Monday, June 14, 2021

Agriculture Seed Drill - Overview and Benefits

It has been observed that the use of seed drill has largely increased in recent times in northwest and eastern India. From labor scarcity, development and refinement in agriculture sector, to weed management, seeds drills has played a major role in managing the farm and made it easier to plant seeds using its technology. A multi-crop planter and its ability to place both seed and fertilizer has helped improve setting up crops in a improved way.

When placing seeds manually into the soil, seeds are not placed evenly sometimes, but with the seeds drills a farmer does not need to worry about the alignments and rows as it is done in a very systematic manner by the seed drills. A seed drill consists of seed and fertilizer box, seed metering mechanism which save the seeds from getting wasted on the fields.

 


The use of seed drill also helps in reducing the soil erosion thereby preventing loss of nutrient from the soil and making better availability of both natural and applied nutrients to the soil. It also have been noticed that if crop residues are added to soils, the growth of plants can be improved.

The seed drills are preferably used in the areas where soil erosion caused by water and wind is a major issue, as it does not create any disturbances in the soil while placing the seeds. The seed drill sows the seeds at the same distances ensuring the proper depth and that the seeds get covered in the soil perfectly. A farmer can undoubtedly invest in the machine as it helps in increasing efficiency in planting season as well as saves the environment.

 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Rotavator Overview – Uses and Functions

 A rotary tiller also popularly known as rotavator is used for soil preparation before planting seeds of the crops. It is used as a tractor implement pulled behind it to drag through the area for making seedbed. It uses rotating blades that are also known as rotors attached to a frame either to the rear or front of a tiller. These rotors spin and cut though the soil to make it suitable for planting cop seeds. It also breaks small and big clods, increase moist and pulverizes the soil providing it a healthy environment for plants to grow and to get high yield.



Rotavator is specifically used to prepare the land for sowing seeds and is very popular among farmers because of its effectiveness. It is cheaper if we talk about maintenance, economical to use and also needs less storage space. The type of rotavator a farmer needs usually depends on the surface soil. Rotavators can work at different speeds just need to adjust its settings which allow the rotors or blades to move slower or faster. A farmer may also take a test run of a rotary tiller on the soil at their farm to decide its speed. A farmer must be careful when choosing the right rotovator for his farm so that they don’t get stuck with the wrong one. And once the buy it, they should use and maintain it properly.

Uses and Function of a Rotavator or Rotary Tiller:

·         Breaks up the clods in the soil

·         Loosen the soil giving a smooth surface.

·         Prepares a perfect seedbed for sowing seeds.

·         Turns the topsoil that allows plants to absorb maximum amount of nutrition available in the soil.

·         Helps in increasing the yield

·         Kills the weeds and removes old crop residue.

·         Rotavator is versatile machinery that can be used in primary as well as secondary tillage.

·         Its suitable to work in different types of soils.

·         It is mostly used for cultivating vegetables and in paddy field.

 

A farmer can save a lot of time and money that needs to be invested in tillage process, as a rotavator is a versatile equipment, that allows making a perfect seedbed in all new or existing farm land.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Combine – Overview and Benefits in Harvesting

 A ‘Combine’ is a modern self-propelled combine harvester, which gets its name due to its capability of combining all the harvesting steps into one inside the machine. The modern combine harvester has evolved as complex machinery that uses a significant amount of energy to work into the grain and crops field. It mechanically processes all the required steps for harvesting the crops. This modern harvester machine has replaced the many old fashioned machine like a thresher, grain reaper and binder that were earlier used to cut and gather the grain to place grain in shocks to let it dry in the field prior to carrying to a fixed threshing machine.

A combine harvester is compatible for harvesting crops like potatoes, carrots and beets as well as many types of grains like wheat, rice, corn, barley, soybean, pulses, sunflower etc. Self-propelled combine harvester are indeed a part of a fastest developing agricultural machinery market. Modern harvesters collects cuts, the grain process it and clean it in such a way that it can be directly delivered to the markets from the farm. The crop residues are thrown back into the fields in the form of fluffy straw 2-3 m wide, which can be baled easily and can be kept safe to be used to feed animals at dairy farms till a long time.


