Journal of Rice Science · 2019-06-17 · Mechanical transplanting of rice is the process of transplanting young rice seedlings, which have been grown in seedling trays or in frames,

Pros and Cons of Mechanized Transplanting in Basmati Rice - A Case StudyAli M, Awan TH, Saleem MU, Haider Z*, Sabar M

Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore, Pakistan

Volume 1 Issue 1 - 2019Received Date: 16 Apr 2019Accepted Date: 20 May 2019Published Date: 26 May 2019

1. Abstract

Most of the Rice in world is being cultivated with traditional (manual) seedling transplanting method. This method however, is quite expensive and requires lot of labor for uprooting of seed-lings and their transplanting. Labor scarcity is the one of the major problems of rice cultivation in south Asia which results in delay in transplanting of rice nursery (Table 1). Only transplant-ing takes about 250-300 man hours per hectare which is roughly 25 per cent of the total labour requirement of the crop. Further, due to rapid industrialization and migration to urban areas, the availability of labour with hike in the wages of labour, manual transplanting found costly leading to reduced profits to farmers. In addition, Farm labor usually does not transplant (Fig-ure 1) required number of plants (80000 per acre per acre) and lower plant population per unit area (50000-60000 plants per acre) decreases the paddy yield by 20-25 %.

Journal of Rice Science

Citation: Haider Z, Pros and Cons of Mechanized Transplanting in Basmati Rice - A Case Study. Journal of Rice Science. 2019; 1(1): 1-9

United Prime Publications: http://unitedprimepub.com

*Corresponding Author (s): ZulqarnainHaider, Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore, Pakistan, E-mail: [email protected]

Case Report

2. Introduction

In Pakistan, rice is the 2nd most important cereal crop. Beside home consumption, it is an export commodity and important source of foreign exchange. It occupies a significant position in the economy of country. Rice accounts for 3.1 percent in the value

No. of operators required 1

Age of the seedlings used 20-35 days

Number of rows 4,5,6,7,8,10

Row-Row distance 30-33 cm

Plant- Plant distance 10,12.5 and 15 cm

No. of seedlings per hill 2, 4, 8

Planting Depth 3-5 cm

Depth of standing water in field 1-2 cm

Seed Rate 100-110 tray per acre (10 kg seed per acre)

No. of hills per acre capability 61300-110400

Fuel Consumption 1-1.5 liters/ hr.

Field Capacity 0.25-0.40 ha/hr.

Table 1: Particulars of a mechanical transplanter

Figure 1: Permanent seedling tray

added in agriculture (Table 2) and 0.6 percent of GDP[1]. The production of rice reached historically high level of 7442 thou-sand tonnes against the production of 6849 thousand tonnes and recorded an increase of 8.7 percent than last year. Most of the Rice in Pakistan is being cultivated with traditional (manual) seedling transplanting method. This method however, is quite expensive and requires lot of labor for uprooting of seedlings and their transplanting. Labor scarcity is the one of the major prob-lems of rice cultivation in south Asia [3] which results in delay in transplanting of rice nursery. Only transplanting takes about 250-300 man hours per hectare which is roughly 25 per cent of the total labour requirement of the crop[5]. Further, due to rapid industrialization and migration to urban areas, the availability of labour with hike in the wages of labour, manual transplanting found costly leading to reduced profits to farmers. In addition, Farm labor usually (Figure 2) does not transplant required num-ber of plants (80000 per acre per acre) and lower plant population per unit area (50000-60000 plants per acre) decreases the paddy yield by 20-25%[4].

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Moreover, aged nursery (>35 days old) and 07-15 cm standing water at the time of transplanting are some issues associated with traditional transplanting method. Under such circumstances a labour saving method of rice transplanting with higher yield is the urgent need [7]. So there is a dire need to explore some dif-ferent establishment methods for (Figure 3) rice that require less labour but still allow the crop to be transplanted on time, and the mechanical transplanting of rice seems to be the most favorable approach as it saves labour, ensures timely transplanting and at-tains optimum plant density that contributes to high productiv-ity.

A mechanical rice transplanter greatly reduces the labor in rice farming, with higher plant population and lower water depth (1-2 cm) at the time of nursery transplanting. This methods has the potential to enhance the paddy yield about 25% with time and labour saving.

