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-

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