DEVELOPMENT OF MANUAL OPERATED WOMEN FRIENDLY PADDY TRANSPLANTER
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University
Abstract
Paddy is the staple food for more than 60% of the world’s population. India has
largest area under paddy cultivation of about 43.38 million hectare with the total
production of about 104.30 million tonne (Statistical Year Book India, 2017).
Transplanting is the largely practiced method of establishment of paddy in Indian
wetland conditions, and it is mostly done manually. This method is a tedious and time
consuming operation, requires about 250-300 man-h ha-1 contributing 25% of the total
labour required for cultivation (Singh et al., 1985). Shortage of labour, due to rapid
urbanisation, is the main factor leading transplanting to mechanisation. Self propelled
paddy transplanters are available in market at higher costs which cannot be afforded by
small and marginal farmers, who comprises a major share in Indian agriculture.
Therefore, a low cost manual operated two-row paddy transplanter was developed and
evaluated in ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad. The transplanter was developed with row
spacing of 250 mm. Four bar mechanism was adopted for operating fingers which are
powered by ground wheel through chain and sprocket. The fabrication cost of
transplanter was Rs. 4000 weighing around 15 kg which can be easily pulled by a
women labour. Root washed seedlings of 21 DAS were used for testing the performance
of the mechanism (Kavitkar et al., 2017). The time interval between the last puddling
and transplanting was 24 hours in 2-4 cm of standing water (RNAM, 1983).
Performance evaluation of transplanter was done at different average forward speeds of
0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1 and 1.25 km h-1 and the results are analysed statistically with
Randomised Block Design. Ergo-economical comparison of manual operated paddy
transplanter with conventional transplanting was also done. Optimisation of forward
speed was done considering transplanting, machine, ergonomic and operating cost
parameters.
The mean hill spacing in a row at forward speeds of 0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1 and
1.25 km h-1 was 25.60 cm, 25.07 cm and 24.40 cm with 2-3 seedlings per hill at
transplanting depth of 3.53 cm, 4.57 cm and 5.35 cm respectively. Total defective hills
at different forward speeds of 0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1 and 1.25 km h-1 were 10.06%,
8.04% and 11.89% respectively with transplanting efficiencies of 89.94%, 91.96% and
Name of the author : GOTTIMUKULA KARTHIK
Title of the thesis : “DEVELOPMENT OF MANUAL
OPERATED WOMEN FRIENDLY
PADDY TRANSPLANTER”
Degree to which it is submitted : Master of Technology
Faculty : Agricultural Engineering & Technology
Major field of study : FARM MACHINERY AND POWER
ENGINEERING
Major advisor : Dr. I. SRINIVAS
University : Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural
University
Year of submission : 2018
x
88.11%. Effective field capacity at forward speeds of 0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1 and
1.25 km h-1 was recorded as 0.249 ha day-1, 0.313 ha day-1 and 0.373 ha day-1 with field
efficiencies of 82.92%, 78.24% and 74.53% respectively. Pulling force for operating
transplanter was observed to be 93.15 N at forward speed of 1.25 km h-1 followed by
75.50 N at 1.00 km h-1 and 65.70 N at 0.75 km h-1. Overall discomfort rating (ODR) and
total body part discomfort score (BPDS) at forward speeds of 0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1,
1.25 km h-1 of manual operated paddy transplanter and conventional transplanting was
4.50, 5.33, 7.17 and 7.33 and 38.17, 46.83, 61.67 and 74.5 respectively. Maximum body
pain was observed by subjects in upper back followed by upper arm, shoulder, waist,
thighs and legs in mechanical paddy transplanter. In manual transplanting maximum
pain was observed by subjects in waist and upper arm followed by lower back, upper
back, shoulder, thighs and legs. The operating costs were Rs. 5530 ha-1, Rs. 4400 ha-1
and Rs. 3692 ha-1 at 0.75 km h-1, 1.00 km h-1 and 1.25 km h-1 forward speeds
respectively. The savings in cost of operation of paddy transplanter was found more
than 21% compared to conventional transplanting which costs Rs.7000 ha-1.
The mean forward speed of 1.00 km h-1 of manual operated paddy transplanter
was found optimum as it gave desired row spacing of 25 cm, with transplanting
efficiency and effective field capacity of 91.96% and 0.313 ha day-1 respectively, at an
operational cost of Rs. 4400 ha-1. The operation of the machine at this forward speed
requires low pulling force of 65.7 N, with the mean overall discomfort rating and total
body discomfort ratings were 5.33 and 46.83 respectively.
Keywords: Mechanical transplanting, manual operated, paddy transplanter, postural
discomfort, cost economics.
Description
D5745
Keywords
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