The combine machine has multiple benefits for farmers such as –

  • During manual harvesting sometimes unseasonal excessive rains can damage the standing crops during the harvesting season which can slow down the process of harvesting. Though while using combine harvester farmers can complete the harvesting in very less time.
  •  A combine harvester alone can harvest acres of land in hours that saves farmers from wasting time in arranging labours and also saves the cost of labours.
  • The grains are cleaner and ready to use as soon as it gets out of the machine, so it can be directly delivered to the market, which saves the storage cost for farmers
  • A multi-crop harvester can be used for harvesting various types of grains, a farmer just need to use the different headers as per the crop type.
  • Modern combine harvesters are usually equipped with many advanced technologies as ac cabins and gps systems that allows the generation of digital yield maps.

Overall the machine is worth an investment for grain farmers as it alone can handle the work of a dozen of people, and delivers the high quality grains resulting into better profits.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

What does combine harvester mean?

Harvesting is a process of collecting the grain or edible part of the crops, once it is grown completely. A combine harvester is one of the most modern and versatile machinery which is used in agricultural processes. It not only makes the harvesting process but also saves a lot of time during the critical harvesting time. Before the machine was invented, farmers used to most of the harvesting work manually using different types of small equipments or by different types of machines made for different steps of harvesting such as reaping, threshing and winnowing.




But a combine harvester performs all the steps in single process, which is why this is also known or called as Combine. Since the invention of combine harvester grain farmers can harvest acres of land within a week, comfortable sitting in the cabin of the vehicle.

Many agriculture machinery manufacture offer this modern harvester with different kind of automated features that allow a farmer to monitor the quality to quantity of harvested grains. A multi-crop harvester allows farmers to harvest different types of grain crops, such as - 

Wheat

Rice

Soybean

Pulses

Sunflower

Cor, etc.

Fieldking is one of the largest manufacturers of Combine Harvester in India, and also exports their farm equipment to other countries globally.


Thursday, March 11, 2021

Combine Harvester - A Farm Equipment with Multiple Benefits

Harvesting is not just as simple as it sounds. Especially for grain farmers, it can be a nightmare when it comes to harvest those longest yards. Harvesting is the final operation in overall farming activities and all the hard word done through the season depends on the harvesting process. Time is also crucial when it comes to harvesting, as if not done in time; there is always a risk of damage to the crops by natural calamities like thunderstorms and heavy rains. All thanks to the modern combine harvesters that make it possible for farmers to get grains out of the crops without any hassles and also maintains the best quality of the grains.



Before the combine harvester was invented, farmers had to do all the harvesting work manually, by using different type of tools and equipment in different steps. But since the invention of large combines that work automatically, all the different steps can be performed at same time.

A combine harvester can harvest different types of crops, some we have mentioned here –

 

·         Wheat

·         Barley

·         Oats

·         Maize

·         Soybeans

·         Sorghum

·         Sunflowers

·         Rice

 

Benefits of using a combine harvester:

 

·         A combine harvester eliminates grain loss when compared to manual harvesting. In manual harvesting cutting, tying, carrying, transporting the crop causes a significant loss of harvest but using combine harvester completes all steps easily without any grain loss.

·         Combine harvester machine is capable of harvesting and threshing one acre of land in just one hour. Whereas the manual method would need at least 12 people, one full day to perform the same task, that’s too without threshing.

·         In manual method separate step are performed for threshing, which increases multiple day time, and many more days for cleaning. Thus in manual method the time from crop cutting to market ready is a week or more. But for the combine harvester the same process makes crop market ready in an hour or so.

·         The combine harvesting provides cleaner grain than the manual process, for which market also is willing to pay better prices.

·         The mechanized harvesting is priced to be far lower than the cost of manual harvesting in consideration to the labour cost used in manual harvesting.

 

 

Monday, February 1, 2021

Make Your Farm More Profitable With Agricultural Machinery

Using innovative agricultural machinery allows farmers to work on largest of farms in minimum time. Tractor being a versatile machinery is the most commonly used in farming on a high scale. Initially, tractors were used only for limited farming activities like ploughing, soil levelling, pulling implements, and even for maintaining placed seeds. But with time, tractors are now available with new upgraded features and are able to perform activities that previously they could not.

