Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
Methodology
Most of farmers from dryland own 35 hp tractor. To suit their power availability six row planter
was developed. The design consists of hopper box for seed and fertilizer, drive mechanism,
mounting frame, seed tubes and metering plates. Row to row spacing can be maintained by
adjusting the shanks on the frame as per the recommended spacing. It provides effective soil
covering, uniform seed to seed distance, faster coverage. Moreover, mechanical sowing
increased crop yield and profit, time saving by 80 % and labour saving, 30 % saving in seed
and fertilizer when compared to the conventional. The modified inclined metering plates to
accommodate the smaller size seeds ranging 1 to 3 mm size with 2 to 3 mm length optimized
the required seed dropping for better germination with recommended plant-to-plant spacing.
The depth of sowing was also observed to be very critical parameter for the alfisol soils with
proper coverage.
Specification of tractor drawn CRIDA six row planter
S. no. Particulars Specification
1. Overall Dimension (L*W*H) 2121 x 640 x 980 mm
2. Metering mechanism Inclined plate
3. Source of power 35-45hp
4. Type of Seed Multi-crop planter, metering plates available as per
seed type
5. Furrow opener Shovel type furrow openers
6. Furrow spacing Adjustable
7. Depth of sowing adjustable
8. Weight of machine 275 kg
Results
Appropriate mechanization of sowing with CRIDA 6-row planter and CRIDA Zero till planter
helped in increase in yields by 20 to 30 % in Sorghum, Finger millet, Pearl millet and Foxtail
millets. A tractor drawn weeder was used to remove the weeds with proper earthing up
operation gave good anchoring to the plants apart from making better aeration and nutrient
availability to the plants. The 8 “width rear wheels for the tractor made the weeding easy with
less or no damage to the plants. It was also observed that the modified row spacing of 40 to 45
cm helped in better tractor drawn weeding and spraying operations which helped in reducing
cost of operation and also significant amount of drudgery. Overall, it was observed that, the
partial mechanization in millet production system reduced the cost of cultivation by 30 to 40
% and increased the yields.
Emerging approaches (RS, AI, ML, Drones etc) for crop management &assessment
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