Development of a pull-type onion (Allium cepa L.) sowing machine for seedbed

¹ Central Luzon State University, College of Engineering, Graduate Student Association, Science City of Muňoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines and Western Philippines University, College of Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, San Juan, Aborlan, Palawan, Philippines
² Central Luzon State University, College of Engineering, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Science City of Muňoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

^* Corresponding author: austriajessa@gmail.com

Abstract

The conventional sowing method of onion seeds offers great wastage and laborious. This study aimed to develop a pull-type onion sowing machine for seedbed to optimize the sowing of seeds, reduce labor cost, yields better quality onion seedlings, and increases income of onion farmers. The machine was tested and evaluated, in comparison with manual sowing of onion seeds, in terms of seed delivery rate, effective field capacity, field efficiency, seeding efficiency and drawbar power. The cost of sowing seeds using the machine was also determined. Results indicated that machine’s delivery rate was significantly reduced to 5.33 g/m² from 11.35 g/m² This resulted to reduction in the quantity of seeds sown for a one-hectare onion production area by about 4-5 cams (1.6 to 2 kg). Machine’s field capacity (375.45 m²/h) was higher than of manual sowing (25.51 m²/h). Field efficiency at 86.94% is higher than 60% threshold given by PAES [3]. The seeding efficiency of 89.70% was statistically the same with three seeds per 25 mm hill spacing. The drawbar power was found out to be 0.15 5kW. The cost of the machine is $1,666.67 with a break-even quantity of 9,226.9 m² or 138.11 cans of onion seeds in 0.62 years.