Download - MANUAL & MECHANICAL CROP ESTABLISHMENT
MANUAL & MECHANICAL
CROP ESTABLISHMENT
JULIET L. ACOSTA
Agriculturist I/City Corn Coordinator
LGU- Mabalacat City, Pampanga
Introduction
Crop Establishment is affected by:
a. Quality of Seed
b. Environment (Land Preparation)
c. System of seeding (Planting)
Soil
-it plays a vital role in the establishment and
growth of any crop.
Problems with soil structure
1. Affect root development
2. Fertility uptake
3. Moisture retention
1. PLOWING- is a primary tillage refers to operations
which loosen very compact soil. Plowing with a
moldboard plow, or breaking land with an ard or discing
plow are examples of primary tillage operations. Plowing
is most often done with a moldboard plow. This is a tool
that loosens earth by cutting a slice and turning it partially
over so that air and water reach the area where plants root,
often referred to as the root zone.
LAND PREPRATION - the process of preparing the land
for planting, thereby providing good physical, chemical,
and biological conditions that would permit optimum plant
growth.
Effects of Plowing:
• Good plowing stimulates plant growth by opening the
compact upper surface of the soil so roots can develop
quickly, taking nutrients, water, and oxygen from the
soil. Moisture is absorbed easily, seeping down to
deeper areas where it can act as a reserve during dry
periods.
• Plowing also serves to turn under weeds and organic
surface material that becomes valuable fertilizer. Good
plowing tilts the furrow slice so decaying material is
spread evenly through the loose soil. As oxygen and
water penetrate and as sun dries exposed roots, the
material decays and provides nutrients for the crop.
2. HARROWING- is a second tillage. These operations
are used to prepare the seedbed or improve the soil where
crops are maturing. Harrowing is the process of smoothing
and leveling a plowed field. The harrow breaks clods and
works the tops of furrow slices into a fine, moisture-
retaining bed where seeds germinate easily.
Higher germination rates resulting from harrowing
are explained by improved structure of the seedbed:
• it is better aerated
• it is moisture-retaining
• there is more contact between the seed and soil particles;
large air pockets and clods are eliminated and seeds are
easily covered
• some weeds are killed.
Manual methods in land preparation are used in the following
cases:
- Where the topography is too steep, rugged, wet or rocky for
mechanized land clearing.
- Where labour is cheap and easily available, and its use is desirable to
help reduce rural unemployment.
- Where the soil characteristics and environmental conditions do not
justify any large-scale mechanical operations for improving survival
and/or growth.
- Where time is not a pressing factor.
Clearing Fields With Animal Power
Animals can be used to clear fields of fallen trees or other
debris that will interfere with plowing.
MANUAL LAND PREPARATION
MECHANICAL LAND PREPARATION
PLANTING CORN
Planting is a critical activity in the production
of corn and the crucial step to obtain good yields.
Traditional hand tools are mostly hand-made
and manual sowing demands a high investment of
labor and time.
On several occasions, efforts of more than 50
hours of work are reported to carry out the manual
planting of one hectare. Modernizing these tools
allows small producers to optimize their resources,
perform their tasks on time and make them less
fatiguing (Aikins et al., 2010).
MANUAL PLANTING
FERTILIZER APPLICATION
Fertilizers are applied by different methods
mainly for 3 purposes:
1. To make the nutrients easily available to
crops;
2. To reduce fertilizer losses and;
3. For ease of application
MANUAL FERTILIZER
APPLICATION
PHilMech Pneumatic Corn Planter
Engr. Andie Tuates Jr.
Science Research Specialist
DA-PHilMech
MECHANICAL PLANTING
AND FERTILIZER
APPLICATION
Mechanized planting has a lot of potential
advantages compared to manual planting
FERTILIZER
MANUAL
PLANTING
FERTILIZER
MECHANICAL
PLANTING
PRECISE PLACEMENT OF SEEDS & UNIFORM FERTILIZER RESULTING TO BETTER GROWTH
Two types of seed metering
1. Pneumatic Metering – used low volume high
pressure blower, more efficient and less sensitive to
varying seeds sizes.
2. Mechanical Metering – cheaper but require seeds of
uniform sizes.
Bigger machinery
are not suitable to
local condition
More than 50% of
farms sizes are less
than 2 ha ,
(Hill, H. 1986 and
Halos, S. 2005)
4- row planter (pneumatic) = P 0.8 -1.2 M
2-row planter (pneumatic) = P 0.6 M
Imported corn
machinery are too
expensive
But Mechanical metering
system is not suited to local
hybrid seeds as they are not
uniform in size resulting to
inconsistent seed drops
Imported mechanical planter is relatively cheaper
Dela Cruz,SM (2003) recommended that instead
of changing farm sizes, from several small farm
areas to one big consolidated farm so that big
machines could be used, an alternative strategy
of mechanizing small farm holdings is the
introduction of smaller machines that would be
more appropriate for the present farm sizes.
