Timely transplanting of crops is essential for good yield which may be possible by mechanization. Farmer friendly and cost effective mechanized solutions for reducing drudgery and labour cost.

1. UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, RAICHUR
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, RAICHUR.
DEPT. OF FARM MACHINERY AND POWER ENGINEERING.
“ Strengthening of Farm Power will play a major role in increasing food production in India “
Presenting by,
Yallappa D
M Tech (Ag. Engg), CAE Raichur

2. C
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Introduction
Facts & Figures
Transplanting & Its methods
Mechanized of vegetable transplanting
Tunnel format seedling production
Semi –automatic seed sowing tool
Tractor drawn vegetable transplanter
Case studies
Conclusion
References

3. BACKGROUND (Traditional Method)
 Transplanting is a process of removing the seedlings from Nursery & Planting them in main field
 In India transplanting of vegetable seedling is done manually all over the country
 India is 2nd largest producer of vegetable in the world (1st in China) & Share 12 % of world
production.
 The area under vegetable crops was about 9.396 M ha with production of about 162.897 M T
during (2013-14)
 During recent years, the production and productivity of vegetable recorded impressive growth
Vegetable play an important role in improving the economic condition of vegetable growing farmers.
INTRODUCTION
Tedious & Time consuming
(4 Hrs/ Acre)
Laborious
(36 man-h/acre)
Un-uniform Spacing Less yield

4. FACTS & FIGURES – VEGETABLE CROPS IN INDIA
(Area & Production – 2014/15)
( Indian Horticulture database, 2014/15).
Production share of major vegetable crops Leading vegetable producing states in terms of production

5. Removing the seedlings from Nursery Planting them in main field
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Manually /
Mechanized
Conventional /
Modern method
TRANSPLANTING

6. Sl No. Vegetables
Seedlings age
(Weeks)
Row - Row
spacing
Plant - Plant
spacing
No of seedlings
per hectare
1 Tomato 4 to 5 60 – 120 cm 45 – 75 cm 11,100 – 37,000
2 Brinjal 4 to 5 70 – 75 cm 45-55 cm 25,000 – 26,000
3 Cauliflower 5 to 6 60 cm 30 to 45 cm 37,000 to 55,500
4 Cabbage 3 to 4 45 to 60 cm 45 to 60 cm 27,500 to 49,000
5 Onion 6 to 7 15 cm 10 cm 6,65,000
6 Chilli 4 to 6 45 cm 45 cm 50,000
(Olericulture in India by Dr. M.K Rana).
PLANTING SPACING
Better in plant growth & YieldEasy for Intercultural operation

7. 1. Manual Transplanting 2. Mechanized Transplanting
Vegetable Transplanting
1. Raised bed Transplanting 2.Without raised bed planting
1. Hand held single row transplanter 2. Tractor Operated Transplanter
Transplanter with Seedling holder Mulch Field Transplanter Rotary cup seedling Transplanter
1. Single Row Transplanter 2. Double Row Transplanter 3. Three Row Transplanter
METHODS OF VEGETABLE TRANSPLANTING

8. MECHANIZED TRANSPLANTING
Less time consuming
(3 Hrs/ Acre)
Req less labours
(12 man-h/acre)
Uniform spacing,
Plant density &
Germination
Reduces stress &
work load
Timely transplanting of crops is essential for good yield which may be possible by mechanization

9. Nursery is a place where seedlings are grown before transplanting them in the main plots
Grow in nursery: Tomato, Egg plant ,Chilli, Cabbage and Cauliflower
Direct sowing: Okra, Mustard, Legumes etc
Direct sowing & Thinning Growing of vegetable seedlings in raised bed nursery Growing of vegetable seedlings in Tunnel / Green Tech
Higher yields
Reduced field management costs
Eliminates the problem of difficult soils
Improved crop uniformity.
Provide favourable growth conditions
Seeds requirement is more / hectare
High field management costs
Greater crop-weed competition
Low yields
Less success rate
VEGETABLE NURSERY SEEDLING PRODUCTION

10. Media mixing Media filling to trays Seeds filling Light pressing
Stacking and CoveringSeed bed preparationPlacing germinated seeded tray on raised bed
Irrigation Rain protection Seedlings ready for planting in the main field
50% labour cost 40% seed cost 50% Water saving Yield expectations
TUNNEL FORMAT SEEDLING PRODUCTION
A novel method of seedling production technology with enhanced seed use efficiency
and production of healthy transplants with optimum use of natural resources.
Production Methodology

11. Seed Tray
Tray Conveying Track
Tray Movement
Air blower for Suction
Seed Dispenser Section
Dibbling mechanism
Seed box
Nozzle to suck seed &
Drop to Tray
Capacity : 80 sown trays / hour
Cost of Unit : Rs. 30,000/-
Cost of Operation : Rs 350/ day for sowing of 600 trays /day
This technology help farmers to leverage their economy by reducing the labour cost and to
achieve the high productivity.
SEMI –AUTOMATIC SEED SOWING TOOL FOR VEGETABLE NURSERY