1.1. Advantages of Mechanized Transplanting Over Man-ual Transplanting

• This technology has some distinct advantages over the manual (traditional) rice transplanting system[3].

• Efficient farm use by transplanting of seedlings at the optimal age (20-35 days)

• Uniform spacing and optimum plant density (15-27 hills/m2 with 2-4 seedling per hill)

• Higher productivity 20-25% higher yield as compared to traditional methods where plant spacing and density may not always be consistent

• Less transplanting shock, early seedling vigor and uni-form crop stand

• Lower stress, drudgery and health risks for farm labor-ers

• Lower incidence of Bakanae(Figure 4)Disease due to less root injury

• Stable, healthy and vigorous growth of the crop with easy tending

• Better employment opportuni-ties for rural youth through the development of custom service business

• Addresses the problem of labour scarcity

• Increases farmers’ net income

1.2. Reasons for Delayed Adoption

• But in spite of having all above advantages, the demand of mechanical rice transplanters is however quite discouraging in rice tract area of the Punjab Pakistan due to following reasons;

• New rice transplanter is very expensive to be afford for a small or even medium land holders/famers

• Mat type of nursery is a pre-requisite for machine trans-planting which demand keen attention

• Unavailability of the trained (Figure 5) staff for nursery raising and operating the machine in the field

• A complete range of machinery is required for soil crushing and sieving, nursery sowing and for transportation of the transplanter and nursery over a long distance.

• Unavailability of their spare parts and service centers

Promotion of mechanized transplanting of the Basmati rice as well as provision of requisite technical assistance to the farmer at their door step through integrated efforts of government and service providers would be most appropriate strategy for this purpose.

Sr. # Operation/inputCost (PKR/acre)

Manual Transplanting Mechanized transplanting

1 Ploughing+ puddling 4600 4600

2Seed+ Nursery raising+

fertilizer+ look after +up-rooting+ transplanting

5931 6900 (equipment cost)

3Plant protection+ weeds

control 3400 3400

4Fertilizer/nutrients+

laborers for transport and application

10877 10877

5Irrigation (tube-well+

canal+ laborers) 12558 11558

6 Harvesting 2500 2500

39866 39835

Table 2: Cost of production comparison 2018

Figure 2: Disposable/tissue seedling tray

Figure 3: Dimensions of a seedling tray

Volume 1 Issue 1-2019 Case Report

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2.5. Mat Type Nursery

In mat type nursery, rice seedlings are raised on a thin layer of soil and farm yard manure (FYM) or compost mixture placed in seedling trays or on a polythene sheet(Figure 8) on a raised bed with in boundary of a frame [2]. This type of nursery is pre-req-uisite for mechanized rice transplanting. Seedlings are ready for (Figure 9) transplanting within 20-35 days after seeding (DAS). Two types of seedling trays were used for raising nursery;

2.3. Objectives of the Case Study

The activity of demonstration of mechanized transplanting(Figure 6)was performed to keep in view the following objectives;

• To test the mechanized transplanting of basmati rice in Punjab Pakistan

• To increase the paddy yield per unit area by in time transplanting and increasing plant population

• To build the confidence of the farmers and service pro-viders for mechanical transplanting

This document highlights the benefits of mechanical transplant-ing of rice and discusses some of the operational and manage-ment issues that need to be addressed. It will help service provid-ers and innovative farmers to use mechanical transplanting with or without puddling with an easy, step-by-step guide.

2.4. What is Mechanical Transplanting???

Mechanical transplanting of rice is the process of transplanting young rice seedlings, which have been grown in seedling trays or in frames, using a self-propelled rice transplanter[6]. In conven-tional manual transplanting practice, 8-12 labourers are required to transplant one acre in a day. However, if a self-propelled rice(Figure 7)transplanter is used, three people can transplant up to 6-8 acres in a day.

All self-propelled mechanical rice transplanters (riding or walk behind type) are designed to transplant specially raised mat type nursery in the field.

In this activity of mechanized rice transplanting technology was tested at locations of District Gyjranawala and Sialkot. Rice Re-search Institute Kala Shah Kaku provided 30000 seedling trays along with technical guidance and manuals to farmers for the razing of mate type nursery.

