Paddy straw management in combine harvested paddy fields is a major problem in paddy-wheat rotation. A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of tractor operated paddy straw mulcher in combine harvested paddy field. Effective field capacity of the tractor operated paddy straw mulcher was 0.32 ha/h at forward speed of 2.64 km/h. Average fuel consumption for the machine was 5.88 l/h. The percent chopped straw size by paddy straw mulcher up to 10 cm was 83.44%. No or very little straw accumulation was observed in operation of spatial no till drill for direct drilling of wheat after the operation of paddy straw mulcher. Average grain yield for treatment T1 (Paddy straw mulcher + wheat sowing with spatial no-till drill) was 2.39 and 0.33% less than T2 (paddy straw chopper-cum-spreader + wet mixing with rotavator + no till drill) and T3 (clean field + disc harrow + cultivator x 2 + planter + traditional seed drill) respectively whereas the cost of operation for treatment T1 was 24.38 and 23.55% less than T2 and T3 respectively.

The study was conducted to compare the field performance of rotavator and rotary plough in light, medium and heavy soil taking machine type and soil type as independent parameters and wheel slip (%), fuel consumption (l/h), bulk density of soil (g/cm³, before and after operation of machine), depth of cut (cm), width of cut (cm), field capacity (ha/h) and pulverization index (mm) as dependent parameters. It was found that field capacity of rotary plough was 6.1%, 12.06% and 45.7% lower than the rotavator in light, medium and heavy soil, respectively. The use of rotary plough led to 23.56% and 26.71% higher fuel consumption as compared to commercially available rotavator in light and medium soil, respectively. The pulverization index for rotary plough was 21.3%, 34.85% and 43.46% higher than that of rotavator in light, medium and heavy soil, respectively. Rotavator made smaller size of soil clods as compared to rotary plough, which is favorable for seed germination and crop growth. Tractor wheel slip for rotary plough was positive, whereas, it was negative for rotavator, which revealed that tractor with rotary plough was slipping in the soil while tractor with rotavator was skidding while operation.

A tractor mounted two-bottom biomass incorporator was developed. it was a combination of cutting unit, truncated mould board and vertical rotating clod-crusher. the cutting unit cuts the crop mass in small pieces. the share of MB plough cuts the furrow slice; the truncated mould board lifts it and finally the vertically rotating clod crusher, fitted behind each bottom, pulverizes the furrow slice and buries the crop biomass. Field experiments were conducted to study the effect of type of soil (S1: loamy sand, S2: loam), plant height i.e. crop growth stage (H1: 36 DAS, H2: 50 DAS), forward speed (F1: 2.1, F2: 2.8, F3: 3.4 km/h) and rotor speed (R1: 300, R2: 360, R3: 430 rpm) on performance of biomass incorporator for incorporating Dhaincha crop. the average depth of operation of machine was 17.47 cm. The actual field capacity of the machine was 0.25 ha/h at forward speed of 3.4 km/h and there was non-significant effect of soil type, crop growth stage and rotor speed. Plant height and forward speed had significant effect on size of cut of biomass which varied from 16.38 (S2H1F1R2) to 32.65 (S1H2F3R2) cm. Significant effect of S, H, F and R on pulverization index was recorded with minimum value of 3.58 mm (S1H2F1R3) and maximum 30.65 mm (S2H1F3R1). The bulk density index ranged between 21.02–33.48%. There was significant effect of H, F and R on mixing index. Maximum mixing index of 98.05% was found for treatment s1h1F1R3 and minimum 93.62% was recorded for s2h1F3R1. the minimum fuel consumption rate of 6.66 l/h was observed for treatment s1h1F1R2 whereas maximum of 9.49 l/h was observed for treatment s2h2F3R3. For quality work, combination F3R2(H1/H2) for loamy sand soil and combination F2R3(H1/H2) for loamy soil was found most suitable.

A study was conducted to assess the field performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based sprayer for pesticide application in green gram crop in Punjab during 2018 and 2019. The treatments include: T1- control (untreated); T2- pesticide application with knapsack sprayer; and T3- pesticide application with UAV based sprayer. The droplet size was significantly small in T3 (200.34 to 253.01 μm) compared to T2 (463.88 to 738.80 μm). The droplet density was significantly more in T3 compared to T2 at top, middle and bottom of the crop canopy. The maximum reduction in whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) incidence was observed three days after spray in T3 (36.84 and 42.72%) and T2 (28.71 and 29.70%). Thus, UAV based sprayer was found to be more effective producing smaller droplets, more droplets/ unit area, and in controlling B. tabaci in green gram.