1. New Developments in Cotton Mechanization
Gautam Majumdar, Scientist
K. R. Kranthi, Director

2. Precision Planter Planting
Seed spacing is regulated either by changing the peripheral velocity, or changing the number of hole on the metering disc,
3 discs 16, 20 and 24 no of holes were designed and made
Seed singulating mechanism
Designed based on the optimized nipple parameters. The singulator was made with a sensitivity to disturb the probable double or multiple seed picked by the nipples.
plant to plant spacing
45.67±0.08cm
Multiple seeds (%)
2.7
One seed (%) 96
Missed hill (%)
1.3

3. Zero Till Planter for cotton
Planting
Zero Till Planter for cotton
Zero till planter is operated in the field when the soil moisture is about % and stubble height of previous harvested crop not more than cm Eliminates seed bed preparation as a separate operation or combines it with planting operation
Power (hp) 45
Metering Seed
Inclined plate
Fertilizer metering
Gear roller type
Furrow opener
Inverted ‘T’ type
Cost, Rs
60000/-
Particulars
Planter
Conv.
Cost of operation Rs/hr
366
390
Cost of operation Rs/ha
508
650
Saving in cost over traditional method %
21.85 _
Saving in time over traditional method %
16.77

4. Vertical Rotor Precision Planter
Planting
Vertical Rotor Precision Planter
Advantages of vertical rotor metering mechanism : reduced seed damage and uniform seed placement
Patent Filed
Published
Pat. No.1559/MUM/2009
plant to plant spacing (cm)
60±5
Depth of placement (cm) 6
Germination (%) 84
Field capacity h/ha
4.5
Commercialised
Cost Rs 10,000

5. Inclined Plate Planter
Planting
Inclined Plate Planter
Happy seeder machine is used for direct sowing of wheat in combine harvested paddy fields in standing stubble conditions. An inclined plate planter attachment for planting cotton using happy seeder in wheat residue was developed. This mechanism was attached with happy seeder for sowing cotton in standing stubble conditions.
Tractor
35-45 hp
No. of rows
Adjustable, 6 maximum
Row spacing, mm
(adjustable)
Field capacity, ha/h
0.38
Particulars
Inclined Plate Planter
Happy Seeder
Depth of seed placement, mm
45-60
35-90
No of seedlings in 5 m length
25.50
24.25
No of missing hills
2.75
4.25
Percentage of singles
85.92
83.26
Percentage of doubles
7.04
8.37
Yield, q/ha
16.75
13.90
Cost saving, %
46.20
52.40

6. Air Sleeve Boom Sprayer
Spraying
Air Sleeve Boom Sprayer
For uniform and accurate application and deposition of pesticide and fungicide
400 liter capacity tank, 18 atomizer, centrifugal blower and hydraulic pump.
Atomizers release the pesticide solution into stream of air blast produced by the centrifugal blower. The air blast distributes the chemical in the form of very fine particles throughout its swath width behind the tractor
Under side of the leaves at any position on plant received effective number of drops when air-assistance was provided with the sprayer.
Speed of operation, km/h
Field capacity, ha/hr
Effective swath width, m
8.8
Plant damage
Negligible
Tank filling time, min 27
Fuel consumption, l/h
3.5

7. Tractor operated air assisted sprayer in operation
Enhanced coverage of cotton plant with spray droplets
VMD was 248 mm and 261 mm at forward speed of 2.5 km/h and 4.0 km/h respectively
found to be 89.3% efficient with a fuel consumption of 3.5 l/h and effective field capacity of 1.34 ha/h.

8. Solar operated sprayer
Spraying
Solar Powered Knapsack Sprayer
Patent filed
Published
Pat. No. 1560/ MUM/2009
Commercialisation
Under Process
Cost : Rs 7000/-
Particulars
Solar operated sprayer
LOK sprayer
Dimensions, L x W x H
28 x 24 x 50
37 x 17 x 44
Tank, L x W x H
35 x 19 x 20
37 x 17 x 30
Tank capacity ltrs. 16
Field capacity hrs/ha 4 6
Weight, kg
9.0
Swath, cm 90 70
System pressure kg/ cm2
3.0
2.5-3
No. of sprays in one stroke 20 -
Refilling time, min
5 m

9. Wick Applicator Weed Management
Wick Applicator is used to control weeds between the rows.
The systematic weedicides which touch the surface of plants, kill the entire plant.
Spraying such chemicals has the risk of killing nearby cotton plants by drift of the weedicides.
wick applicator only brushes over the surface of the weeds and eliminates the risk of contaminating the cotton plants.
Overall dimensions
36x20x60 cm
Tank capacity
10 lit.
Brush width
24 cm
Length of handle
40 cm
No. of orifices 12
Application rate
l/ha
Field capacity
11 hrs/ha
Cost of implements, Rs
1500/-

10. Whitefly Suction Trap ICAR-CICR
The trap is power operated, shoulder mounted, portable, adjustable and sucks the whitefly adults available on the underside of the cotton leaves without any harm either to natural enemies or the crop.

