Recent Trends in Mechanical

Engineering - 22652
UNIT V – Agriculture Equipment's and Post
Harvest Technology
(For MSBTE Diploma Engineering students.)

Prof. Naresh B. Chaudhari, Lecturer in Mechanical Engg. Dept.

MAEER’S MIT Polytechnic, Pune - 38
Course Outcome –
Select the recent
agricultural equipment for
pre and post harvesting
 UO 1 –
Explain the working of Pre-
harvesting Equipment's

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.

These activities or tasks are referred as agricultural practices.

(i) Preparation of land
(ii) Sowing
(iii) Applying fertilisers and manure
Pre-harvesting Activities
(iv) Irrigation
(v) Intercultural operation (Weeding)
(vi) Plant Protection
(vii) Harvesting
(viii) Threshing Post-harvesting Activities

(ix) Storage

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 Tillage

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.

(VII) To destroy the insect, pests etc.

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 Classification of Tillage

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.
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It consist of : Presentation
(i) handle title
(ii) Beam (iii) Body (iv) Share.
Primary Tillage Implements :

Indigenous Plough M. B. Plough

Disc Plough

Sub Soiler Chisel Plough Rotary Plough

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 Classification of Tillage

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.

2. Spike tooth harrow:

It having no of small spikes that placed on harrow body. It pulled by tractor and maintain operating depth in
between 10 to 15 cm.

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.
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Secondary Tillage Implements :

Disc Harrow Spike tooth harrow Levelers

Cultivator Clod crusher

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Cultivators:

One type refers to frames with teeth (shanks) that pierce

the soil as they are dragged through it linearly.

Another type refers to machines that use rotary motion

of disks or teeth to accomplish a similar result.

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).
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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.

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Sowing Methods

Broadcasting Dibbling Drilling

Seed dropping behind the plough Transplanting

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 SEED CUM FERTILIZER DRILL

COMPONENTS
1. Frame
2. Seed box Fertilizer box

3. Seed metering mechanism Seed box

Seed
4. Fertilizer metering mechanism Frame
metering
5. Drive transmission system mechanism
6. Furrow openers
7. Covering device
Transmission
8. Clutch system
9. Hitch frame and
10. Transport wheels.
Furrow openers

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 Weed control
The main objectives of weed control are
• To remove unwanted plant.
• To Improve the soil conditions for healthier growth of plant.
• To reduce competitions to take nutrients from the soil.

Power weeder Wheel hoe

Power weeder is a rotary equipment used The wheel hoe is used cultivating the land
for secondary tillage and weeding between rows.
operation. It consists of a wheel, two handles and a tyne
to place the cutting tool on.

A man operates the hoe in standing position

by pushing through a short length each time.

In a working day, about 0.04 hectare can be

covered.

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Plant protection
It has become necessary now to use pesticides and fungicides for controlling the pests and diseases. The chemicals are
applied on plants in the form of spray and dust.

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.

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Plant protection equipments
Knapsack Motorized Mist Blower Cum Duster

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.

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Plant protection equipments

Power Sprayer

• It is a heavy duty and efficient sprayer.

• It consists of a triplex pump with stainless steel piston

with oil bath lubrication.

• It can Develops 250 to 350 pounds pressure and can

deliver the solution up to 15 m.

• It can be powered by a 3 HP engine or electric motor .

• It is convenient to spray with 4 to 6 spray lances at a

time using the sprayer.

• There are sprayers can be operated by tractor PTO as

well as by a power tiller

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 Summative Questions -
1. The purpose of ploughing is
A. To improve soil aeration B. To prevent soil erosion C. To add fertility to soil D. All are correct
2. The purpose of harrowing is to
A. Pulverize soil B. Destroy weeds C. Break clods D. All are correct
3. A vertical plate that is used to control depth and adjust line of pull in plough is ANSWERS
A. Vertical suction B. Vertical clevis C. Horizontal suctionD. Horizontal clevis 1-D 5-C
4. Two-way plough is advantageously working in
2-D 6-D
A. Levelled field B. Contour field C. Undulated field D. None of these
3-B 7-C
5. A plough that works effectively in hard, dry and sticky soil is
4-B 8-B
A. Mould board plough B. Harrow plough C. Disc plough D. Indigenous plough
6. Tillage system, which is suitable for dry land agriculture, is
A. Till plant system B. Zero tillage C. Minimum tillage D. All are correct
7. A tillage system in which the field is ploughed and followed by row crop planter directly is
A. Zero tillage system B. Rotary tillage system C. Plough plant D. Till plant system
8. Of the following, which are the primary tillage implements?
A. Chisel plough and disc harrow B. Chisel plough and subsoiler C. Disc plough and disc harrow D. Leveler and clod crusher
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