12. Farmer friendly and cost effective mechanization solutions for reducing drudgery and labour cost.
SALIENT FEATURES
10 cup rotating
distributor
Watering to Seedlings
3 Point Hitching
System
Power Transmission
System
Two Sitting Seats
Trays Holding Structure
Plant – Plant + Row – Row
spacing adjustable
Gravity Feed Mechanism
Water Storage Tank
Soil Covering Wheels
&Depth Adjustment
TRACTOR DRAWN TWO ROW VEGETABLE TRANSPLANTER

13. Working Mechanism
Furrowing Watering Transplanting Soil Compressing

14. Operation in
Field Condition

15. Plant – Plant Row – Row Chain & Sprocket
Water /Plant Depth control
Side marker Soil pressing wheel
Seat Height
Missing of seedling
Seedling Damage
Water Flow Rate
Strength of seedling
Adjustments

16. CASE STUDY - I
Performance Evaluation of Tractor Operated Two-Row Vegetable Transplanter
Location Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
To study physio-chemical properties of soil.
To study the machine performance of semi-automatic vegetable transplanter.
To evaluation in the field for brinjal and chillies and compared with the manual
transplanting of bare root seedling.
Objectives
Determined the B.D (Core cutter method) & M.C (Infrared moisture meter)
Cone index was measured with the help of a circular type cone penetrometer
Performance evaluated in three different village soil fields and the following
parameters were recorded:
1. Machine performance parameters:
Draft, Speed of operation, Fuel consumption , Field capacity , Field efficiency.
2. Cop parameters:
Plant height, No. of branches / plant, Leaf area index.
Methodology
Devesh Kumar and Ashok Tripathi.,2016

17. Sl No Parameter Brinjal Chilli
1 Draft (kgf) 351 351
2 Speed of operation (km/h) 1.2 1.0
3 Actual time taken (h/ha) 8.6 11.17
4 Fuel consumption (l/h) 3.15 3.52
5 Field capacity (ha/h) 0.13 0.09
6 Field efficiency (%) 75 64.3
Machine performance parameter for Brinjal & Chilies
Sl No Parameter Result
1 Soil moisture content (%) 8 – 9.50
2 Cone index of soil (kpa) 126 –140
Physio-Chemical Properties of Soil
Field – 1 & 2: Sandy loam texture, medium in organic
carbon & phosphorus and rich in potash
Field – 3 : Sandy texture, low in organic carbon,
potash & phosphorus
1.60%
2.70%
3.80%
4.80%
Field - 1 Field - 2
1. Seedling missing % in Brinjal & Chilli
Manual Transplanter
Effect of transplanting methods
94.60%
93.70%
95.50%
94.40%
Field - 1 Field - 2
2. Upright seedlings % in Brinjal & Chilli
Manual Transplanter
94.60%
93.70%
95.50%
94.40%
Field - 1 Field - 2
3. Plant mortality % in Brinjal & Chilli
Manual Transplanter
Plant Population (Plants / M2) 20 DAT
Sl No Method F - 1 F - 2
1 Manual 2.15 1.49
2 Transplanter 2.02 1.49
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

18. Effect of transplanting methods on plant height, number of branches & leaf area index in brinjal

19. The average plant height, number of branches per plant, plant mortality, yield/m2 ,
seedling missing, and leaf area index was found more by machine transplanting
while plant population was found less by machine transplanting.
Time saving, labour saving, less cost of operation were achieved in machine
transplanting as compare to manual transplanting
KEY FINDINGS

20. CASE STUDY - II
Development and Evaluation of a Two-Row Revolving Magazine Type
Vegetable Transplanter
Location Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
To study physiological characteristics of nursery of different vegetable crops
To design a two – row revolving magazine type vegetable transplanter.
To evaluation in the field for two varieties of brinjal (Sandhya & Punjab Barsati)
To calculate cost of operation two – row vegetable transplanter & compared with
manual transplanting method
Objectives
Materials & Methods
Mahesh Kumar Narang, I.S Dhaliwal and Gursahib Singh Manes.,2011
Revolving magazine metering mechanism (Cell height, Diameter & RPM)
Furrow opener shoe & Drop chute pipe
Packing wheel, Main frame, Operator seat, Chain drive, Ground wheel
Seedling tray,
Diff.
Components
& Its Design

21. 1
2
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1. Press wheel
2. Seedling tray
3. Chain drive
4. Main frame
5. Ground wheel
6. Three point hitch system
7. RMT metering mechanism
8. Furrow opener
9. Ground wheel shaft
10. Operator seat
11. Main shaft
Top view of two-row vegetable transplanter
Width : 1340 mm
Length: 1530 mm
Size =
Two-Row Revolving Magazine Type Vegetable Transplanter