11. TNAU-Varun power weeder (TNAU, Coimbatore)
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Specifications of TNAU-Varun power weeder
TNAU-Varun power weeder (TNAU, Coimbatore)
Specification of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Particulars
Technical specifications
Rated output, hp
10.0
Displacement
401cc, 3600mm
Weight, kg
325
Air cleaner
Oil bath
Fuel tank capacity
6.0
Starting method
Rope start
Clutch
Friction type, conical clutch
Speed
First gear – 100 rpm
Power transmission system
Gear box and belt and pulley
Rotary type
Central drive
Number of rotary tynes 36
Ground clearance ,mm 80
Width of rotary tiller, mm
550
Overall view of TNAU-Varun power weeder
Weeding tool of TNAU-Varun power weeder

12. Self Propelled Precision Inter Row Cultivator (PDKV, Akola)
Inter row cultivator is an attachment to 5 hp diesel engine.
Sweep type blade.
Speed of operation 2.85 to 3.2 km/hr
Actual field capacity 0.25 to 0.3 ha/hr with 48 to 98% field efficiency.
Weeding efficiency was 85 to 86%.

13. Rotary spading machine for inter cultivation in cotton (TNAU, Coimbatore)
Alternative to till where other tillage techniques cannot be adopted.
Tractor operated rotary spading machine for rice fallow cotton
Used in cotton raised in flat beds at a spacing of 60cm to 1m.
Resulted in to and 97.9 per cent saving in cost and time respectively over manual

14. Small Cotton Harvester with Pre-cleaner attachment (ICAR-CICR, Nagpur)
Pat. No. 2076/ MUM/2014
Header unit - combs and cross auger
Chain conveyor conveying unit
Chamber for separating the seed cotton
from carpels
Pre-cleaner to separate larger trashes
Storage box

15. Coolants, Wetting agents (Not available in India), Defoliants
CICR HARVESTER
1-ROW COMM PICKER
HA R V E S T E R
Initial Cost
Lower
Higher
Operation
Simple
Difficult
Row spacing
Any
Only wider rows
Technical skill of operator required
None
Highly trained operator required
Maintenance
Low
High
Spares
Available
Not available
Special chemicals required
Defoliants
Coolants, Wetting agents (Not available in India), Defoliants
F E A T U R E S
Trash (%) 25 20
Pre-cleaner installed
Yes No
Plant loss (%) 2 15
Field loss 5 12
Working speed kmph
2.66
4.5
Time taken hrs/ha
4.18
3.02

16. Tractor mounted cotton stripper (ICAR-CICR-CIRCOT-Mahindra)
Tractor mounted finger type cotton harvester (55 hp)
Working width – 2050 mm (3 Row)
Overall weight ~ 3740 kg (Include Tractor weight)
Overall Height – 3048 mm
Conveying system- Belt with flight type (Under side flow)

17. Summary of Results
Picking efficiency of 97.9% leaving only 2.1% bolls unpicked
Header+cleaner+shattering losses 11.5% with a comb spacing of 16mm
Field capacity of machine was found to be about 2 hrs/ha including the unloading and idle time of the machine
Onboard cleaner head an overall efficiency of 54% trash removal
Most efficient in removing burrs at 64%
Uniform Grid Bar spacing 13mm gave least trash at 17% with comparable fibre properties with that of hand picked cotton
175mm pulley with Uniform Grid Bar spacing of 13 mm gave least trash of 17% with least neps content
Recycling harvested cotton through Onboard cleaner reduced the trash of 45% at header to 12% i.e., 73% in 3 cycles

18. Modified Stick machine and Saw band cleaner
Cleaning machinery employed for processing of machine picked cotton (ICAR-CIRCOT)
Cleaning Systems
Refinements included incorporation of variable feeding systems, modification in the grid bars and providing safety arrangements like belt, gear and chain covers
Cleaning performance of the developed machines depends to a large extent on the prior opening of the cotton in a cylinder cleaner
Modified Stick machine and Saw band cleaner
Seed cotton
Stick machine
Saw band cleaner
6-cylinder cleaner

19. Cleaning machinery employed for processing of machine picked cotton
Cleaning Systems
Cleaning machinery employed for processing of machine picked cotton
Machine picked cotton contains around 19.26% total trash content where the percentage of dry leaves is highly significant (i.e %) compared to the large foreign matters (such as sticks and burs),which requires special machines for its separation
Burs
Sticks
Dry leaves
Immature Seeds/ Motes
Green leaves
Trash content separated from the machine picked seed cotton

20. Cleaning machinery employed for processing of machine picked cotton
Cleaning Systems
Cleaning machinery employed for processing of machine picked cotton
Seed cotto n (g)
Lint (g)
Trash content
Bract s/ Burrs
Stick s
Green leave s
Immatu re seeds/ motes
Dry leave s
Total
Control
600
241
(g)
(%)
6.9
2.86
1.4
0.59
5.21
2.16
0.3
0.12
7.4
3.07
21.21
8.8
Cylinder cleaner
238
5.77
2.42
1.27
0.53
2.93
1.23
0.1
0.04
6.6
2.77
16.67
7.0
Stick machine
230
2.06
0.9
0.72
0.31
1.38
0.6
0.0
5.2
2.26
9.36
4.07
Saw band cleaner
228
1.01
0.44
1.19
0.52
4.9
2.15
7.1
3.11
Dry leaves which are dominantly present in the machine picked cotton get crushed and finely maxed during ginning leading to separation of finely mixed particles partly through the grids along with the cottonseed and partly along with the lint, which could not be even separated using the trash separator.

21. Flail type chopper cum loader for paddy straw cutting and loading

22. Tractor-operated cotton stalk puller (PAU, TNAU)
Best performance of the machine, it should be operated at 30 degrees pull angle, 4.19 m/s peripheral speed and 2 km/h forward speed.
The maximum pulling efficiency of percent was obtained

23. Technology Mission on Cotton Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Acknowledgements
Technology Mission on Cotton
Mini Mission-I
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
New Delhi