FMTTI Testing for Seed-cum-Fertilizer Drills

What FMTTI Actually Checks

When a tractor-operated seed-cum-fertilizer drill goes in for testing, the engineers at the institute aren't just checking that it runs — they're checking that it does the one job a drill exists to do: put the right amount of seed and fertilizer in the right place, consistently.

Three things get the closest attention:

• Seed-metering accuracy and seed-rate consistency — does the metering mechanism deliver a steady, predictable seed rate run after run, or does it drift?
• Fertilizer placement uniformity and depth control — is the fertilizer going down at a consistent depth, separated correctly from the seed line?
• Row spacing and field-performance evaluation — how the drill actually behaves under field conditions, not just on a bench. These are the parameters that matter most to a farmer buying the machine, which is exactly why they sit at the centre of the test rather than being a side note.

Where It Sits in the Fee Schedule

Seed-cum-fertilizer drills aren't priced as a standalone line item. In the current fee schedule, tractor drawn/operated seed-cum-fertilizer drills are grouped together with straw reapers, mini rice mills, seed cleaners/graders, balers, laser land levellers and potato diggers — all under one charge.

For FY 2025-26, that charge is ₹2,17,502, exclusive of GST. If your machine falls anywhere in that group, this is the figure to budget against — it's worth confirming with your institute which exact test scope that fee covers for your specific drill configuration, since metering systems vary a fair bit between models.

How Long the Report Lasts

Seed-cum-fertilizer drills are classified as a tractor/power-tiller operated implement for testing-validity purposes — the same bracket as tillage, planting, inter-culture, harvesting, threshing and baling equipment. That bracket carries a longer validity than tractors or power tillers themselves:

In practice, that means a manufacturer gets a 7-year window on the Initial Commercial Test report before needing to go through Batch Test renewal, and each subsequent Batch Test then holds for 5 years. It's a longer runway than the tractor category gets, which reflects how this bracket of implements is treated differently under the validity framework set by the Technical Committee.

What You'll Need to Apply

The application itself follows the same document checklist used across implement categories: the application form, detailed technical specification, a declaration of selected performance characteristics (per IS 13539:2008), operator's manual, service manual, parts catalogue, fast-moving parts, photographs, drawings, and the test-fee payment receipt — most in three sets, a few in one or two. An application missing any of these is liable to be rejected outright rather than queued for correction, so getting the paperwork complete before submission matters more than it might seem.

How We Help

This is where AgPro's role comes in. We guide manufacturers and dealers through exactly this kind of category-specific detail — confirming which fee line and which specification format applies to your particular drill, assembling the document set correctly the first time, and liaising with the regional FMTTI on scheduling and queries as the application moves through. The actual metering trials, field tests and performance measurements are always carried out by FMTTI's own engineers at the institute — we coordinate the process around that, we don't run the test ourselves.