Performance of Four Row Self Propelled Walking Type Paddy Transplanter

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the leading food crops in the world within the worldwide-cultivated cereals, and is second only to wheat in terms of annual food consumption. Rice is generally grown by transplanting seedlings in flooded field conditions or direct sowing depending upon the availability of water. In many parts of country as well as in Konkan region of Maharashtra eight row self propelled paddy transplanter has been used and it is found useful. The limitations are observed due to smaller plot size and hilly terrain. Four row self propelled walking type transplanter has been developed at Dr. B.S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli. The present study was undertaken on performance testing of four row self propelled walking type paddy transplanter. The result reveals that, average hill to hill spacing, planting depth, seedlings per hill, numbers of hills in one square meter area were 12 cm, 3.85 cm, 3.5, 34 hills m^-2 respectively. The machine maintained the plant population of 100 to 120 per m². Average missing hills m^-2, speed of operation, fuel consumption, time required for planting, time loss in turning, time loss in feeding, total time of operation, field capacity were 4, 1.275 km h^-1 1.39 h^-1, 8.19 h ha^-1, 0.81 h ha^-1, 1.11 h ha^-1, 10.11 h ha^-1 and 0.099 h hr^-1, respectively. The field efficiency of machine was found to be 71%. As compared to manual transplanting method transplanting with newly developed machine can save Rs. 1856 ha^-1. The average operating cost of newly developed transplanter was Rs. 311 h^-1 and Rs. 3144 ha^-1.