RESPONSE OF SWEET POTATO TO MECHANICAL TRANSPLANTING

Abstract: Planting of sweet potatoes by cuttings is a most widely used method in Egypt. However, there are many problems in planting, hoeing and harvesting operations. In this study, the possibilities of mechanical in transplanting of sweet potato which done manually, was studied in field experiments. The performance of hand fed vegetable transplanter in terms of field capacity and efficiency and accuracy of planting and its effect on the yield and yield components were investigated and compared with the traditional method. Power and energy requirements were also studied to select the appropriate tractor power needed for machine operation. All experiments were done using transplanter forward speeds of (0.55, 0.75, 1.25 and 1.6 km / h) and planting depths of (2, 3.5, and 5 cm).
Increasing transplanter forward speed and planting depth increase the slippage and human error, which consequently increase the missed and damaged hills, and coefficient of variation of distances between seedlings.
The actual field capacity increased in case of mechanical transplanting which ranging from 0.12 to 0.32 fed/h compared with manual transplanting of sweet potatoes, which was 0.007 fed/h using 20 workers for six hour/day.
The power components [drawbar power, rolling resistance power, power consumed by slip, power consumed by transmission system] increased as the transplanter forward speed and planting depth increase. The total power required by the implement increased from (2.97 to 3.19), (4.97 to 5.18), (6.69 to 7.72) and (8.69 to 9.42) kW as the transplanter forward speed increased from 0.55 to 1.6 km/h from 2 to 5 cm respectively. The required energy during manual transplanting increased by 70 % comparing with maximum energy obtained during mechanical transplanting.
Mechanical transplanting produced the highest marketable yield (5.933 ton/h) compared with the marketable yield produced from manual transplanting (5.720 ton/h). Manual transplanting cost of one fed of sweet potatoes is about 1.5 times larger than that of mechnical transplanting.
Publication year 2003
Pages 325-338
Availability location (معهد بحوث الهندسة الزراعية)
Availability number
Organization Name
serial title المجله المصريه للهندسه الزراعية
Department Animal production Mechanization
Author(s) from ARC
External authors (outside ARC)
    أحمد عبد الفتاح إبراهيم باحث أول بمعهد بحوث البساتين – قسم بحوث الخضر - الدقي- جيزة
    محمد عطية ماض مدرس بشعبة الميكنة الزراعية – قسم الأراضي والمياه - كلية الزراعة - جامعة قناة السويس
    بهاء الدين حميدة عبد الموجود باحث بمعهد بحوث الهندسة الزراعية - الدقي- جيزة.
Agris Categories Agricultural engineering
AGROVOC
TERMS		 Mechanical engineering. Sweet potatoes. Transplanting.
Publication Type Journal
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