Performance Evaluation of Power Tiller for Rice Cultivation in South Gondar Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

M.A. Mihretu¹ , M.A. Fetene² , B.G. Awoke³ , A.D. Molla⁴ , D.B. Tikuneh⁵

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.8 , Issue.4 , pp.36-41, Apr-2022

Online published on Apr 30, 2022

Copyright © M.A. Mihretu, M.A. Fetene, B.G. Awoke, A.D. Molla, D.B. Tikuneh . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Tillage operation is the most power-intensive activity in agriculture. Ethiopian agriculture is primarily based on animal power, which is a drudgery, time-wasting, and energy-consuming work. In this research paper, a two-wheel hand tractor (single axle power tiller) and local animal power (using pair of oxen) have been used as treatment. The lay pout of the treatments had a 10-meter width by 40-meter length replicated three times. The experiment was conducted in three rice potential districts namely Fogera, Libokemkem, and Dera for three consecutive years. During the experiment, the most fundamental tillage parameters such as the width of cut, operation depth, speed of operation, fuel consumption (for power tiller), and yield data were recorded. From the three locations, most parameters had better performance at the Libokemkem site. The width, speed of operation, field capacity, and field efficiency were significantly (P<0.05) different for the two treatments with values of (29.951, 26.142) cm, (3.633, 2.214) km/hr, (0.108, 0.057) ha.hr-1and (74.822, 69.682)%, respectively for power tiller and animal power. The fuel consumption was the least at Dera district with 9.411 L/ha consumption. The grain yield was 4.92 and 4.61 tone/ha for power tiller and draught animal respectively. The study indicated that using a power tiller for rice production was economically viable.

Key-Words / Index Term :
animal power, field capacity, field efficiency, performance evaluation, power tiller, rice cultivation

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