Increasing energy efficiency by geometric modification of hoe-type furrow opener

Direct planting becomes more common in the recent years, because it conserves soil and water as well as it saves energy and time. However, this technology needs special implements such as seed planter. Given that direct planting is practiced in undisturbed lands, so it was needed to design a special furrow opener. In order to obtain a suitable furrow opener this experiment was conducted in rain-fed Agricultural Research Institute in Maragheh.
Most of seed planters that are used for cultivation in rain fed conditions are equipped by hoe-type furrow opener. Hoe-type furrow openers have good penetration in hard and dry soils. However, they do not have the ability for direct planting. Hoe-type furrow opener was chosen as a model. Then by changing the geometric form of the depth to width ratio (d/w), the two openers were designed. In the first design, which was called O1 two wings and a narrow blade acting as a coulter were added in front of the hoe-type furrow opener. In the second design, which was called O2, in addition to the O1 modification, furrow opener width was decreased and a disk blade was added for seed sowing (Fig. 1).
The performance of O1 and O2 openers were compared with the conventional hoe-type furrow opener (check) in soil bin and in field conditions. At three different forward speeds (1, 1.5 and 2 m.s-1) with 3 replications, the effects of the openers designs of vertical and horizontal soil forces were evaluated in soil-bin conditions. In order to evaluate the performance of the furrow opener in field conditions, an experiment was conducted using a split plot design based on RCBD at 4 replications. Furrow openers formed the main plots and forward speeds formed the sub plots. Each plot size was 22 meters long in two rows for each treatment. After germination of wheat crop, the numbers of seedlings in two rows were counted (along a one meter). After crop maturity, all plots were harvested by hand and grain and biological yield was measured. ANOVA test, uniformity test and mean comparison were conducted by using Genstat software.
The soil bin test results showed that opener design and forward speed both have significant influences on the horizontal force (p It can be concluded that the newly designed furrow opener (O2) could improve the energy efficiency with increasing crop yield. Hence, O2 furrow opener could be recommended for direct planting in rain-fed farming.