Figure 4: DMixing of FYM in soil

Figure 5: Sieving through 5mm sieve

Figure 6: Soaked sprouted seed

Figure 7: Over germinated seed (not suitable)

Figure 8: Leveling Plate for manual sowing

Figure 9: Local made seeding machine for sowing on beds

2.6. Advantages of the Mat-Type Nursery

• Efficientoffarmusebyasituseslessareaascomparedto the conventional nursery (20-30 m2vs. 76-127 m2 /acre)

• Produces robust seedlings, 18-20 cm tall in about 15days

• Minimizesrootdamageastheseedlingsarenotuproot-ed and transplanting shock is reduced

• Highgerminationratewitheasytending


2.7. Time of Nursery Sowing

• Basmativariety:1stJuneto21thJune

• Non-Basmati:20thMayto7thJune

2.8. Material Required for Nursery Raising

• Goodqualitycertifiedseeds

• Seedlingtraysoriron/woodenframes

• SoilcrusherorrotavatorandSievingmachine

• Seedingmachineforsowingtheseedsinseedlingtraysand even distribution of the seeds and soil in seedling trays

• Plasticsheetwithevenperforationsforframes

• Soilmixture(3partsofsievedsoil+1partofFYMorcompost / vermin compost)

• Sheetortarpalforshadeonyoungseedlings

• WatercontainerforseedsoakingandJutebagforcover-ing the seedling in early days.

• irrigationpumpwithwatersprinkler

3. Nursery Raising Method

On the basis of availability of nursery trays (Figure 10), labour, area, ease in handling and transportation farmers were advised to raise their nursery with two methods;

3.1. In Seedling Trays (seedling boxes) Dimensions of a Seedling Tray

The inner dimensions of a nursery tray either synthetic plastic or disposable are 58 cm X 28 cm X3 cm. The bottom of a nursery is(Figure 11- Figure 15)well perforated (98-1619 perforations per tray). About 80-110 such trays are required to transplant one acre of Basmati rice (depends on seedlings population in a nurs-ery mat).


Figure 10: Manual sowing in seedling trays

Figure 11: Imported seeding machine for sowing in disposable seedling trays

Figure 12: Irrigation after sowing

Figure 13: Irrigation after 2 weeks of sowing

Figure 14: Plastic sheet (with holes)

Figure 15: Laying of plastic sheet on a well prepared bed

3.1.1. Preparation of the Nursery Trays: The nursery trays that were used previous year are thoroughly cleaned or rinsed with water.

3.1.2. Preparation of the Soil: Soil was (Figure 16) thoroughly crushed by tractor operated rotavator. Crushed soil and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) in ratio 3:1 was sieved through 5 mm sieve to remove stones(Table 3), roots, straw, twigs and other unwant-ed material. For nutrients deficient soil 300 g SSP fertilizer was mixed in 3 litters of bottom soil for filling one seedling tray.

3.1.3. Preparation of the Seed: Certified basmati seed (@100 grms. dry seed per tray) was soaked for 12-24 hours in water and then kept in shady placed (Figure 17- Figure 18) covered with wetJutebagsfornext24-36hoursforsprouting.Sproutedseed(> 1mm sprout) was used by the farmers for raising the nursery either in tray or in a frame.

3.1.4. Sowing of the Nursery in Seedling Tray: About3 litters of the mixture of sieved soil + FYM was laid in one tray, then it was leveled and tamped down lightly. After tamping (Figure 19) the soil thickness was about 1.5-2.0 cm. A leveling plated was used forconvenience.Water (Figure 20) was sprinkle liberally until


water began seeping from bottom of the tray. Pre-germinated (sprouted) seeds were spreaded uniformly with hand. Seeds were covered with a thin layer of the soil+ FYM mixture (@1 litter per tray). A seeding machine can be very helpful to speed up the sowing process by uniform placement of the seed and soil in the seedling trays.

After the completion of sowing, the seedling (Figure 21- Figure 24) trays were placed in the field in early morning side by side to make an array of nursery trays on field under the shade to main about 25-30 C temperature or covered with wet jute bags. At 2-3 leaf stages or 6-7 days after sowing the trays were uncovered after removing jute bags. After germination if seeds are out of soil than cover the seeds again with another layer of soil.


