Comparative performance of automatic transplanter with manual transplanting of plug-type vegetable seedlings using time-motion study

Hand transplanting of vegetable seedlings is time consuming and labour intensive. To overcome the difficulties with conventional method, an automatic transplanter is the need of the hour. The performance of anautomatic transplanter was compared with manual transplanting under different conditions of plug-type vegetable seedling using time-motion analyses. The crops were chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and tomato (Solanumlycopersicum L.). Missed planting was 4.0–7.0 per cent, multiple planting was 1.1–1.2 per cent, damaged seedlings were 1.0 per cent, plant mortality was 1 per cent, transplanting efficiency was 90.0–92.6 per cent with automatic transplanting. The field capacity for transplanting of vegetable seed lings was 0.093 ha/h, with the automatic transplanter which is higher as compared to manual method i.e. 0.027 ha/h. Cost of operation for the automatic transplanter was ₹ 416.70 which was less compared to ₹ 600.00 with manual transplanting. Average saving in cost for transplanting 10,000 plug seedlings using the automatic transplanter was 30.6 per cent. Total saving in labour requirement was about 72.2 per cent. Transplanting with the automatic vegetable transplanter could be beneficial for farmers in establishing vegetable seedlings grown in plug trays. Automatic means of transplanting not only saves time but also reduces the crop duration with better performance and cost saving as compared to conventional method of transplanting.