Bed Planter

A bed-former-cum-seeder has been developed for sowing wheat. The bed planter consists of a frame, planting hoppers, fertilizer box, furrow openers, bed shaper and power transmitting wheel. The frame is made of mild steel sections. The furrow openers are ridger type and have mouldboard and share point. The wing span of the mould board can be adjusted. The share is made of medium carbon steel or alloy steel, hardened and tempered to suitable hardness. The machine makes two beds. It can sow two or three rows of wheat on each bed. It has seed metering unit of vertical disc type. The draft requirement of the machine is reduced due to roller type bed shaper. A planting attachment has also been made with the machine for sowing maize, groundnut, cotton etc on the beds. The field capacity of machine is 0.26 hah. The approximate cost of equipment is Rs. 40,000-. The cost of operation is about Rs. 4500ha as compared to Rs. 3400ha in conventional method. It saves about 20-30% water and 20% seeds.