Development of the riding-type rice transplanter for unpuddled transplanting

Abstract

Transplanters have been developed for rice seedling planting into puddled soils to alleviate labour shortages and reduce costs of rice establishment (Adhikari et al., 2006). Although tillage for rice establishment is significantly mechanized in Bangladesh, 16-18 % of total production costs are due to tillage and land leveling (BRRI, 2013). Development of a rice transplanter suitable for unpuddled transplanting under minimum tillage conditions could further minimize the land preparation cost which will be of interest to small-holder farmers. No significant work to date has been conducted in Bangladesh to develop a rice transplanter for minimum tillage unpuddled soil conditions. The following development study was conducted to modify and evaluate a riding-type, 6-row mechanical rice transplanter for unpuddled soil conditions.