 


Tractors now come with many advanced features like GPS systems set up to guide the user. Many automated features also help the farmer in saving, fuel, time and reducing costs while working on a farm. Like a tractor, various modern farm implements are available with upgraded features to perform different activities of farming.

 

Now it’s not the tractor only, but with constant upgrades in agriculture technologies new farm implements and machines are launched every day. These versatile farm equipments can perform multiple tasks on a farm. For example, a rotavator is the best machinery to prepare a perfect seedbed on a farm as it allows farmers to perform primary as well as secondary tillage. It pulverizes the soil perfectly and gives it a smooth structure to prepare a seedbed.

 

Also a Combine harvester popularly known as a combine is the most advanced machine in agriculture sector that makes the harvesting process very easy and efficient by performing multiple harvesting steps with one machine.

 

The name combine is driven on the fact that it merges three harvesting steps altogether such as cutting, threshing and winnowing into a single process. Modern combine also come with automatic laser guided techniques and ac cabins. A multi-crop harvester or combine machine can allow farmers to collect grains from plants such as rice, oat, barley or maize.

 

However, tractor and combine harvester are the most expensive agricultural machinery due to the heavy engines and extensive functions but for a large scale farmer and grain farmers, these are must have equipment to increase productivity and save time.

Friday, January 22, 2021

Zero Tillage Farming Equipment – Uses and Benefits

Zero Tillage farming also known as no till farming is a soil cultivation process that allows farmers to plant crop seeds are directly into the soil without tilling. In this process seeds are directly planted into untilled soil by creating a slot trench at the suitable depth and to obtain right seed coverage.

The zero machine or zero tillage machine makes it quite effective and also reduces the tillage cost for a farmer. It allows maintaining the harvest and protects environment on the other hand. The zero tillage system let most of the microorganisms keep intact in the soil making it more fertile as its structure is not disturbed in this process.



In zero tillage process there is no need of tilling or ploughing the soil like usual. The seeds are places into the ground through the no-till drills without creating any disturbance in the soil. Zero tillage not only helps farmer in significantly reducing cost of the land cultivation and irrigation requirement but also helps saving the environment from issues like soil erosion and weed effect etc.

In simple words we can understand that it is a way of growing crops without creating disturbance in the soil. So we can say that the major benefits of using a zero machine are -

 

  • ·         Increased water infiltration capacity of the soil
  • ·         Increased organic matter retention capacity of the soil
  • ·         Increase in the cycling of nutrients into the soil
  • ·         Reduces soil erosion in areas where it is a major problem.
  • ·         Makes soil more resilient and more fertile biologically.
  • ·         Improves the efficiency by reducing time of sowing seeds in farming operations.
  • ·         More popular in humid areas as there is more risk of wind and water erosion.

Farm equipment such as disc seeds drills, zero machine or zero tillage planters, no till seed drills are used in such farming operations to reduce tillage.

Zero till machine or zero machine also work as fertilizers spreaders as they consists of different boxes for seeds and fertilizers. It also includes seed and fertilizer metering mechanisms, furrow openers, seed tubes, seed and fertilizer rate adjusting lever and transport cum power transmitting wheels. The seeds are directly places into the fields through the seed tubes at a fixed depth and distance. The weeds are are reduced with the application of fertilizers and herbicides without disturbing the soil. The zero tillage farming is especially helpful in plains to avoid erosion of the soil.


Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Plough - Works and Types of plough

 Plough is an essential machinery and plays a very crucial role in preparing the land for seed sowing. Traditionally plough was made up of the wooden frame and was drawn by oxen or horses, but nowadays all the plough are made of steel or iron and is driven or pulled with tractor power.

 

Types of ploughs

 

Different types of ploughs are designed and used in different kinds of farming operations based on their features. Here we have mentioned about the most used or most popular types of plough such as disc plough, mould-board plough, reversible mould-board plough in detail.


After the invention of different types of tractors with powerful engines, the ploughing methods and techniques also changed with the generation of various types of ploughs.

 

Disc Plough

 


It is used for deep ploughing in soil by cutting, breaking, mixing and loosening the soil. It consists two to five or more individually mounted disc blades that work even in hard, trashy and stony areas.

