ABSTRACT

Sowing of seeds especially the smaller seeds is operated manually by small scale farmers which normally results in poor distribution ofthe planted seeds. In a bid to solve the problems associated with manual seed broadcasting, an affordable manually pushed authomated seed broadcasting machine was designed and constructed. The machine was made from locally sourced materials which comprises of hopper, shutter, shaft, bevel gears, supporting frame, pneumatic tyres, prime mover, handle, spreading disc, belt and pulley. The field evaluation ofthis machine was tested on soya bean, paddy, sorghum and millet. The capacity ofthe machine was 0.776m . The device had a net mass of 82.4kg. The discharge efficiency increased with increase in the size of seeds broadcasted. The discharge efficiency was 98.82%, 98.24%, 96.76% and 97.35% for soybean, millet, sorghum and paddy respectively. The time of broadcasting when equal amount (3.4kg) of seeds were fed to the machine was 8min for 3.36kg of soybean discharged, 6min for 3.34kg of millet discharged, 5.7min for 3.29kg of sorghum discharged and 6.5min for 3.31kg ofpaddy discharged. The area covered by soybean was 3,220m2, millet was 2,520m2, sorghum was 2,215.08m2, and paddy was 2,643.84m2.The average bulk density was 1.14g/cm3, average particle density was 2.25g/cm3 and average porosity was 48.03% having no adverse effect on the soil.