Developments of orchard tillers and their assessment of intercultural work quality for suitably in Tarai region of Pantnagar

Abstract

Rotary tillers implements are now projected as important tillage machinery for better seedbed preparation; however the ordinary rotavator being in line with the tractor center line at the rear cannot be used in orchards due to the hindrance posed due to narrow space between the plants. Therefore, the concept of a rotary offset tiller in other words orchard tillers was proposed, which could perform finer intercultural operation between the plants. Since there are some models of Indians and Foreign made rotary offset tiller available and their work quality parameter significantly plays a crucial role in selection of efficient, effective and appropriate machine for orchards. Therefore, present study is carried out with a purpose of selection of suitable and efficient orchard tillers on the basis of intercultural work quality parameters. The various intercultural machines like Rineri offset tiller, Saktiman offset tiller and Side shift tiller selected for this study and finally, orchard tillers were analysed for intercultural work quality for their suitability in Pant Tarai region of Uttarakhand. The work quality assessments concluded that side shift tiller was supposed to be best among all other type of intercultural machines because of less fuel consumption 3.5 l/h, less mean weight diameter 42 mm, higher actual field capacity 0.47 and high field performance index 86 %. Therefore, side shift tiller can be recommended to farmers and found to be suitable for intercultural operation in Pant Tarai region.