Agriculture Engineering

Agriculture engineering comprises four branches, namely

1) Farm Implements and power

2) Rural Structures

3) Soil conservation, drainage and irrigation

4) Rural electricity.

 

Agricultural Implements and Machinery

Quite a variety of implements and machinery is required for carrying out various agricultural operations, starting from the opening of the land to harvesting, threshing, winnowing and storage. These operations include ploughing, harrowing, leveling, sowing, intercultivation, the application of fertilizers and manures, harvesting, threshing and winnowing.

Plough:

Plough is the primary and commonly used implement. Ploughs differ in size, depending upon the type of soil and the size of the bullocks or buffaloes used in particular area. The body and the wedge may be of one piece or of two pieces. The iron point or share is made up of a rod or bar of mild steel, and penetrates into the soil and protects the wooden wedge against wear and tear. The beam varies from 2.5 to 5.5 m in length and is made of wood. The handle is fixed to the beam at the back of the body. The working draft varies from 27 to 148 kg.

The depth of ploughing is usually from 10 to 20 cm and the width from 13 to 18 cm.

Ploughs are used for making shallow furrows for depositing seeds, for intercultivation between the rows of crops and to harvest crops such as potatoes, groundnuts and sweet-potatoes.

Bladed Harrows:

It is one of the best implements for primary tillage. The farmer use it for preparing the land and for sowing the seed. It consists of a steel blade of about 45 to 90 cm in length and 8cm in width. It can cultivate the land to a depth of 9 to 10 cm.

Mouldboard Ploughs:

It consists of a share and mouldboard of steel. It is used for ploughing square furrow and in inverting the soil either completely or partially, depending on the curvature given to the mouldboard. For proper functioning, the provision of an adequate vertical and horizontal suction to the share tip is necessary. In case of long-beam ploughs, the beam and the handle are made of wood, whereas in the case of a short-beam plough, the complete implement is made of steel.

Ridger Ploughs:

These ploughs have double mouldboards. There are three sizes- the light, the medium, and the heavy. The heavy ones are used for the cultivation of sugarcane and the lighter ones for the cultivation of vegetables and other crops.

Soil scoop:

It consists of a shallow box-like structure with an open front. One its front, a sharp blade is fixed and tow hooks. Two wooden handles are provided to the back. The capacity of the soil scoop is 0.056 to 0.84 cu m.

Wheel barrows:

Common wheel barrows are very useful for gardens or orchards. The wheels may be of mild steel or of rubber.

Levelers and clod crushers:

It is a flat log 1.8 to 2m long and is dragged over the clods by bullocks. The driver usually stands on the log to put weight on it and hold on it down.

Harvesting Implements:

Sickle and harvesters are mostly used for harvesting. Even combined harvesters and threshers are used for harvesting operation.

Processing machines:

These machines process the farm produce during the post-harvest period. These machines include sugarcane-crushers, fodder-cutters, groundnut-decorticators, paddy-hullers or paddy-shellers.