 

Tractor Mounted Mould-board Plough

 


The tractor mould-board plough consists of large curved bottoms, known as mould-board that are fixed to a frame, shears located on the bottom of the moldboard while large curved wings on the top edge. The key purpose of using this kind of plough is to cut through the top layers of soil and thoroughly modify the soil structure to make a seedbed.

 

Reversible plough or Reversible Mould-board Plough

 


The reversible mould-board plough is basically used to turn the soil up and down which is important in the tillage process in order to bring fresh nutrient-rich soil upward. Moreover, it is also used to bury the weeds and previous crop residue so that they do not complete for the nutrition provided to the new crop. The reversible plough consumes less fuel and therefore, is considered more efficient for the farm.

 

Ploughing is an essential activity which is done using different types of plough to increase the fertility of the soil yet it is important for farmers to choose the right one among so many available varieties.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Combine Harvester Machine – Uses and Advantages

A combine harvester is versatile harvesting equipment and also helps in reducing lots of time and costs associated with harvesting. A combine machine is able to perform all the harvesting steps automatically by driving it into the crop field as it cuts, threshes and separates the grains by using its rotating blades, sieves, wheels and elevators.

 


The grain is gathered in the tank inside the combine, whereas the stalks drop down on the through the pipe. The combine is quite complex that includes different parts and processes. Different grains require different types of headers, which is generally placed at the front of the combine. It cuts the crops with a wide cutting tool to start further processes such as threshing and cleaning the grain. Here is a brief about the process:

 

·         Header churns in the field to collect the crop

·         A reel drives the crop into the cutter, running along the cutter bar

·         The cutter snips the crop at its base

·         Crops are fed into the threshing drum to worn out the crops and shake grains free

·         The grains fall through sieves into a gathering tank

·         Unwanted material is passed back of the combine and falls back into the field

·         Grain yields are conveyed up an elevator and shoot out unloaded into a trailer

 

The adoption of combine harvester in the past few years has brought a drastic change in the production of crops worldwide. The requirement of human labour is reduced considerably. Mechanization of the farm operations not only has helped in increasing the production but also created a good scope for commercialization in agri-sector. Farm mechanization also increased the employment opportunities, both on farms and in related sectors by increasing farm area under ploughing, cropping, growth of agro-industries and other related services.

 

On the other hand, because of the mechanization, demand has also increased for semi-skilled labour like a mechanic to maintain farm machines. A combine harvester is very expensive farm equipment that needs to take good care from the starting, with service and maintenance on time. Thus a very important fact to keep in mind for farmers and owners before they buy it, is the cost with all the maintenance and storage. Buying a combine harvester can be a good deal for those farmers that grow different types of grains on their farms all through the year.

 

Monday, November 9, 2020

Rotavator Overview : How it Helps Farmers to Save Production Cost

 Soil preparation is one of the most energy and time-consuming activity in farming. Soil preparation is one of the keys to achieve successful cultivation. The objective of soil preparation is to provide the essential environment and soil conditions for the proper growth of the plants. Soil preparation is also a costly process as it requires many steps to work on the soil in order to create good soil conditions.


To reduce the soil compaction and the operating cost of soil tilling many farm equipment and machinery manufactures have tried to decrease the number of passes required for soil preparation. Machinery like a rotary tiller and a power harrow are potential devices to work as a subsoiler.



A rotary tiller is very significant tillage equipment that is not only capable of performing primary but also secondary tillage and reduces the cost of seedbed preparation. A rotary tiller is made of a simple structure that is highly efficient and consists of a series of blades which swirl up the earth to plough the land.


In the agricultural land, where the crop is produced regularly, the soil becomes poor in nutrients because of nonstop productivity, resulting in inefficiency. Thus, farmers use fertilizer in the soil, chemicals to fight pests, irrigation and other processes of agricultural to make it more efficient.


Rotavator can play a very important role in double or different crop systems in agriculture where the time for soil preparation is very less or limited. It is best used for mixing fertilizers or manure into the soil and preparing a seedbed. It offers an advantage of better pulverisation, superior soil mixing, fastest seedbed preparation and reduced draft in comparison to conventional tillage. More or less Rotavator is the best alternative for the extreme chemical fertilizers use and to improve benefits to cost ratio for farmers.