Figure 16: iron frame with partitioning

Figure 17: Woodenframewithboxes

Figure 18: Preparing dry bed for mat type nursery

Figure 19: Preparing wet bed for mat type nursery

Figure 20: Nursery raised in iron frames

Figure 21: Nursery raised seedling trays

Figure 22: Laser land leveling

Figure 23: Land preparation with tine cultivator followed by wooden plank

Figure 24: Puddling of paddy field with tine cultivator followed by wooden plank

Site Variety Area

No. of plants

per acre

No. of productive tillers/plant

Filled grains

per panicle

Paddy yield (t/ha)

Manual Mech-anized

KamonKe PK 386 28 98133 22.2 122 5.22 6.5

AlipurCha-tha

Super Basmati

2000 85886 19.7 118 4.2 4.7

WazeerabadSuper

Basmati53 81233 18.3 113 3.3 4.27

Begowal Sialkot

Super Basmati

180 80979 17.8 109 4.5 3.8

Noshehran-Virkan

Super Basmati

100 80977 18 112 4.18 3.95

Rasoolpur-TarrarPin-diBhatiyan

PK 386 70 85028 20.2 121 5.2 4.7

Average 4.43 4.65

Table 3: Paddy yield and yield components at different demonstration sites during 2018.

3.1.5. Shifting of nursery trays in the field: If there is no ar-rangement of stacking up the trays than place the nursery trays out in the field close to each other in strips on the level field or on the bed. Filled the trays with bottom soil (as mention above). Soil was tamped with leveling (Figure 25) plate waster was sprinkled with liberally until water begins seeping from the bottom. Pre-germinated seed was spreaded with hand or a manual seeding



machine. The seed was covered with a layer of covering soil.

If the field is not ready for shifting the trays than nursery trays can be stake up under shade and cover them with sheet or Tarpal and keep them out from direct sun light. After germination it is recommended to take out the nursery trays in the field (prefer-ably laser leveled) in early morning and place them closely be-cause the seedling are somewhat white or light green , week and not resistant to strong light of noon.

3.1.6. Application of Irrigation and Nutrients: Initially water was sprinkled on the nursery to keep the soil saturated in tray. After 10 days of sowing of nursery, trays were irrigated (Figure 26- Figure 28) two times a day to prevent the trays to dry out. The depth of irrigation was very critical. Nursery plants were kept out of the ponded irrigation water. The only purpose of the irrigation was to keep the soil saturated not to submerge the nursery or plants.

Applied Ammonium Sulphate@ 500 gm per 25.3m2 after 10 days of sowing for one acre nursery bed or @250 gm urea per 25.3 m2may be applied.When nutrient deficiencies occurred (yel-lowing), applied a foliar application of 0.5% zinc sulphate (21%) and 2.5% urea. Repeated the same after 5-7 days when symptoms were re-appeared. In case symptoms (Table 4) of iron deficiency foliar application of 0.5% solution of ferrous sulphate was done.

Figure 25: Puddling of paddy field with paddy drive harrow

Figure 26: Cutting of nursery mat as per seedling tray size

Figure 27: Loading of nursery mats on seedlings rack of rice transplanter

Figure 28: Transportation of nursery raised in seedling trays

Problem Cause Solution

Missing hills or uneven

· Poor or uneven growth of seedlings in mat

· Use mat nurseries grown with recommended practices

plant spacing · Seedling mat is thin · Check on seedling mats for poor or uneven

growth

· Issue with plating fingers · Use recommended seed rate to maintain opti-

mum/ increase the seedlings density in mats

· Slow the cross feed time ( time of picking the

seedlings by fingers) of transplanter

· Check the planting claw/ fingers for wear and

replace if required

Seedling mats collapse on

· Mat is thin · Ensure minimum mat thickness of 1.5-2.0 cm

seedling plat-form

· High moisture content of seedling mat

· Dry nursery mat to firm it up and moisten it before transplanting

· Widergapesbetweenthe

seedlings · Decrease the distance between seedling stay

and seedlings to prevent collapsing

· Rolling and drying of seedlings during trans-

portation

· Use recommended seed rate to maintain the optimum seedling density in the mat

Poor sliding and congestion on

· Non-uniform or mis-match seedlings mat size

· Adjust the seedling stay to increase

seedling plat-form

· Seedlings mats are dry clearance

· Remove uneven seedlings mats

· Cut the nursery mat up to prescribed thick-

ness (1.5-2.0 cm) and size

· Wetmatsbeforetransplantingtoimprove

sliding

Seedlings not released from

· Mud stuck to the claws when water level is low in

the field· Add 1-2 cm water to field to help clean

planting claw especially in clay

soils

· Seedling/ stone from mat or from filed stuck in the plating finger resulting in

