Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Automation in Transplanting:A Smart Way of Vegetable Cultivation


Affiliations
1 ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462 038, India
2 College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313 001, India
3 ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati 413 115, India
 

Vegetable transplanting is a labourious and timeconsuming field operation when performed manually. The semi-automatic vegetable transplanters are cumbersome to operate due to limitations on manual feeding rates of seedlings which vary with respect to work duration and skill of the operator. Automation in the field of vegetable transplanters has provided opportunities for savings in labour and time required for transplanting operation in open field and controlled environmental structures, i.e. shade nets or polyhouse. The advent and recent advances in transplanting technologies suggest ample scope of working on automated seedling pickup and drop mechanisms using robotics. Use of seedling pickup mechanism in automatic transplanters can repeatedly extract single seedling automatically from the seedling pro-tray with the help of a pair of pins or forks and drop at predefined location. In general, these systems comprise either a machine vision system or end-effector mechanism for extracting the seedling; gripper and a manipulator; indexing drum-type seedling removal device with ejector; or a pick-up system, feeding system and a planting system. Such automated systems have helped ease the transplanting operation and efficient planting of seedlings by maintaining the accuracy, precision and effectiveness in planting seedlings with minimum human intervention. This study highlights the research gaps and developments in smart transplanting technologies used in the field of vegetable cultivation.

Keywords

Agriculture, Automation, Smart Farming, Vegetable Transplanting.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Horticulture Statistics Division, Horticulture Statistics at a Glance-2017, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, 2017.

  • Vanitha, S. M., Chaurasia, S. N. S., Singh, P. M. and Naik, P. S., Vegetable Statistics 2013, Technical Bulletin No. 51, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, 2017, p. 250.

  • Tsuga, K., Development of fully automatic vegetable transplanter. Jpn. Agric. Res. Qly., 2000, 34(1), 21–28.

  • Patil, A. S., Davane, S. S. and Malunjkar, S. V., Design, development and testing of hand held vegetable transplanter. Int. J. Adv. Res., 2015, 3(1), 247–253.

  • CIAE News, Modernizing agriculture through engineering intervention. January–March 2017, 27(1); http://www.ciae.nic.in/Content/660_1_Newsletter.aspx

  • Parish, R. L., Current developments in seeders and planters for vegetable crops. Hortic. Technol., 2005, 15(2), 1–6.

  • Chaudhari, D., Singh, V. V. and Dubey, A. K., Refinement and Adoption of mechanical vegetable transplanter for Indian condition. Agric. Eng. Today, 2002, 26(5–6), 11–20.

  • Singh, S., Research highlights of All India Coordinated Research Project on Farm Implements 329 and Machinery. Technical bulletin no. CIAE/2008/141, 2008, pp. 1–94; http://aicrp.icar.gov.in/fim/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/research-highlghts-2008.pdf

  • Kazmeinkhah, K., Determination of energetic and ergonomic parameters of a semi-automatic sugar-beet steckling transplanter. J. Agric. Sci. Technol., 2007, 9, 191–198.

  • Munilla, R. D. and Shaw, L. N., A high speed dibbling transplanter. Trans. ASAE, 1981, 30(4), 904–908.

  • Brewer, H. L., Experimental static-cassette automatic seedling transplanter. American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1990, 14, 90–1033.

  • Imad, H., Design and field evaluation of a low cost crop transplanter with multiple seedlings feed. Agric. Mech. Asia, Africa Latin Am., 1995, 26(3), 29–32.

  • Choon, Y. K., Mechanization in chili cultivation. In National Engineering Conference on Smart Farming for the Next Millennium, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, 14–16 March 1999.

  • Cráciun, V. and Balan, O., Technological design of a new transplanting machine for seedlings. J. Central Eur. Agric., 2005, 7(1), 164.

  • Hayashi, S., Ota, T., Kubota, K., Kinoshita, E. and Yamamoto, K., A planting machine for chrysanthemum cuttings with a supply mechanism using rotating cups. Jpn. Agric. Res. Qly. 2006, 40(1), 71–78.

