CONTENTS

J.Res. ANGRAU 41(2) 16-20, 2013
PERFORMANCE OF DRUM SEEDER IN DIRECT SOWN PADDY UNDER
PUDDLED CONDITION
M.VISALAKSHI and A.SIREESHA
Regional Agricultural Research Station, Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University, Anakapalli -531 001
Date of Receipt : 02.11.2012 Date of Acceptance : 10 .05.2013
ABSTRACT
Field experiments were conducted on direct sown paddy using eight-row drum seeder under puddled
condition in farmers fields of Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh during Kharif season for three years from 2007-
2008 to 2009-2010 to evaluate the efficiency of drum seeder at different seed rates. (20, 30 and 40 kg ha -1 ) and
optimum seed rate was quantified. The results showed that use of drum seeder at 30 kg seed ha -1 recorded increased
grain yield by 26 and 22 per cent (7.58 t ha -1 ) respectively over that of 20 and 40 kg ha -1 seed rate. It was also found
superior to normal transplanting and broadcasting of sprouted seed @ 75 Kg ha -1 . Drum seeder technology at 30 kg
seed per ha reduced the seed rate by 45 kg ha -1 compared to broadcasting of seed on puddled soil and resulted in
higher returns to farmers over normal transplanting/ broadcasting of sprouted seed.
Transplanting is the most common method
of crop establishment in rice cultivation under low
land situation and is highly labour-intensive and
expensive operation. In contrast, broadcasting of seed
causes uneven plant stand, low yields and returns.
In Vizianagaram district, Andhra pradesh, the major
rice area is under tanks and success of crop depends
on rainfall received. In many years overaged
seedlings are planted due to delayed monsoon.
Further, transplanting is not profitable due to high
labour wages and problem of non-availability of labour
during peak period of operation (Singh et al.,2005).
Transplanting alone costs about 15% of total rice
production cost and delayed transplanting due to
labour shortage causes sustainable loss in yield
(Ponnuswamy et al.,1999). Therefore, there is need
of alternative methods to replace transplanting to
tackle the problems of high cost of production and
labour scarcity.
Direct sowing of sprouted seed in puddled
fields using drum seeder reduces the input costs
i.e.,cost of seed, nursery raising, transplanting and
it is a good method under late onset of monsoon .
The present study was conducted in farmers
fields to fine tune drum seeder technology with
different seed rates for its large scale adoption and
higher yields.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The DAATT Centre,Vizianagaram introduced
8 row paddy drum seeder made of fibre supplied by
KSNM marketing, Coimbatore through AGROS
during kharif, 2007 in Vizianagaram dsitrict. On farm
trials were conducted during kharif season of 2007,
2008 and 2009 to demonstrate the performance of
drum seeder for direct sown paddy under puddled
condition. Five villages were selected to carry out
on-farm trials on purposive random sampling. These
five villages were considered as five replications. Two
hectares was allotted as a representative area for
testing the performance of drum seeder in farmers
fields with 5 treatments viz.,T 1
, farmer’s practice of
transplanting; T 2
, farmer’s practice of broadcasting
seed using 75 kg ha -1 ; T 3
,seeding sprouted seed @
20 kg seed ha -1 using drum seeder; T 4
, seeding
sprouted seed @ 30 kg seed ha -1 using drum seeder;
T 5
, seeding sprouted seed @ 4 0 kg seed ha -1 using
drum seeder . Seeding of nursery was also done on
the same day and 30 day old seedlings were
transplanted in T 1
and 75 kg ha -1 dry seed was
broadcasted in T 2
. In treatments T 3,
T 4
and T 5
,
sprouted seeds were sown at three seed rates using
drum seeder. For direct sowing using drum seeder,
the paddy seeds are soaked in water for 24 hours
followed by incubation in gunny bags for 24-48 hours
depending upon the rice variety and prevailing
temperature. The field was well puddled and levelled
after draining the standing water before sowing to
avoid damage of sprouted seed and to enable water
to spread uniformly over the field. After puddling, the
field is left for 1-2 days for settling of the puddled
soil. Using drum seeder, seed rate required for direct
email: visalamahanthi@yahoo.co.in
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