Chapter Five: Cultivators,

Fertilizer Application and Chemical

sprayer Machines
 Cultivator
 cultivator is a piece of agricultural equipment used for
secondary tillage.

 One sense of the name refers to frames with teeth (also

called shanks) that pierce the soil as they are dragged through
it linearly.

 It also refers to machines that use the rotary motion of disks or

teeth to accomplish a similar result.

 The rotary tiller is a principal example.

 Cultivator Cont’d
 Cultivators stir and pulverize the soil, either before planting
(to aerate the soil and prepare a smooth, loose seedbed) or
after the crop has begun growing (to kill weeds—controlled
disturbance of the topsoil close to the crop plants kills the
surrounding weeds by uprooting them, burying their leaves to
disrupt their photosynthesis or a combination of both)
 Unlike a harrow, which disturbs the entire surface of the soil,
cultivators are designed to disturb the soil in careful patterns,
sparing the crop plants but disrupting the weeds.
 Cultivator Cont’d
 Cultivators of the toothed type are often similar in form
to chisel plows, but their goals are different.
 Cultivator's teeth work near the surface, usually for weed
control, whereas chisel plow shanks work deep beneath the
surface, breaking up the hardened layer on top.
 Small toothed cultivators pushed or pulled by a single person
are used as garden tools for small-scale gardening, such as
for the household's own use or for small market gardens.
 Similarly sized rotary tillers combine the functions of a harrow
and cultivator into one multipurpose machine.
 Cultivator Cont’d
 Cultivators are usually either self-propelled or drawn as an
attachment behind either a two-wheel tractor or four-
wheel tractor.

 For two-wheel tractors, they are usually rigidly fixed and

powered via links to the tractors' transmission.

 For four-wheel tractors they are usually attached by means of

a three-point hitch and driven by a power take-off .

 Drawbar hookup is also still commonly used worldwide.

 Fertilizer applicators
 Fertilizers are applied to the soil to the available supply of
plant nutrients (principally nitrogen, phosphorous, and
potassium) and thus promote greater yields or better crop
quality.
 In recent years, greater emphasis has been placed on the
proper handling and application of agricultural fertilisers in order
to crop yield, costs, and minimise environmental pollution
Fertilizers can be applied to the soil in several forms, such as,
 Barnyard manure
 Granular and pelleted fertilizers of various formula
 Fertilizers in liquid and gaseous form
 Fertilizer applicators
 Special equipment is, therefore, required for the handling of
these types of fertilizers, which are applied to the soil and
crop in various ways at different stages of culture.

 Granular fertilisers are the most common type of agricultural

fertiliser since they are easily produced, transported, and
applied.

 In order to be effective, however, granular fertilisers must be

properly handled and distributed.
 Fertilizer applicators
Fertilizers can be organic and inorganic fertilizers

 Organic fertilizers include farmyard manures, which are

applied in large quantities.

 Inorganic or commercial fertilizers include urea, DAP,

supper phosphates, which are applied in smaller
predetermined quantities relative to the organic ones.

The fertilizer equipment needed will, therefore, be selected

depending on the type of fertilizer and the form of application.
 Fertilizer applicators
All types of fertilizer equipment have:
 Storage unit
 Metering mechanism
 Carrying frame
Dry, granular fertilizers have for many years been the most
common types of fertilizers used by farmers.
Their applicators can be designed as attachments with planters
so as to permit dual operations in connection

Some of the application methods for granular fertilizers are:

 Fertilizer applicators
i. Broadcasting before plowing, or placed at the plowing
depth by a distributor on the plow that drops fertilizer in each
furrow.
ii. Deep placement with chisel-type cultivator.
iii. Broadcasted and mixed into the soil after plowing and
before planting.
iv. Applied during the planting operation
v. Side-dressing applications on growing row crops (generally
during a cultivating operation) or broadcasted top-dressing
on solid-planted crops
vi. Drilled into established pastures and other sods with
special equipment.
 Fertilizer applicators
A fertilizer spreader has to meet the following qualifications:
 Equal distribution of the fertilizer in both transversal and
longitudinal direction, with full and partly empty hoppers, with
different travel speeds and different application rates;
 Sufficient capacity of the hopper;
 Possibilities for adaptation to relative high crops;
 Easy and accurate adjustment of mass flow;
 High resistance against corrosion;
 Possibilities for border spreading;
 Easy to cleaning; and high capacity
 Types of Fertilizer applicators
 A spinning disc spreader consists of one or two rotating discs with two
or more vanes mounted on the disc.

 The spreader has a hopper, most times cone shaped, above the disc(s)
and the fertilizer is fed in a stream, either by gravity or a conveyor
mechanism, to the disc(s).

 The disc distributes the fertilizer by throwing it away with velocities

normally ranging between 15 m/s and 50 m/s; for some spreaders the
velocities can reach values up to 70 m/s.

