Development of Economical Plant Transplanter
- Vol, 103(3), June
- Kplkatta Springer 2022
- 339–345 p
present investigation focuses on the development of economical transplanter in order to contribute towards increased productivity by reducing the man power required for cultivation. It is evident from the statistics that India secures second rank in vegetable production. However, the average yield is comparatively lower than many Asian countries. It is due to the fact that transplanting operation is carried by hand which is identified as labour-intensive work that involves large investment on labour and time. In order to overcome the difficulties involved in manual transplantation, a semi-automatic transplanter is developed by considering the morphological parameters of various seedlings in addition to agronomical requirements. The transplanter is also developed considering the ergonomical requirements of the farmer in order to ease the plantation activity. The jaw mechanism provided at the bottom of the drop tube is the important component of the transplanter that leads to proper transplantation of the seedling. The transplanter developed is subjected to experimentation by planting chilli seedlings on both mulch and bare bed. The performance of the transplanter is found to be adequate for transplantation of various seedlings under different field conditions.