Design and development of an automatic vegetable transplanter using a novel rotating finger device with push-type mechanism for plug seedlings

Abstract

ABSTRACT Manual vegetable transplanting is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, operation. The objective of the study was to design, develop, and evaluate an automatic vegetable transplanter (AVT) for plug seedlings of chili (Capsicum annuum L.). Metering mechanisms in an AVT are affected by the transmission system and changes in desired plant spacing. To overcome problems, a novel rotating finger device with a push-type mechanism was developed for automatic transplanting of vegetable plug seedlings. The AVT consists of a pair of L-shaped rotating fingers, feed roller unit, metering mechanism, and delivery unit. Clearance between the feed roller and fingers is adjustable. The average values of performance parameters: plant spacing (Ps), planting depth (Pd), mis-planting (Mp), multiple planting (Mt), seedling mortality (Sm), transplanting efficiency (Et), and field transplanting efficiency (Ef) were 599.8 mm, 46.4 mm, 4.9%, 1.1%, 0.9%, 92.6%, and 76.12%, respectively. Effective field capacity (Fc) with the transplanter was 0.093 ha∙h−1 and 0.027 ha∙h−1 with the manual method. The two-row AVT can be used with a small tractor and may make up for labor shortage during peak season.