Design and Development of a Tractor-Operated Biomass Incorporator

A tractor-operated two-bottom biomass incorporator was developed for efficient incorporation of green manure crop. The machine is a combination of cutting unit, shortened mould board and vertical rotating clod- crusher. The cutting unit cuts the crop mass into small pieces. The share of mould board plough cuts the furrow slice, the shortened mould board lifts it and finally the vertically-rotating auger behind each bottom pulverizes the furrow slice and buries the crop biomass efficiently. Field trials were conducted to incorporate green manure crop (Sesbania aculeata) in loamy sand type soil at two stages of crop growth, 36 days after sowing and 50 days after sowing. The above ground biomass density at crop growth stage I and II was 154 q/ha and 224.63 q/ha, respectively. The average depth of operation of biomass incorporator was 17.47-17.90 cm. The effective field capacity and fuel consumption rate of the machine was 0.25-0.28 ha/h (at forward speed of 3.4 km/h) and 6.66-8.31 l/h, respectively. The soil pulverization index with the machine varied from 5.37 to 9.70 mm. The bulk density index ranged between 23.31-26.57%. The mixing index with soil varied from 97.07 to 98.00%.