22. Designed on the basis of physiological characteristics of nursery of different vegetable crops
1. Cell height and diameter of metering mechanism
Top view of RMT metering mechanism
2. Number of revolutions of revolving magazine
Where,
n = Number of revolutions ,
Vm = Speed of the machine, m.s-1,
Z = Number of cells and
Ag = Plant-to-plant dist between seedlings, m.
 Width of the cell - Spread diameter of plant of vegetable crops
(W = 75 mm )
 Height of the cell - Height of seedlings of vegetable crops
(H= 135 mm)
 Plants falling at the ground make an angle of 850 to 880 with the horizontal, and falls in the
direction of travel of the machine.
 The height of the cut was 10 cm
I. Design of revolving magazine metering mechanism
II. Design of drop chute pipe

23.  It was made of 2 curved runners with their cutting edges on the ground and meeting at a point.
 The length and height of the furrow opener was 535 mm and 230 mm, respectively.
 The wheel was made of mild steel sheet of 3 mm thickness.
 The distance between the two wheels at the bottom end was 95 mm and 175 mm at the top end.
III. Furrow Opener Shoe
IV. Packing Wheel
V. Packing Wheel
 All components of the transplanter were assembled with the main frame in core alignment.
 The operator’s seat was made of wooden board & A 3-point linkage attachment was provided for
hitching with a tractor.
VI. Seedling Tray
 The tray was mounted on the main frame
in an inclined
 position with 525 mm H at the front and
555 mm at the back..
Side view of vegetable transplanter

24. View of brinjal seedlings transplanted by
vegetable transplanter
View of vegetable transplanter in operation
 A field of 50 x 10 m size was prepared for the experiment.
 Six plots of 40 x1.35 m were selected for evaluation of the machine in the field & each plot was
divided into 2 sub-plots.
 Three randomly selected sub-plots were transplanted with brinjal (Sandhya variety).
 Another 3 sub-plots were similarly transplanted with another variety (Punjab Barsati variety).
FIELD PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

25.  Bulk density of soil varied between 1.163 and 1.279 g.cm-3
 Soil moisture between 8.47 and 9.43 %, at the time of field evaluation of the vegetable transplanter.
 The average time required for transplanting of brinjal crop was 8.19 h.ha-1.
 The average field capacity of the machine was thus 0.122 ha. ha-1.
 The cost of transplanting per ha for brinjal crop was Rs.2919.37 as compared to Rs.5080 for manual
transplanting
1. Physiological characteristics of Brinjal nursery
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

26. Performance evaluation of 2-row vegetable transplanter for brinjal crop
Manual transplanting of brinjal crop

27.  The 2-row vegetable transplanter were evaluated for two varieties of brinjal (Sandhya and Punjab
Barsati) with average plant missing of 2.22-4.44 %.
 The quality of feeding decreased with increase in plant missing, and ranged between 95.57 to 97.78 %
 The average plant mortality was 3.3-4.0% when transplanted with machine as compared to 6.67%
when bare root seedlings were manually transplanted.
 The average planting angle varied 13.9-14.3°.
 Eighty per cent plants had planting angle in the range of 0 to 30°, while 20% plants remained at 30-60°.
 The average plants in lying down position were 3.3-5.0 per cent.
 The average field capacity of the machine was 0.122 ha.h-1.
KEY FINDINGS

28. CONCLUSION
 To improve mechanization in vegetable production in India fully automatic vegetable transplanters are
need to develop
 Time saving, labour saving, less cost of operation possible in machine transplanting as compare to
manual transplanting.
 Better results in uniform spacing, plant density, germination, plant - height, no. of branches / plant,
leaf area index, plant mortality by using mechanical transplanting as compared to manual transplanting.
 Possible to achieve more yield / acre in mechanized transplanting as compared to manual transplanting.
 Reduces stress and work load in mechanized transplantation

29. REFERENCES
 Kumar, M., and Tripathi, A., 2016., Performance Evaluation of Tractor Operated Two-Row Vegetable
Transplanter, J. Agril and Vet. Sci., 9(1): 1-5
 Narang M.K., Dhaliwal I.S. and Manes G.S., 2011., Development and Evaluation of a Two-Row
Revolving Magazine Type Vegetable Transplanter, J.Agril. Engg., 48(3): 1-7.
 Turbatmath P.A., Bhatt. Y.C., Jain H.K. and Kadam P.B., 2011., Performance Evaluation of Tractor
Operated 8 Row Semi-Automatic Onion Transplanter., Indian J., 35(4): 19-22.
 Webilography :
 www.nhb.gov.in/
 www.agrifarming.in/
 www.itcabd.com