RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 15 No. 1, June 2003, p. 32-40

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE TRAILED TYPE OIL PALM SEEDLING TRANSPLANTER

EL PEBRIAN, Darius* ; AZMI Yahya*

ABSTRACT

A prototype trailed type transplanter for oil palm seedlings with a configuration consisting of the main chassis, seedling bin, seedling planting assembly, operator compartment, and associated hydraulic system has been designed and developed at the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia. AutoCAD 2000 software was employed to develop the 3D dimensional model of the prototype machine. The transplanter is to be trailed from a 4-wheel tractor having at least 85 hp (63.4 kW) engine size and equipped with a seedling bin that could accommodate 20 oil palm seedlings per operating trip. Two operators are required in the involved transplanting operation; a driver for the tractor and an operator for transplanter. The driver drives the tractor-transplanter combination in the field, while the operator operates the hydraulic control system of the transplanter to integrate the preparations of planting hole, placement of seedling in the prepared hole, covering of the seedling in the prepared hole, and compacting of the soil around the planted seedling

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* Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: de-pebrian@hotmail.com