poor pickup

planting claw

· Mats are too wet · Set the seedling depth to deep planting (2-3

cm)

· Keep the nursery mats a little dryer (moisten)

when transplanting

Floating and moving seed-

lings

· Waterdepthishigh · Decrease water depth up to 1-2 cm

· High transplanter speed · Reduce transplanter speed

· Low transplanting depth · Increase planting depth

· Improper field prepara-tion

· If the soil is very hard and seedlings are dam-aged or float then this may require more water to

be added or fields re-puddled

· Unlevelled field · Ensure field is well prepared and laser levelled

· Incomplete settlement of suspended soil after

puddling

· Start transplanting at least after 12-24 hours of puddling the field

Transplanter floats, sinks or

presses

· Muddy field due to exces-sive puddling or immature

soil settlement

· Reduce water level and let soil surface firm. This may mean postponing the transplanting for

a couple of days.

soil against adjoining row

· Excess water in the field · Reduce transplanter speed

· High speed of trans-

planter· Field should be laser leveled

Table 4: Problems and their Troubleshooting in mechanical transplanting


After puddling the soil was allowed to settle for 12-24 hours. Ex-cessive water was drained from the puddled field to main the 1-2 cm water depth at the time of transplanting.

5. Transplanting of Nursery

5.1. Preparing Seedlings Mats for Transplanting

Waterwasdrained10-12hourspriortotransplanting.Matswerecut to the required size (58 cmX28 cm) using a sharp cutter. Mates were kept moist by sprinkling water to avoid wilting.20 days old nursery is considered ideal for mechanized transplanting but farmers were even (Figure 30) transplanting 35 days old seed-lings, to prevent the seedling from submerging in soft puddled field under high depth of standing water (2-3 inches) at the time of transplanting and high transplanting depth (up to 6 inches).



· Improper leveling of

the field

Seedlings with poor root devel-

opment

· Poor root development of seedlings

· Follow the recommended management prac-tices for better roots improvement in seedlings

unable to transplant/ established

in soil

· Dry nursery is being used · Avoid dry nursery or wet the nursery slightly

· High speed of trans-

planter· Reduce speed of transplanter

· Forigen material in the

seedling mat or field · Properly sieve the soil need for nursery raising

· Check the transplanting claw / finger periodi-cally during transpanting and remove the foreign

material

Hill spacing becomes smaller

especially· Excess water the field

· Attach the transmission wheels in correct position

in soft soil and deep water

· Slippage of transmission wheel

· Lower the wheels to reduce wheel slip on transplanter by removing the washer from

3-point hubs present in the large pulley

· For optimum water depth, drain excessive

water from field and firm up soil surface

4. Field Preparation for Transplanting

Field preparation comprises the following field operations prior to transplanting of rice seedlings:

4.1. Land Preparation

Field was thoroughly leveled with a laser leveler. A mild flood irrigation was applied and the field was allowed to attain field ca-pacity. Than field was ploughed with a spring loaded tine cultiva-tor followed by wooden plank to get good tilith of soil. After that field was flooded with heavy irrigation to ready it for puddling.

4.2. Puddling the Paddy Field

Puddling is a very important field operation for transplantedrice cultivation and perform when there is sufficient water is standing over the field. Usually tractor mounted implements such as rotary tiller and tine cultivator followed by wooden plank is used for this purpose. During visits it was observed that cultivator followed by wooden plank is a common puddling equipment among most of the Basmati rice farmers due to ease of its use and availabil-ity but tine cultivator requires considerable amount of drawbar pull (Figure 29) which is difficult for a tractor under muddy field condition due to excessive wheel slippage. Rotary tiller is another common puddling implement among the farmers due to its ease in working in weedy fields. But disturb the soil structure and lefts the field unleveled. Paddy drive harrow is another PTO operated puddling implement popularizing very rapidly among the farm-ers due to its good efficiency under muddy and weedy field. It is an improved form rotary tiller. It uproots the weeds and bury them under the mud. It is light in weight and greater in width as compare to rotary tiller. It requires less power as compare to cultivator and rotary tiller.