  • Narang, M. K., Dhaliwal, I. S. and Manes, G. S., Development and evaluation of a two-row revolving magazine type vegetable transplanter. J. Agric. Eng., 2011, 48(3), 1–7.

  • Margolin, A., Alper, Y. and Eshed, A., Development of a semiautomatic transplanter. Acta Hortic., 1987, 187, 158.

  • Harrison, R., Harrison, D. and Zuhoski Jr, P. B., Computer operated automatic seedling plant transplanting machine. United States Patent application 4947579, 1990.

  • Feng, D., Geng, W. and Zunyuan, D., Study on block seedling transplanter with belt feeding mechanism. Trans. Chinese Soc. Agric. Mach., 2000, 31(2), 42–45.

  • Kumar, G. V. P. and Raheman, H., Development of a walk-behind type hand tractor powered vegetable transplanter for paper pot seedlings. Biosyst. Eng., 2011, 110, 189–197.

  • Boa, W., The design and performance of an automatic transplanter for field vegetables. J. Agric. Eng. Res., 1984, 30(2), 123–130.

  • Nambu, T. and Tanimura, M., Development of automatic transplanter using chain pot for vegetable crops. Acta Hortic., 1992, 2(319), 541–546.

  • Yonetani, T., Matsumoto, I. and Okishio, Y., Development and improvement of a transplanter for leafy vegetables. Bull. Hyogo Prefectural Agric. Inst., 1999, 47, 44–47 (in Japanese).

  • Suggs, C. W., Peel, H. B., Thomas, T. N., Eddington, D. L., Gore, J. W. and Seaboch, T. R., Self feeding transplanter for tobacco and vegetable crops. Appl. Eng. Agric., 1987, 3(2), 148–152.

  • Ting, K. C., Giacomelli, A. and Ling, P. P., Workability and productivity of robotic plug transplanting work cell. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol., 1992, 28, 5–10.

  • Tai, Y. W., Ling, P. P. and Ting, K. C., Machine vision assisted robotic seedling transplanting. Trans. ASAE, 1994, 37(2), 661–667.

  • Brewer, H. L., Conceptual modeling automated seedling transfer from growing trays to shipping modules. Trans. ASAE, 1994, 37(4), 1043–1051.

  • Hwang, H. and Sistler, F. E., A robotic pepper transplanter. Appl. Eng. Agric., 1986, 2(1), 2–5.

  • Ishak, W. I. W., Awal, M. A. and Elango, R., Development of an automated transplanter for the gantry system. Asian J. Sci. Res., 2008, 1(4), 451–457.

  • Williames, G. A., Apparatus and method for transferring seedlings from plant trays. United States Patent Application 5644999, 8 July 1997.

  • Shaw, L. N., Automatic transplanter for vegetables. Proc. Fla State Hortic. Soc., 1997, 110, 262–263.

  • Kim, H. J., Park, S. H. and Kwak, T. Y., Development of an automatic transplanter for cabbage cultivation. Korea Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems Conference, Seoul, Korea, 8–9 November 2001.

  • Ryu, K. H., Kim, G. and Han, J. S., Development of a robotic transplanter for bedding plants. J. Agric. Eng. Res., 2001, 78(2), 141–146.

  • Choi, W. C., Kim, D. C., Ryu, I. H. and Kim, K. U., Development of a seedling pick-up device for vegetable transplanters. Trans. ASAE, 2002, 45(1), 13–19.

  • Park, S. H., Kim, J. Y., Choi, D. K., Kim, C. K., Kwak, T. Y. and Cho, S. C., Development of walking type Chinese cabbage transplanter. J. Korea Soc. Agric. Mach., 2005, 30(2), 80–81.

  • Hua, L., Weibin, C., Shufeng, L., Wei, F. and Kaiqiang, L., Kinematic analysis and test on automatic pick-up mechanism for chili plug seedling. Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng., 2015, 31(23), 20–27.

