Development and evaluation of two-row hand held manual planter for black pepper seeds

Abstract

The study focused on the development of a portable low-cost planter for black pepper (Piper nigrum L.). The physical attributes of Tellicherry black and Malabar black variety of black pepper seed in terms of tri-axial dimensions, angle of repose, roundness and test weight were used to select the design values of individual components of planter. The mean tri-axial dimensions and angle of repose of Tellicherry black pepper and Malabar black ranged as 4.33 - 4.35 mm, 27° and 4.42 - 4.45 mm, 25°, respectively. The roundness was recorded as 1.06 mm - 1.07 mm and 1.04 - 1.14 mm under similar conditions. The test weight of 1000 seeds, used to design the hopper was recorded as 38.6 g and 42.1 grams, respectively. The black pepper planter (H x h x W x w = 1000 x 920 x 300 x 150 mm) comprised of seed hopper, fulcrum-based seed metering device, handle, adjustable row to row distance and seed tubes. The developed planter was evaluated in terms of seed spacing (15, 20 and 25 cm) and two black pepper varieties (Tellicherry black and Malabar black). The performance parameters of missing percentage, multiple percentage and field capacity (ha h-1 ) and economic parameters of operating cost, breakeven point, benefit-cost ratio and payback period were recorded. The optimization of the results through Design-Expert 13.0 revealed 31% missing percentage and 24.6% multiple percentage at 15 cm seed spacing with field capacity of 0.03 ha per hour. The operational cost (Rs h-1 ), benefit cost ratio, breakeven point (ha) and payback period (hours) was calculated as 84.97, 1.30, 16.36 and 58.85, respectively. The cost of operation of the hand held two row planter was found be Rs. 2832 per hectare.