PLANTING EQUIPMENT

Planting equipment
• any mechanical device used to place seeds, seed pieces or plant parts in the soil for the
production of crops

PLANTING EQUIPMENT: Classification

1. Row crop planters
– planters designed and operated to plant seeds in rows far enough apart to permit
weeding
a) Row-crop drill planters – row crop planters designed to deposit seeds
continuously in the rows > 14 in space
b) Hill-crop planters – row crop planters designed to deposit one or more seeds
in a hill in equal intervals
2. Solid planters – planters designed and operated to plant or distribute seeds on patters
other than those of row crop planters
a) Broadcasters – planters that uniformly scatter seeds over the surface of the
field
b) Solid drill planters – planters designed to operate in rows with space of less
than 14 in no machine can operate between rows
3. Transplanters - planters designed and operated to place growing plants or plant parts
in the soil
Parts of the seed planter
1. furrow opener – to open the seed furrow to the proper depth
2. metering device – meter the correct amount of seeds
3. seed tube – direct and deposit the seed in the furrow
4. furrow closer – cover the seed in the furrow and compact the soil around the seed

Manually-Operated Seeder
- a type of seeder w/c deposits the seeds in holes w/ spacing set by the operator
 PLANTING EQUIPMENT: Animal-Drawn Seeder

 Tractor-trailed seed drill with fertilizer applicator

- a type of seeder w/ metering mechanisms driven by the ground wheels or by power
take-off from a tractor
 Three-row planter for walking tractor
⁻ tractor power-driven seeder w/c
⁻ can deposit the seeds at a specified rate in hills and rows spaced to permit inter-
row cultivation
⁻ also functions as a seed drill if required

 Precision planter w/o fertilizer applicator

- a type of row-crop planter which is designed to deposit a single seed at equal row
intervals
 GRAIN HARVESTING & THRESHING EQUIPMENT

Harvesting
– processing of gathering the useful portion of the crop from the field
Threshing
– process of separating the grain or seed from its straw and chaff

Methods of harvesting and threshing:

1. Manual harvesting and manual threshing
• traditional method
2. Manual harvesting
• done with the use of handtools such as sickle, scythe, yatab and others
• total labor requirement: 80-160 man-hrs/ha

3. Manual threshing
• done with the use of sticks, hampasan, foot threshing, and animal treading
 • total labor requirement: 140-220 manhours/ha
4. Combine harvesting and threshing
Harvesting and threshing - done by the single machine called combine

Combine
• requires 3-21 manhours/ha with power rating of 50-200 hp
• overall grain losses: 1.5 – 6%

5. Stripping
• removes the grains from the panicles w/o cutting or uprooting the plants so that it
is primarily a threshing operation

Factors affecting the choice of harvesting and threshing methods

1. kind of the crop
2. timeliness of operation
3. topography
4. farm size
 5. cost of labor
6. available capital

• Optimum moisture content of grain during harvest: between 21-24%

• The field should be drained 1-1.5 weeks before harvesting to harden the soil.

Harvesting Equipment:
1. Handtools
• sickle, yatab, scythe, lingkao and other small and simple hand tools
2. Reapers
• machines or equipment which simply cut standing grain crops

Mechanical Threshers
Types of mechanical threshers depend on the following:
1. Power source – either from man’s foot (pedal thresher) or engine (power
thresher)
2. Type of feeding
a) Hold-on feeding – straws do not pass through the threshing machines
b) Throw in feeding – straws are fed through the thresher; grains are
threshed from the straw as they pass between the revolving cylinder and
a steel grate

3. Direction of threshing materials

a) Tangential flow threshers – materials are fed between the revolving
cylinder and stationary concave and goes out straight out of the thresher
tangentially
b) Axial flow threshers – materials are fed between the revolving cylinder
and stationary concave on one end, go around the cylinder axially and
discharge on one end
c) Radial flow threshers – materials are fed between the vertically revolving
cylinder and stationary concaves

Types of cylinder teeth:

1. Peg tooth cylinder – threshing cylinder w/ spikes or pegs of equal lengths are
attached around the periphery of the cylinder
2. Rasp bar cylinder – threshing cylinder with equidistant bar-like protrusion are
placed in parallel orientation at the periphery of the cylinder
3. Wire loop cylinder – threshing cylinder with wire loops of the same arch and
equal size are attached around the periphery of the cylinder.