Comparative Study on Laboratory and Field Performance of Electronic Planter for Large Seeds

In Precision planting the placement of single seed in the soil at the desired plants spacing is very important. With this objective a seven-row electronic planter for large seeds like ground nut, soyabean and maize was developed using inclined plate type seed metering mechanism. The metering unit was synchronized with the forward speed of tractor with the help of micro controller-based circuit. The developed metering unit was tested in the laboratory using opto- electronic sensor and on field for Ground nut, maize and soyabean at the forward speeds of 2.5, 3 and 3.5 km/h. The seed to seed spacing, seed rate and seed breakage was calculated for laboratory and field and the results were statistically analyzed and compared. The field and laboratory readings show more deviations in ground nut as compared to maize and soyabean. The optimum condition for operation was found to be 3.5 km/h for ground nut and maize seeds and 3.0km/h for soyabean.