Improvement of BRRI USG applicator

Abstract

BRRI USG applicator was re-designed for incorporating the adjustable mechanism with the facility of 18, 20 and 22 cm line to line spacing transplanted rice field. Design the modified applicator using AutoCAD Programming tools. To reduce the total weight of the applicator, skid and drive wheels were converted from metallic to plastic materials. Prototype was fabricated in the Farm Machinery and Postharvest Technology (FMPHT) divisional research workshop. Length and width of the skid was critically selected 81.00 and 12 cm respectively that was 92 cm length excluding furrow covering device in the first version. In the modified version, covering device was attached to the close vicinity (16.0 cm) of granule dispensing path to overcome the problem of 1st version of granule displacement due to water flows. Because of plastic materials using, total weight is reduced from 10 kg to 7.5 kg. The field capacity and dispensing efficiency of the modified applicator was found 32.5 decimal/hr and 99% respectively which is almost similar with previous applicator. Average depths of placement of the granule were 5-6 cm for both type applicator whereas 4-5 cm for manual placing. Fertilizer dose was varied with three adjustments. Normally 168 kg urea for Boro and 112 kg urea for Aman season is recommended as granules form. In 18, 20 and 22cm adjustment, 187, 168 and 153 kg fertilizer per hector was delivered in the field respectively whereas 168 kg is recommended using 2.7gm size granules. On the other hand, 125, 112 and 102 kg fertilizer was delivered per hector for three adjustments respectively using 1.8 gm size granules.