DESIGN, FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HAND PUSH FERTILIZER LINE APPLICATOR FOR TREE CROPS

Abstract

A simple prototype of hand push fertilizer applicator actuator by two wheels of 40cm diameter each was designed and fabricated. It has a pair of handle 620mm apart at the upper part and 145mm apart below. It is 1200mm in length from top to bottom. When in use at 45° to the ground, the height of operation is 950mm. The machine is to solve the problem of hand application of fertilizer to tree crops in Nigeria. Tests carried out on a field of 35 x 35m indicated effective functionability . In a field block of 16hectares with 8000trees, it will take 8hours to apply 1.76tons of fertilizer. The quantity of fertilizer discharged per tree was between 200g. A functional efficiencyof 15.82% was attained with 220g per discharge. The. time taken by the machine to discharge the above quantity per plant was between 42 to 50seconds. The length of discharge of fertilizer is between 62 to 67em. The highest frequency of discharge length is 64cm. This represents 32.65%, which is the range of 60 to 70cm proposed. At this length, the fertilizer concentration for plant use is achieved. An average distance between two.plants of about 186cm was achieved to be unfertilized as required. The total quantity of fertilizer for fourteen continuous discharge is within 3122 to 3124g. These quantities occurred 36times' each within the 196 trials.