Combined and Multifunctional Implements: A Promising Approach for Modern Farm Mechanization

Author: Joe Joe L. Bovas*, Udhayakumar R., P. Shaji James, Arjunan Muthiah, Dipak S. Khatawkar and Aravind James

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Abstract

The growing population and reducing land available for agriculture is insisting mechanised agriculture to meet the food demand. The higher energy requirements of modern agricultural implements and the increasing cost of energy is making farmers look for implements/machines that have lower energy demand to reduce the overall cost of production. Thus, implements/machines which combine consecutive field operations (called as combined implements) are gaining attention as they can save time, energy and reduce soil compaction as a result of lesser number of field operations. As the total emissions are also reduced, the combined implements are also environment friendly. In addition, combining active and passive tools have a favourable impact on reducing draft and energy required by the total system. Further, implements/machines having provisions to combine consecutive field operations and carry out other major field operations are called as multifunctional implements (MFI’s). MFI’s were f

Keywords

Agricultural mechanisation, Combined tillage implements, Active-active tool combination, Active-passive tool combination, Negative draft, Multifunctional implements.

Conclusion

It’s true that the demand for agricultural produce never ends, but the price is highly fluctuating and in most of the cases the producer gets lower price. This is due to the fact that crops are seasonal and huge volumes of produce come into the market, resulting in market price reduction. It’s a challenging task to increase the production at the same time get better returns to the producer. So as to sustain the agricultural sector, the most effective way is to reduce the cost involved in production. Mechanisation played a very effective role in achieving this target to a great extent. As competition is increasing and land area available for cultivation decreasing and the investing capacity of the farmer is reducing, purchasing, operating and maintaining specialised machinery is becoming uneconomical for small and medium scale farmers. At the same time, they consume a lot of valuable time in carrying out field operations one after another. Here the importance of combining possible

References

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How to cite this article

Joe Joe L. Bovas, Udhayakumar R., P. Shaji James, Arjunan Muthiah, Dipak S. Khatawkar and Aravind James (2022). Combined and Multifunctional Implements, A Promising Approach for Modern Farm Mechanization. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(