Figure 29: Loading of nursery mats on seedlings rack of rice transplanter

Figure 30: 8 rows riding type mechanical rice transplanter

5.2. Transplanting of Seedlings

Plant-Plant spacing (plant population per unit area) was adjusted to a required limit by consulting the user manual of the rice trans-planter. Moist seedlings mats were load onto the seedlings plat-form of the rice transplanter. Side markers were used to transplant the seedlings in straight lines. 30 cm row spacing was maintained after each U-Turn parallel to last transplanted rows. Loaded extra mats onto the seedling racks of transplanter to keep feeding the seedlings mats when needed.

6. Crop Management

After one of transplanting field was re-irrigated and 2 inch wa-ter depth was maintained for 25-30. Then field was kept under saturated condition till maturity. Irrigation was stopped 15 days before harvesting start.

6.1. Weeds and Fertilizer Management

Recommended pre- emergence weedicide was applied to stop the germination of the weeds. NPK fertilizers were applied as per rec-ommendation. 5 kg (33%) or 10 kg (22%) Zinc sulphate Applied

was applied after 10 days of transplanting.

6.2. Insect and Diseases Management

Applied chemicals for the control of insect, pest and diseases perrecommendedin”DhankiJadeedKasht”preparedbyRiceRe-search, Institute Kala Shah Kaku (RRI, KSK).

7. Economics

7.1. Cost of Production

Precautions

• Alwaysusegoodqualitycertifiedseed

• Treattheseedwithfungicide.

• Handlethepolythenesheetscarefullysothattheycanbe re-used.

• Irrigatetheseedlingsusingasprinklerforthefirst3-4days.

• Treatnutrientdeficienciesinthenurseryastheyappear.

• Ensure good water management in the nursery andavoid stress

• Transplantintoawellpreparedlevelfieldonly.Totestsoil field conditions, drop a golf ball sized soil clod from 1 m height onto the prepared surface. Clod sinks below the surface, the soil is too wet. If the clod sits on top, it is too hard. Ideally, the clod will penetrate to its own depth.

• Maintain 1-2 cmof standingwater on thefieldwhiletransplanting and up to 4-5 days after planting.

• Use thesamerecommendations forherbicideapplica-tion as you would for manually transplanted crops.

• Lifttheplantingplatformwhendrivingoverthebunds.

8. Area Under Mechanical Transplanting an Overview: Site Results (Year 2017):

In year 2017, demonstration of mechanical rice transplanting was done at 485 acres at three different locations in Punjab Paki-stan. At all locations nursery was raised in seedlings trays/boxes. Rice(Figure 31)transplanters used at each locations was different in specification from the other rice transplanters. Local operator was hired and guided regarding the operations of rice transplant-ers. Seedlings mat were transported and load by the locally hired labour. Farmer’s feedback, necessary data and paddy samples were collected from each site.

8.1. KamonKe (PK 386)

Mechanical transplanting was done on 30 acres.The average num-ber of plants were found 85866/acre with paddy yield 6.32 tons/

ha as compare to conventional farmer’s practice where number of plants were 68250/acre with the paddy yield 5.22 tons/ha.

8.2. AlipurChatha (Super Basmati):

Mechanical transplanting was done on 450 acres. The average plant population was 86145plants /acre with the paddy yield 4.9 tons/ha as compare to conventional farmer practice where plant population was 59000 plants/acre with the paddy yield 4.22 tons/ ha.

8.3. WarpalChatha (Super Basmati)

Mechanical transplanting was done on 10 acres where average plant population was 73600 plants /acre with the paddy yield 4.06 tons/ha as compare to the conventional farmer practice where plant population was 62500 plants/acre with the paddy yield 4.2 tons/ha. The reasons of low yield in mechanical transplanting were:

• Lowplantpopulationbecauseofimpropersettingpop-ulation adjustment by untrained operator

• Unleveledfieldswhichwerenotpreparedproperly

• Heavyrainfallspellaftertransplanting.Excesspondedwater could not be drain out due to improper drainage system and plants were submerged under the water and died.

