Zero-Till-Slit tillage and seeding machine was designed and developed for fulfilling the requirements of conservation agriculture. The rotary zero-till-slit tillage and seeding machine were developed for zero-till seeding in straw fields after grain combine harvester's operation. The combined tillage and seeding machine were equipped with seven units of rotary slit cutters as a key component. In the present study, four different shapes of rotary slit cutters were evaluated in the soil-bin laboratory for different forces acting on the rotary slit cutter blade. The four blade shapes were trapezoidal, triangular, knife section with full-length sharp edge and knife section with a pointed tip and tapered sharp edge. The performance evaluation of four rotary blade shapes of slit cutters was carried out in soil-bin at ICAR - ., Bhopal under controlled soil conditions. Lower values of horizontal force (N), vertical force (N), and torque exerted (N-m) were found in the trapezoidal shape of slit cutter compared to triangular, knife section with full-length sharp edge and knife section with a pointed tip and tapered sharp edge. A horizontal force (N), vertical force (N), torque exerted (N-m) were found increased as forwarding speed (S), rotational speed (RS), and depth of cut of rotary slit cutter blade increases in the four shapes of rotary blade of slit cutters. The effect of blade shape of slit cutter (C), forward speed (S), rotational speed (RS) and depth of cut (d) on the horizontal force, vertical force, torque exerted and depth of cut were found highly significant. | Development and evaluation of different rotary slit cutters under controlled condition
