Evaluation of self propelled rice transplanter in valley and terraced lands of North Eastern Hilly Region

The North Eastern Hill (NEH) region of India has got suitable climate for cultivation of rice which is most important crop taken here. The slope of the fields of the region varies from mild to high and paddy crop is taken in valley and terraced land. Most of this paddy is transplanted manually using root washed seedling. Suitable mechanization technology is needed to reduce drudgery, enhance timeliness of operation. A self-propelled, riding type, 8 row self propelled rice transplanter was tested for its feasibility in the valley lands and terraces. The operation of the transplanter revealed that it needs fairly plain land where uniform depth of standing water could be maintained. There was the need of one hard pan in the field where transplanter could be operated smoothly. The operation of transplanter needed bigger plots of land for operation and in case of irregular shapes of lands like in terraces; lot of land was left un-transplanted with the machine, which needs to be filled by manual transplanting so that total area could be utilized for taking the crop.