 These high velocities are required to obtain large effective working

widths.
Fertilizer applicators
 Types of Fertilizer applicators
 The oscillating spout spreader has an oscillating spout to
distribute the fertilizer.
 The fertilizer flows, with aid of an agitator, from the hopper into
the spout.
 It is accelerated along the spout wall and the fertilizer leaves
the spout after one or two impacts on the wall.
 Liquid Fertilizers Spreaders
 The use of liquid fertilizers is a relatively new (second half of the
20th Century) practice.
 In comparison with fertilizing granular material, high investments
are required for the technical solution (storing and applying).

 Furthermore comprehensive special knowledge is required for

the application technique.

 When nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash are applied as a

complete fertilizer, the combination is near chemical neutrality
and is termed a non pressure liquid fertilizer
 Cont’d
 It can be sprayed out by gravity flow, pump, or air pressure.
 It can be sprayed either with ground equipment or by aircraft.
 Non-pressure liquid fertilizer attachments are available for
many planters, usually with one fiberglass tank provided for
each two rows.

 Furrow openers and band locations are the same as

for dry fertilizers except that the openers have small
tubes which discharge the liquid close to the furrow
bottom.
 Cont’d
Liquid fertilizers have several advantages:
 Liquid nitrogen fertilizer is partly lower in price than granular
material;
 The fertilizing effect is achieved via the soil and leaves and
therefore is independent of rain and humidity in the upper layer
of the soil;
 Combination with some pesticides is possible;
 Simple filling procedure with the aid of pumps (working
requirement approx. 10% lower than with the bulk fertilizer
handling chain);
 Cont’d
Despite the advantages, there are also some
disadvantages:
 High storing costs for farm owned storing facilities;
 Liquid fertilizer has considerable corrosive properties;
 Handling of field sprayers with large working widths (24 m
and more) is considerably costlier than if centrifugal
broadcasters would be used with comparable working
widths;

 Weather factors have to be considered.

 Cont’d

Nozzle for applying liquid fertilizer

 Manure and Scum spreader
 Manure is a natural fertilizer
 Manure does not have a high content of nutrients. Instead, it
gives fertility to the soil by adding humus (organic
component of the soil)
 This improves the soil’s physical properties, with better
retention of moisture and more aeration.
Principles of Manure Spreading Machine
 The spreader of manure or else spreader of muck otherwise
called honey wagon are machines for agricultural which are
purposed for distributing manure for fertilizer on the field.
Now a day, the hydraulic as well as power take off units for driven
are modified for offering different rate of application
Figure of Scum/ Mud spreader machine
Chemical Applications Machines
 Plant Protection Methods
Agricultural production is reduced by 1/5 by pests, plant
disease and weeds.
 Therefore, the need arises for protection of plants and
minimizes loss.
 Currently there are five categories of plant protection
methods: namely
 chemical,
 biological,
 agronomical,
 mechanical and
 biophysical
Mechanical method – manual labour and machineries are
employed in protection.
1) Manual labour
2) Killing harmful micro organism
3) Protection by making barriers such as fence and trench
Bio-Physical Method – this method is very expensive. It involves
the introduction of
 High frequency current
 Ultrasonic preparation
 Radioactive preparation
 Toxic Chemicals and Their Method of Application
 Chemical pesticides have played and will continue to
play a major role in the rapid advancement of
agricultural production
 Crop quality and yields have been improved and the use
of chemical herbicides has greatly reduced labour
requirements for weed control
 But the wide spread use of pesticides has resulted in
some serious environmental and health problems.
 These problems are of direct concern to both the user
and the equipment designer.
These chemicals are:
 Pesticide- to protect pests
 herbicide to protect weeds
 Fungicide to protect fungi disease
 Bactericide to protect bacterial disease

Method of application is depends up on:

 area of infestation
 state of plant and
 type of crop
Depending on these factors, one of the following methods
is adapted:
 Spraying- Fine liquid droplet,
 Dusting - fine powder,
 Fumigation - Vapor gas,
 Seed dressing - on surface and tissue of seed,
 Poison baits – Coating by poison,
 Chemo-therapy –applying internally acting chemicals
 Sprayers
Generally chemicals, when mixed, can form one of the following.
 Solution – when chemical is completely dissolved in the
solvent (carrier)
 Suspension – chemicals (powder) remain floating in water
needs constant agitation
 Emulsion – chemicals disperse in water but not actually
dissolve.
Kind of sprays
Spray materials will usually fall within 3 classifications, as
 Inorganic compounds: which are of mineral origin, mainly
compounds of Boron, Copper, Fluorine, and Mercury.
 Cont…
 Organic compounds: which are synthetic compounds for
example: carbon disulphide, methyl bromide
 Petroleum oils: which are used alone or to supplement the
action of insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides
 Field sprayers are primarily designed for applying weed and
insect control materials for field crops
 In some cases the material is applied directly to the soil, as is
done when applying insecticides, fungicides, and post-
emergence weed control materials.
Function of sprayers:
 To break the liquid into droplets of required size and distribute
them uniformly over the surface or space to be protected,
 To regulate the amount of insecticide or pesticide to
avoid excessive application that might prove harmful or
wasteful.
Classification of sprayer:
 Manually operated knapsack sprayer,
 Carried manually but power operated knapsack
sprayer,
 Tractor operated (Boom sprayers),
 Aircraft sprayers
Calibrate spray out put
 read product label
 follow calibration instructions
 fit appropriate nozzle
 measure swath width
 adjust water volumes (l/ha) within recommended limits to
your specific needs, such as stage of crop growth
 Cont…