Monday, August 17, 2020

What is the Use of a Seed Drill in Agriculture

It has been observed that the use of seed drills has largely increased in recent times in northwest and eastern India. With the labour scarcity, development and refinement in the agriculture sector and weed management with seeds drills has played a major role in the increased use of this technology. A multi-crop planter and its ability to place both seed and fertilizer have helped improve crop setting up.

When placing seeds manually into the soil seeds are not placed evenly sometimes, but with the seeds drills a farmer does not need to worry about the alignments and rows as it is done in a very systematic manner.

 

The use of seeds drills also reduces soil erosion thereby preventing loss of nutrient from the soil and making better availability of both natural and applied nutrients to the soil. It also has been noticed that if crop residues are added to soils, the growth of plants can be improved. 

The seed drills are preferably used in the areas where soil erosion caused by water and the wind is a major issue, as it does not create any disturbances in the soil while placing the seeds. The seed drill sows the seeds at the same distances ensuring the proper depth and that the seeds get covered in the soil perfectly.


Saturday, August 8, 2020

Mould Board Plough – Overview and Advantages

A mould-board plough or MB plough plays a vital role in soil management which is one of the most crucial farming operations. It is one of the most popular farm machinery used in the process of preparing the soil before sowing the seeds. An MB plough is also used for preparing the ground for grass seeding. 


The body of an MB plough or mould-board plough consists of a large curved bottom or mould-board, fixed to a frame, shears placed at the bottom edge of the mould-board while large curved wings on the top edge. It runs through the farm attached to a tractor and cuts the top layers of soil completely and thoroughly.

What are the advantages of a mould-board plough?


Some of the remarkable advantages of the mould-board plough are given below.

  • Efficiency

When adjusted perfectly an MB plough can automatically seek the desired depth and does not need to apply extra weight to attain desired depth. The complex structure of the plough clears the ground after harvesting perfectly and helps in creating a more levelled surface for sowing seeds with higher accuracy.

The plough increases the drainage capacity of the soil. A farmer can prepare a field much faster with a mould-board plough comparatively to a conventional plough. The faster ploughing helps farmers to cover larger areas of the field.

  •  Various Models for Versatility

Different types of models of an MB Plough come with different types of features ensuring high efficiency in the preparation of the land. Few models have two mould-boards or more. The width of a cut usually reaches one to two feet. Yet most of the models are able to achieve a depth of one and a half feet. Some models integrate a reset mechanism.

  • Helps in Weed Control

An MB plough buries the weeds entirely that tend to spring up after harvesting. The plough completely inverts the soil where there are weeds. This specifically helps to save the time and labor cost where weed regrowth is a frequent issue.

  •  Pest Control

The MB plough also helps to get rid of the pests inhabited on a farm. Eliminating pests provides plants with a more favourable environment for faster and healthy growth. Least presence of pests contributes to a bountiful yield.

  • Better-quality Soil Health

The MB plough buries crop remains deeper into the field enabling decomposition. Crop residues on the soil surface warm up faster by reduction of the crop residues. Evaporation of excessive moist or water is also improved providing a more favourable environment for soil to observe natural elements like sun and air making to make it more fertile.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Tractor Rotavator – An Overview and Advantages

The use of farm equipment does not only increase the value of production but also saves time and improves the quality of the harvest. The modern farm equipment is used everywhere in farming operations from cultivation, seedbed preparation and harvesting. Tilling the soil is one of the most important operations performed in agriculture for loosening the upper layer of soil, to make seedbed and mix fertilizer in the soil, removing the weeds and old crops residue. 

 

It is important to improve the soil structure before sowing seeds for healthy crops. With the help of different types of tillage equipment, the organic nutrients and other components of the soil are improved.

 

Ploughing the field using a mould-board plough is one of the most traditional ways of ploughing. Through the ploughing, the soil is deformed and pitched to the furrow end. However, the traditional method of the ploughing is not enough, as the upper layer is not modified in the desired structure, thus needed some additional operations like disking, harrowing and cultivation with the use of tractor cultivator, disc harrow etc. 

 

The steps are also known as primary and secondary tillage to give a final finish to the soil. Tractor Rotavator or Rotary Tiller is a very effective tool for tilling the soil beating all the limitations of traditional mould-board ploughs.

 

What are the Advantages of Using a Rotary Tiller or Rotavator?