5-1 machine. It can It can plant un-inoculated and Bio-N inoculated corn seed, fertilize, furrow and cover the seeds and fertilizer at the same time.
It uses a pneumatic metering system (PMS) to accommodate any size of corn seeds during planting.
Can be mounted to medium size tractor ( 28-35 hp)
It has a furrower attachment
Made of locally available materials
Features
• Metering system - Pneumatic
• Row spacing – 65-75 cm
• Hill spacing – 15-30 cm
• Seed depth – 5-10 cm
• Fertilizer application rate –
3-8 bags/ ha
• Fuel consumption Tractor (diesel) – 8 liters/ ha
Engine for vacuum blower (gasoline) –
12
liters/ ha
• Labor requirement – 2 persons
• Cost – P350,000 (excluding
tractor)
Specifications
•Planted area using the PHilMech corn planter
•30 days after planting using the PHilMech corn planter
Effect in planting inoculated corn seeds under field condition
T1 - pneumatic corn planter
T2 - Manual Planting
190.00
195.00
200.00
205.00
210.00
215.00
220.00
225.00
Pampanga Pangasinan
Location
gm
T1
T2
Weight of ear corn
10.24
12.68
6.12
12.41
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
Pampanga Pangasinan
Location
To
n/
ha
T1
T2
Yield
Effect in planting inoculated corn seeds under field condition
T1 - pneumatic corn planter
T2 - Manual Planting
OPERATING PROCEDURES
1. Attach the hitch of the planter to the standard three-point
hitch of the tractor.
2. Set the hill and row spacing, seed depth, fertilizer
application rate, and depth of furrow.
3. Place the seeds in the seed hopper which can contain 5 kgs
each.
4. Place the fertilizer in the fertilizer tank.
5. Start the engine. Set the engine RPM at least 1500 rpm.
6. Check the seed metering and fertilizer discharge roller by
rotating the ground wheel.
7. Start the tractor.
8. Proceed with the planting operation.
• Never allow excess fertilizer to remain in the tank overnight as this will absorb moisture and become sticky the next morning.
• Always wash the fertilizer tank with water at the end of the day to remove any fertilizer residue.
BASIC MAINTENANCE
• At the end of the planting season:
- Wash the equipment with water, especially the fertilizer tank
- Carefully check worn or damaged parts and replace if necessary
- Tighten all screws and bolts
- Lubricate all bearings and chains
- Store the equipment in a dry place.
Advantages of Mechanical Establishment compared to Manual Establishment:
1. TIMELINESS OF OPERATION: farm mechanization ensures that all farm operation are done and completed within a given period of time.
2. MECHANIZATION SAVES TIME: in farm mechanization, all most human efforts are substituted with machines. Hence labour saved could be employed somewhere else.
3. MECHANIZATION INCREASES FARM YIELD: as a result of mechanization, farmers become richer due to increase yield. 4. IT ENCOURAGES LARGE SCALE FARMING: with the use of machine which reduces labour and thereby making the work faster and easier, farmers tends to go into large scale farming activities. 5. INCREASE IN OUTPUT: mechanization makes it possible for farmers to have increase in output
6. IT MAKES SPECIALIZATION OF LABOUR POSSIBLE: farm mechanization enables people to become specialized in certain operations within the farm.
7. CO-OPERATION AMONG FARMERS: mechanization enables many farmers to come together and pool their resources together, thereby promoting or encouraging co-operation among farmers. 8. IT SAVES TIME: mechanization translates quickly the products of man’s brain into reality. 9. REDUCTION IN COST OF OPERATION : mechanization leads to reduction in the cost of agricultural operations per unit output. 10. AVAILABILITY OF LABOUR FOR OTHER SECTORS: mechanization also helps to release labour to other sectors of the economy. 11. USE OF LESS HUMAN LABOUR: mechanization helps to accomplish lots of work with less human labour. Also Address the scarcity of labor especially during peak planting period and address the limited number of draft animals
Disadvantages of Mechanical Establishment
1.HIGH COST OF RUNNING: farm mechanization, due to the high cost and
numerous machines involved, is very expensive to operate
2.DISPLACEMENT OF WORKERS : in farm mechanization, very few workers are
required. Hence many people will be out of job when mechanization is introduced
3. CAUSES ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION: mechanization
causes environmental pollution due to smokes emanating from engines of these
machines, chemicals and the use of fertilizer.
4.MECHANIZATION LEADS TO DESTRUCTION OF SOIL STRUCTURES: the
soil structure can easily be destroyed due to continuous use of heavy machines
5.MECHANIZATION LEADS TO REDUNDANCY OF FARM LABOUR with
farm machines working on the farms, the work can easily be completed and this
situation can create redundancy in farm labour
Accredited Manufacturer
ACT Machineries
Cauayan City, Isabela
Aikins, S. H. M.; Bart, P. A. and Opoku, B. S. 2010. Performance evaluation of jab
planters for maize planting and inorganic fertilizer application. J. Agric. Biol. Sci. 1(5):29-
33.
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