Tractor mounted sprayer

 Sprayer components:
The sprayer has the following essential components:
Tank, which carries and stores the chemicals, and is usually
made of non-corrosive material (Plastic or fiberglass),
Pump, which imparts the correct pressure to the liquid carrier
and, with the appropriate nozzle, delivers the liquid at the
required rate.
Nozzle, which is a device to discharge the chemical at a given
rate and in droplets of the correct size.
 Cont…
Additional components which comprises one or more of the
following;
 Pressure relief valve, to set and maintain the required
pressure;
 pressure gage, to monitor pressure;
 boom or lance, to which the nozzles are attached;
 control valve or cut-off device, to regulate the flow of the
liquid chemical;
 filters, to insure free flow by trapping unwanted material;
 agitators,
 air chamber (used to level out the pulsation of the pump
there by providing a constant nozzle pressure)
Cont…
 Cont…
 Applicators of pesticides need to know proper
application methods, chemical effects on
equipment, equipment calibration, and correct
cleaning methods.

 Equipment should be recalibrated periodically to

compensate for wear in pumps, nozzles, and
metering systems.
Cont…
Cont…
Cont…
Nozzles
 The nozzle is a critical part of any sprayer. Nozzles
perform three functions:
1. Regulate flow
2. Atomize the mixture into droplets
3. Disperse the spray in a desirable pattern

 In general, herbicides are most effective when

applied as droplets of approximately 250 microns,
fungicides are most effective at 100 to 150
microns, and insecticides at about 100 microns.
Cont…
 Particle size and Drift
 It is important to be able to determine the range and
distribution of droplet size in order to assess the
pesticide application.
 If the particles are too fine, they may drift away
without ever settling on the target.
 This, apart from the loss of pesticide, can pollute the
environment and become a health hazard.
 With larger droplets there is less particle drift but
smaller droplets do provide a more effective control
with fungicides, insecticides and many herbicides
 Cont…
 There must therefore be a compromise and the
smallest droplet size giving minimum drift must be
chosen.
Dusters
A duster is equipment used to apply a crop protection
material (chemical) in powder form.
A duster is a simpler, less troublesome machine than a
sprayer and no water is needed, but the weather
must be calm for dusting
 Cont…
A duster will usually have the following components:
 a hopper for storing the chemical in the dust form;
 an agitator, to keep the dust moving freely and
prevent it caking;
 metering mechanism (usually an adjustable
orifice),
 a delivery blower, to create an air stream that is
used to carry the powder to the target.
 The duster can be either manually operated or
powered.
 Dusters can also be ground ridge duster and aircraft
duster.
 While dusting is in operation the prevailing wind
direction should be used to carry the dust to the
target.

 The use of dusters has diminished greatly in recent

years, primarily because of the drift problem and
low deposition efficiencies.
CALIBRATION OF SPRAYERS
• Having thoroughly checked the sprayer to see that it is
mechanically sound and operating satisfactorily, it now
remains to check to see if it will apply the amount of
liquid per hectare that it is supposed to apply. To do
this we must “calibrate” the sprayer.
• First, it must be understood that the output of any
sprayer remains constant for a given nozzle size and
pressure setting.
 The output of the sprayer, then, can be varied by
 Changing nozzle size
 Altering the working pressure
 Varying the forward speed

These factors then indirectly affect the following:

 application rate;
 droplet size;
 droplet distribution;
 swath width.
Assume an application rate of 75 l/ha is required and
assume nozzle spacing to be 500mm.
1. Fill the sprayer with water
2. Measure calibration distance in the field. Drive the
sprayer at an operating speed and pressure.
3. Write down the travel time and pressure throttle setting
4. Determine the speed.
Speed (km/hr) = 3.6 x length of run (m) /
time (sec)
5. Now the sprayer parked and the parking brake set,
turn on the sprayer system.
Run it at the same throttle setting and spray pressure you used in
step 2. Collect 1 liter of spray from one nozzle and write down the
number of seconds required to collect it.

6. Determine liters per minute per nozzle.

7. Determine what liters per hectare, application rate, will be at
the predetermined speed and sprayer pressure.
AR (l/ha) = 600,000 x l/min/nozzle
Speed (km/hr) x width*1000m
*width= distance between two nozzles in mm
8. If the calculated l/ha does not agree with the desired
application rate adjust pressure setting and collect spray again
until the desired rate is obtained.