  • Raj, P., Ergonomic studies on the comparative performance of semi-automatic potato planter. B.Tech. Project Report, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, 1979.

  • Singh, U., Studies on the ergonomic aspects of power operated semi-automatic potato planter. M Tech. thesis, 1994, PAU, Ludhiana.

  • Dixit, A. K., Ergonomic studies on belt and cup type semiautomatic potato planter. M.Tech thesis, PAU, Ludhiana, 1996.

  • Jadhav, S. A., Ergonomic studies on tractor mounted two-row semi-automatic vegetable transplanter. M Tech thesis, PAU, Ludhiana, 2006.

  • Gaikwad, B. B., Design and development of plug seedling transplanter for vegetable crops. Ph D thesis, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 2010.

  • Anon., The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. 2016, Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development, Government of India; http://nrega.nic.in/ Netnrega/WriteReaddata/Circulars/1517Revised_wage_rate.pdf

  • Usami, Y., The NSSO/Labour Bureau Series on wage rates in rural India, 1998–99 to 2012–13, Statistics on Indian Economy and Society, 2014; http://www.indianstatistics.org/wrri.html.

  • Indian Standards, Guide for estimating cost of farm machinery operation. Bureau of Indian Standards, IS: 9164–1979.

  • Chatterjee, S. S., Seshadri, V. and Swaroop, V., Improving the productivity in vegetable crops – challenge of the decade. In Sustaining Crop and Animal Productivity – The Challenge of the Decade (ed. Dev, D. L.), Associated Publishing Co, New Delhi, 1995, pp. 231–246.

  • Clarke, L. J., Agricultural mechanization strategy formulation, Agricultural Engineering Branch, Agricultural Support Systems Division, FAO, Rome, Italy, 1997.

  • Orzolek, M. D., Stand establishment in plasti-culture systems. In Hort. Technology, 1996, 6(3), 181–185.

  • Chauhan, D. V. S., Nursery management and transplanting. In Vegetable Production in India, Ram Prasad and Sons, Agra, 2000, vol. 3, pp. 51–57.

  • Nag, P. K., Sebastian, N. C. and Malvanker, M. G., Occupational workload of Indian Agricultural workers. Ergonomics, 1980, 23(2), 91–102.

  • Vos, H. W., Physical workload in different body posture while working near to or below ground level. Ergonomics, 1973, 16, 817–828.


Abstract Views: 463

PDF Views: 128




  • Automation in Transplanting:A Smart Way of Vegetable Cultivation

Abstract Views: 463  |  PDF Views: 128

Authors

Abhijit Khadatkar
ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462 038, India
S. M. Mathur
College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313 001, India
B. B. Gaikwad
ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati 413 115, India

Abstract


Vegetable transplanting is a labourious and timeconsuming field operation when performed manually. The semi-automatic vegetable transplanters are cumbersome to operate due to limitations on manual feeding rates of seedlings which vary with respect to work duration and skill of the operator. Automation in the field of vegetable transplanters has provided opportunities for savings in labour and time required for transplanting operation in open field and controlled environmental structures, i.e. shade nets or polyhouse. The advent and recent advances in transplanting technologies suggest ample scope of working on automated seedling pickup and drop mechanisms using robotics. Use of seedling pickup mechanism in automatic transplanters can repeatedly extract single seedling automatically from the seedling pro-tray with the help of a pair of pins or forks and drop at predefined location. In general, these systems comprise either a machine vision system or end-effector mechanism for extracting the seedling; gripper and a manipulator; indexing drum-type seedling removal device with ejector; or a pick-up system, feeding system and a planting system. Such automated systems have helped ease the transplanting operation and efficient planting of seedlings by maintaining the accuracy, precision and effectiveness in planting seedlings with minimum human intervention. This study highlights the research gaps and developments in smart transplanting technologies used in the field of vegetable cultivation.

Keywords


Agriculture, Automation, Smart Farming, Vegetable Transplanting.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv115%2Fi10%2F1884-1892