Labour scarcity, harvesting loss, timely harvesting and harvesting cost are crucial in rice and wheat harvesting in Bangladesh. Combine harvester is a newly introduced harvesting machine in Bangladesh. This study was undertaken to evaluate the technical and economic performance of combine harvester available in farmers" field and farmer"s perception regarding the use of combine. Field tests of two new (CLASS andDaedong) and two refresh (Kukje and Anower) combine harvesters were conducted for harvesting rice and wheat in the farners" field of Jessore, Pabna,Dinajpurand Thakurgaon districts during 2011-12. Primary data were collected from 30 adopter and 30 non-adopter farmers from each district of Bogra, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Thakurgaon through direct interviewingduring 2012-13. Information was also collected from different combine harvester traders available in Bangladesh. Average time, cost and grain saving by combine harvester over manual methods were 97.50, 35.00 and 2.75%, respectively. Benefit cost ratio of CLASS, Daedong, Kukje and Anower combine harvesters were found to be 2.68, 2.11, 2.29 and 2.70, respectively. The payback periods of refresh combine harvesters were lower than the new combine harvester. There were some mechanical problems observed in refresh combine harvesters during field operations. New harvester was observed almost trouble free and popular to the famers. Scarcity of spare parts and mechanic service were the main problems for repair and maintenance of the combine harvesters in farm level. Considering the technical performance of combine harvester and demand of the farmers, new combine harvester may be introduced in commercial basis in Bangladesh.
To achieve optimum yield of onion by placing the seeds at a certain depth in lines, a manually operated drum seeder for onion has been designed, fabricated and tested in Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process (FMP) Engineering Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). The seeder is suitable for the small farmers who have practice of direct seeding of onion under dry land cultivation. The seeder consists of a frame, a PVC drum, furrow openers, furrow closer, wheels and handle. In 2009-2010, the seeder was fabricated in FMP Engineering divisional workshop and tested in experimental plot, BARI, Gazipur. Seed rate of the seeder was 4 kg ha -1 and field capacity was 0.08 ha hr -1 . Weight and price of the seeder were 5.5 kg and Tk 2500 per unit, respectively. In 2010-2011, a drug chain was added in the seeder and field performance evaluation of the seeder was repeated comparing with manual line sowing and traditional broadcasting methods in experimental plot of BARI, Gazipur. There was no significant variation between average yield of onion by using the seeder (13.26 ton ha -1 ) and in that of manual line sowing (12.90 ton ha -1 ) but there was significantly higher yield of onion by using the seeder than that in traditional (10.25 ton ha -1 ). But sowing time (6 h ha -1 ) was significantly lower for seeder use than manual line sowing (48 h ha -1 ) which contribute to reduce the cost of sowing for direct seeded onion.
A field study was carried out to assess the performance of power tiller operated seeder (PTOS) and to compare the yield, quality, maturity and economic traits of onion under different planting methods at Spices Research Sub-Centre (SRSC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Faridpur, Bangladesh with four planting methods as four treatments: T1) ploughing the main field with high speed rotary tiller (HSRT) + direct seeding with power tiller operated seeder (PTOS), T2) ploughing the main field with HSRT + transplanting of seedlings, T3) ploughing the main field with HSRT + direct seeding in line and T4) ploughing the main field with HSRT + direct seeding as broadcasting. Under the study the treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The outcome of the study revealed that the treatments had a significant influence on the characteristics studied accept yield of onion. Different economic traits of onion were varied among the planting methods. The bulbs under direct seeding with the PTOS matured earlier (133.66days) as compared to the transplant (155.54days). All direct seeding methods showed insignificantly higher yields than that of transplants. The maximum yield (15.05t/ha) was recorded from broadcasting method. The yield performance under direct seeding with the PTOS and transplants were 15.08 and 14.92t/ha, respectively. The broadcasting method had very heterogeneous and under-sized bulbs due to uneven spacing and maximum plant population per unit area. In case of economic performance, transplanting method incurred the highest total cost of production. Maximum net return and benefit-cost ratio (2.95) were calculated from direct seeding with PTOS. So, it is concluded that in Bangladesh, direct seeding method with the PTOS may be a good option for getting early crop and maximum economic benefit.
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