow slice (ii) lifting the soil (iii) Turning the furrow slice and (iv) pulverizing the soil.
2. Disc Plough- It is a plough, which cuts, turns and in some cases breaks furrow slices by means of separately mounted
large steel discs. A disc plough is designed with a view of reduce friction by making a rolling plough bottom
instead of sliding plough bottom.
It consists of steel disc of 60 to 90 cm diameter, set at a certain angle to the direction of travel.
3. Sub soiler- It is used to prepared drainage pipe below the soil. Also, it removes hard pan created inside the soil layer.
It is mostly used in the area where drainage is not proper. Its operating depth is grater than 75 cm.
4. Chisel Plough- It mostly used to remove the hard pan devolved in the soil. Its operating depth ranges from 30 cm to 75cm.
5. Rotary Plough - A rotavator is a primary tillage implement especially designed for seed bed preparation in a single pass. It
gives excellent pulverization of soil and mixes the trash, crop residues, weeds etc. into the soil
6. Indigenous Plough- Pulled by bullock and it opens the soil at depth less than 10 cm.
Page 6 27 February 2021
It consist of : Presentation
(i) handle title
(ii) Beam (iii) Body (iv) Share.
Primary Tillage Implements :
Secondary Tillage: The tillage operations following primary tillage which are performed to create proper soil tilth for
seeding and planting are known as secondary tillage operations. The secondary tillage implements are:
1. Disc harrow:
It used to reduces the size of clod and prepare fine tilt of soil. Mostly it preferred in trash and stony soil for the
operation.
3. Levelers:
Levelers are used to maintain uniform level of land. It benifical to improve water distribution efficiency, maintain
uniform crop height and prevent the water logging condition in the field.
4. Cultivators:
Cultivators are used to remove the weed present in the field and reopen the soil before sowing. It mostly preferred
when there is large gap between secondary tillage operation and sowing.
Page 8 27 February 2021 Presentation title
Secondary Tillage Implements :
Cultivators stir and pulverize the soil, either before planting (to aerate the soil
and prepare a smooth, loose seedbed) or after the crop has begun growing
(to kill weeds—controlled disturbance of the topsoil close to the crop plants
kills the surrounding weeds by uprooting them, burying their leaves to disrupt
their photosynthesis, or a combination of both).
Page 10 27 February 2021 Presentation title
Sowing
Seeding or sowing is an art of placing seeds in the soil to have good germination in the field.
A perfect seeding gives:
➢ Correct amount of seed per unit area.
➢ Correct depth at which seed is placed in the soil.
➢ Correct spacing between row-to-row and plant-to-plant.
SOWING METHODS
(i) Broadcasting
(ii) Dibbling
(iii) Drilling
(iv) Seed dropping behind the plough
(v) Transplanting
(vi) Hill dropping
(vii) Check row planting.
COMPONENTS
1. Frame
2. Seed box Fertilizer box
Many types of sprayers and dusters are available in different sizes for plant protection work
Sprayer – It is a machine used to apply liquid chemicals on plants in the form of droplets to control pests and diseases. It
can be used to apply herbicides also to control weeds and to spray micro-nutrients for enhancing plant growth.
Functions of Sprayer
• The main function of a sprayer is to break the liquid into droplets of effective size and distribute them uniformly over
the surface or space to be protected.
• Another function is to regulate the amount of insecticide to avoid excessive application that might prove harmful or
wasteful.
Knapsack Sprayer (Hand Operated) • It consists of a 1.2- 3.0 hp high speed petrol engine,
a blower, a 12 lit chemical tank.
• This sprayer is suitable for applying
chemicals to several field crops. • Sprayer can be converted in to a duster by changing
• The operator carries the sprayer on his back few parts.
and hence the name knapsack sprayer.
• It has a flat or bean-shaped tank of 10-15
litres capacity,
• The tank is made of either brass or PVC
material.
• The pressure developed in these sprayers
depends on the pump and varies from 3 to
12 kg/cm2
• The application rate is 500 lit/ha.
• The coverage is 0.5-1.0 ha/day.
Power Sprayer