Design and development of a power tiller operated centrifugal manure spreader with slurry maker for organic farming

Abstract

Organic farming is an ecologically sustainable form of agriculture. Organic farming methods are appropriate and adaptable to many types of land use in any part of Sri Lanka. It could support paddy, vegetable, fruits and some other tree crops, such as Tea, Cinnamon, and Coconut.etc. A major task of organic farming is broadcasting of organic material on the soil surface. Due to high variability of physical characteristics of organic materials, several technical problems can be observed during its handling and application under field conditions. Use of manpower for the application of organic materials is uneconomical due to high labor cost. Therefore, power tiller operated centrifugal manure spreader was designed and constructed. This machine was not only useful to broadcast organic materials but also to mix solid organic materials to prepare organic slurry. The designed machine consists of power transmission system with clutch mechanism, slurry making unit and slurry spreading unit. The maximum spreading width in meters, machine discharge rate in L/min and uniformity coefficient of spray distribution, were considered as criteria for comparison of merits and demerits. The test results show that the maximum spreading width, Machine discharge rate and uniformity coefficient of spray distribution, were 6.9m, 49 L/min, and 45%, respectively. The cost of production of the designed centrifugal manure spreader was Rs. 10,000.