Performance evaluation and viability of a pedestrian-type low land cabbage transplanter
Mohd Fazly Mail1, Hafidha Azmon2, Mohd Shahmihaizan Mat Jusoh3, Mohd Nur Hafiz Mat Azmin4, Mohd Nadzim Nordin5, Mohd Zubir Md Idris6.
This article reports on the performance and costs of owning and operating a
pedestrian-type low land cabbage transplanting machine. The tests were carried out on tintailing
soil at MARDI Kundang Research Station. They were undertaken in view of the need
to mechanize low land cabbage transplanting operation due to shortage of agricultural
labours. The machine performed satisfactorily when operated on planting bed with or without
the existence of the plastic mulch. Cabbage seedlings required bigger holes on the planting
bed which is layered with plastic mulch to avoid mortality of seedlings due to the heat
absorbed by the plastic. Based on the performances test, the results showed that the field
efficiency were 91.36% and 92.21% for with and without plastic mulch respectively on the
planting bed. On average, 407s were recorded for the machine to transplant the seedlings
along 100m planting bed. Compared with the traditional method, the transplanter gives 82-
85% saving in labours that required to plant the seedlings. The calculation of break-even
annual use for the implement was 33 ha/year. The implement was projected to be viable to
use for 1600 h/year.
Affiliation:
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
- Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
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