Development and Evaluation of a Semi-Automatic Pepper Seedling Transplanter

Abstract

Vegetable producers in Ghana are mostly small or medium scale farmers who are unable to afford expensive and sophisticated transplanters used in the developed countries. Hence there is the need for a relatively affordable transplanter for local small scale farmers. The aim of this research was to develop and evaluate the performance of a semi-automatic pepper seedling transplanter. A single row power tiller-pulled semi-automatic pepper transplanter was developed for plug seedlings, and evaluated in the field with pepper seedlings. A factorial arrangement in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications was used for the evaluation. Two methods – transplanter machine and manual – were used. The treatments were 4 cm, 6 cm, and 8 cm planting depths for each method. The transplanter and manual method were each carried by two people. Transplanting time, field capacity, survival of transplanted seedlings, and cost of use of the machine were compared with the traditional manual transplanting method. Generally, the transplanter performed better than doing so manually. The maximum performance parameters were obtained under 8 cm depth while that of 4 cm depth recorded the lowest. At the 8 cm depth, the machine’s transplanting success was found to be 84.45 % with 0.04 ha/h field capacity and 72.3 % field efficiency at a speed of 0.9 km/h and inter plant-spacing of 0.6 m. A mean maximum wheel slip of 13.75 % was recorded for machine under field conditions. Compared to the 90.8 man-h/ha of the manual method, the transplanter saved 67 % of the time required by the manual method. There was no significant difference in the percentages of the survived seedlings for both methods. The cost of the machine transplanting (GHȻ1,720.51 per hectare) was found to be cheaper than that of the manual method (GHȻ1,816.20 per hectare). With the transplanter, the operators were seated on the machine instead of walking throughout the transplanting field. There was also no manual handling of trays and no acute bending to manually make holes or plant seedlings during the transplanting process.