Site Results (Year 2018):

In year 2018, demonstration of mechanical rice transplanting was done at 2431 acres at five different locations in Punjab Pa-kistan. Nursery was raised in seedlings trays/boxes as well as in iron frames and on raised beds. Rice transplanters used at each locations was different in specification from the other rice trans-planters. Local operator was hired and guided regarding the op-erations of rice transplanters. Seedlings mat were transported on a tractor driven trailer and load by the locally hired labour. Farm-ers/ service providers were trained regarding mechanized rice transplanting technology including nursery technique. Farmer’s feedback, necessary data and paddy samples were collected from each site.

KamonKe (PK 386):

Mechanical transplanting was done on 28 acres. The average number of plants were found 98133/acre with average paddy yield 6.5 tons/ha as compare to conventional farmer’s practice where number of plants were 63000/acre with the paddy yield 4.49 tons/ha. Highest yield was recorded as 7.0 tons/ha and low-est yield was 6.0 tons/ha.

AlipurChatha (Super Basmati):

Mechanical transplanting was done on 2000 acres. The average plant population was 85886 plants /acre with the paddy yield 4.7



tons/ha as compare to conventional farmer practice where plant population was 57000 plants/acre with the paddy yield 4.2 tons/ ha.

Wazeerabad (Super Basmati):

Demonstration of mechanical transplanting was done at 53 acres. Modified mat type nursery (raised on bed in iron frames) was transplated with the rice transplanter only at 8 acres but for rest of the area nursery raised in seedlings trays was transplated for comparison with modified mat type nursery and conventional farmer’s practice of nursery transplanting (manual). Mats of modified mat type nursery was cut with the help of a sharp cut-ter. Average yield of 53 acres was recorded as 4.27 tons/hac with averageplantpopulation81233.Whilemax.yieldasrecordedas4.5 t/ha from 43 acres and min. yield was 3.3 t/ha from 10 acres as compared to conventional farmer’s practice where the yield was same (3.3 tons/ha ) as in mechanical transplanting.

Begowal Sialkot (Super Basmati):

Super basmati was cultivated at 180 acres of land. For 30 acres nursery was raised on bed with the help of a locally fabricated seedling machine. With Nursery was raised only in seedlingtrays. Average. The average number of plants were more than 80979 in one acre with average yield 3.8 tons/ha. Yield was low as compare to conventional farmer’s practice which was 4.5 tons/ha with 58762 number of plants per acres. Reasons of low yield was as followed:

• Ageof thenurserywas35daysold (recommendationwas 20 days old nursery).

• Thick,hardandcongestedrootsdevelopmentinseed-ling mat which leaded the breakage of root while picking the seedlings by planting finger of rice transplanter.

• Breakageofseedling’sstemduetoitsexcessiveheightasit was more than 35 days old instead of 20 days old.

• Missinghillsduetochockingofseedlingsmatatseed-lings rack of rice transplanter during its transplantation.

• Submergence of seedlings under water ponded afterheavy rainfall.

NoshehranVirkan (Super Basmati):

Seedlings of Basmati rice were mechanically transplated at about 100 acres of land. Seedlings were grown and raised in plastic seedlings boxes. The average number of plates were recorded as 80977/acre with paddy yield about 3.95 tons /ha as compare to the convention practice where average plant population 61347/acre with the yield 4.18 tons/ha.

RasoolpurTarrarPindiBhatiyan (PK 386)

Nursery was raised in seedling trays. 30 days old nursery was transplanted in end of august 2018. 70 acres were transplanted. Average yield 4.7 tons/ha was recorded with 85028 plats acre as compare to the manual practice where plant population was 61000 with average yield 5.2 t/ha Reasons of the low yield were;

• Agednursery30daysoldinsteadof20-25daysold

• Delayintransplanting

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Journal of Rice Science · 2019-06-17 · Mechanical transplanting of rice is the process of transplanting young rice seedlings, which have been grown in seedling trays or in frames,

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