 

Once the harvesting is done of the crop, sometimes it seems difficult to prepare a perfect seedbed for another crop in the thick soils. Due to the growth of deep cracks in the soil, the traditional tilling tools such as the mould-board plough, tractor cultivators and disc ploughs are not good enough to prepare the seedbed. Clod development and crop remains are other difficulties experienced using them. But the use of a Tractor Rotavator or Rotary Tiller helps overcome all these problems. These are a few advantages of using rotavator:

 

·         The rotating blades or rotors have increased weight and length that enables it to cut the soil much deeper than the mouldboard plough.

·         The rotors of a Rotary Tiller make an impact on the soil surface and toss the soil upward. The rotating action of the blades breaks the clods and soil can be pulverized easily.

·         The width of the rotors ensures a long-lasting effect and reduces the cost of tilling the soil per hectare.

·         Allows quick and smooth tilling of soil for different types of crops.

·         The use of rotary tillers improves the soil fertility as the fertilizers can be easily mixed.

·         Removes weeds and crop residues effectively and completely.


Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Benefits of Zero-tillage Seed Drills in Agriculture

Use of Zero tillage and no-till seed drills has a number of advantages as it eliminates soil erosion and offers improved budget of the production. There are some significant benefits of zero tillage and no-till farming in modern agricultural practices one of these is soil protection.

 

Zero-tillage seed drills have offered a solution to many problems in modern agriculture but the main aim to introduce it on a large scale was to fight soil erosion in some regions. Soil as in its natural state without human influence is much more resistant to water and wind erosion. Which is why ploughing is not always fruitful in many areas but its impact is opposite on the soil. The development of a no-till seed drill followed an adaptation of existing conventional tillage seeding equipment to the specific requirement of no-till.

 

Farmers nowadays use a number of farm equipment to improve the efficiency ad save time and money. The seed drill not only offers higher yield and better nutrient use efficiency but also saves the time and costs when in terms of the number of rounds are decreased. Additionally, the final result for a farmer is reliable crop production with better profits.

 

·         Offers improved economy of production

·         Increases organic content and the quality of the soil

·         Reduces labour costs of ploughing and planting seeds.

·         Reduces other costs related to assets, farm machinery and fuel lubricants

·         Improves water balance in the soil

·         Reduces soil erosion

·         Increases percentage of plant nutrients

·         Saves and improves the environment

 

In order to accomplish proper farm practices with soil protection, farmers need farm machinery like seed drills that are capable of matching their requirements. It is necessary to consider all the features and functions properly to see the effectiveness of a seed drill of any brand before choosing a suitable drill for the task. The efficiency of a seed drill can be checked by the biological and economic risks of its usage for farming in any area.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Ploughing and Its Advantages

A Plough is the primary tillage equipment, used to cut, break and turn the soil partially or entirely. Ploughing is an ancient practice that is done to break the upper layer of the soil and its clods, to make it suitable for sowing new plant seeds.

 

This ancient farm equipment has transformed farming ways in modern times as it got improved with modern technology. Earlier farmers used human-made iron-tipped, wood wedge-shaped equipment pulled by oxen to till the soil. Modern plough such as disc plough and mould-board plough are used as an attachment to the tractor and let a farmer to plough even larger fields in minimum time. It also works very efficiently to control weeds and bury previous crop residue.

 

Ploughing being one the primary and most important soil management practices is used for centuries to form a grained, structural and straight planting layer on the upper part of the soil. This simple yet effective farm practice is done to cut, refine, and upturn the soil and to make furrows and ridges with the use of disc plough and mould-board plough. The use of any type of plough is decided as per the depth and structure of the soil.

 

Advantages of Ploughing

 

  • Improves air circulation inside the soil to enables the routes to respire with ease.
  • The root can enter deeper into the soil so that it can hold the crop plants firmly.
  • Ploughing increases the water-absorbing capability of the soil.
  • A Plough digs up the weeds developing in the land and helps in the growth of microbes.
  • Supports in growing worms and microbes.
  • Dig up and bury the old crop weeds.
  • Brings the nutrient-rich soil to the upper layer of the soil so that the crop can use those nutrients to grow well.

 

Different types of plough such as disc plough, mould-board plough, reversible mould-board plough is used in modern farming practices. The use of various types of plough in modern farming practices is making farming more profitable for farmers.


Monday, July 13, 2020

Plough – Overview, Types and Advantages

A plough is a farm implement used in agriculture for initial cultivation or tilling the soil and preparing it for sowing seeds by loosening and turning it. Ploughs were used to be drawn by animals like oxen and horses traditionally, but in recent times these are drawn by tractors. The procedure of loosening the soil for farming is known as ploughing. 

The key purpose of ploughing the soil is to turn over its upper layer, getting fresh nutrients to the upper surface, burying weeds and the remains of last crops same time to let them break down creating natural compost.

Types of Plough

Based on their need in the steps of creating a perfect seedbed, different types of plough are used in the process of ploughing the soil. These can also be divided into primary and secondary tilling tools. And a few can be used as primary as well as a secondary tool.

Disc Plough



A disc plough is compatible to work in all types of soil for the purposes of breaking, raising, turning and mixing it. This type of plough is mostly used in hard, dry and trashy land conditions and where scouring is a major problem and can be directly mounted to the tractors.

Mould-Board Plough

Using Moldboard plough provides soil pulverization and buries the weed seeds and residue completely. A Mould board plough turns soil completely to bring nutrients to the surface. The mould-board plough reduces the amount of time required in preparing a field significantly, as a consequence, allowing a farmer to work a larger piece of land in less time.

Rotary Plough or Rotavator

Also known as Rotary tiller in various parts of the world, a Rotary plough or Rotavator is compatible to work with different soil conditions and applications. Its rotating blades or rotors loosen and aerate the soil to ensure a perfectly levelled and finished seedbed. This piece of tillage equipment is quite popular as modern farm equipment among farmers.

Chisel Plough

Chisel Plough and subsoiler are used as deep tillage equipment to break up hardpan and packed soils.

Advantages of ploughing the Soil:

These are the advantages of ploughing the Soil:

  • ·         Loosening of the soil improves its quality by exposing it to the sun and increasing air circulation.
  • ·         The roots can enter deeper into the soil that allows it to hold the plant firmly.
  • ·         Ploughing enhances the water preservation capacity of the soil.
  • ·         Ploughing helps in uprooting the weeds growing in the field and supports the growth of microbes.


Saturday, July 11, 2020

Farm Equipment to Make Farming More Easy and Efficient

From decades traditional methods are being used to perform agricultural activities. In a country like India where the majority of the population is depended on farming for a livelihood, a significant amount of energy is spent doing all agricultural practices. However, the production is no that great in numbers and it is necessary to improve it to use advanced methods in the agriculture sector.

Soil testing, perfect irrigation system, weather forecasting, data science can provide a good future to this industry. Additionally, modern agricultural machinery and equipment can effectively lead to good crop yield and increased profits for the farmers. A variety of implements are used in modern agriculture from the most basic implements like a sickle, spade, pickage, desi plough, patella and to other modern farm implements like mould-board plough, harrows, rotavator, cultivators, seed drill, combine harvester etc.

These various types of farm implements are designed to suit different operations in farming, few of them explained here.

Mould-Board Plough


Designed to work in all types of soil it breaks, mix and turn the soil. The part in a mould-board plough that breaks the soil is known as bottom or base and includes share, the landside, and the moldboard. The share works as the cutting edge of the moldboard plough.

Seed Drills:

Seed drills are used for placing seeds on the ground with the least disturbance in the soil and are often used for grain crops or grasses or forage.

Combine Harvester:

The modern combine harvester is versatile machinery that makes it easy for a farmer to harvest a variety of crops. A combine is able to perform all the operations of harvesting like reaping, threshing and winnowing into a single operation.

Cultivator

The key purpose of using a cultivator is to remove the weeds from cultivation. Cultivator aerates the soil in set patterns before seed planting in the soil, and it removes the weed after the crop has grown.

Rotary Tiller:

Rotary tiller also is known as the rotavator, rotary plough or rotary hoe is used to cut the soil deep through the rotating blades.

Balers:

This farm machinery is used to compress a cut and raked crop into compressed bales that are easy to handle, transport or store.

Modern farm machinery can help a farmer to meet the demands of the increasing population. For the growth of the economy of our country agriculture needs to prosper. And it will prosper only when we use advanced farming methods and equipment.