RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 35 (1) March 2023, p. 100-110

DEVELOPMENT AND FIELD EVALUATION OF A SEEDLING POLYBAG SOIL FILLING MACHINE FOR OIL PALM NURSERY

HASLINA HASSAN1 ; AZMI YAHYA1,4,5*; DARIUS EL PEBRIAN2 * and AHMAD SUHAIZI MAT SU3,4,5

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2022.0039
Received: 28 October 2021   Accepted: 24 May 2022   Published Online: 18 July 2022
ABSTRACT

The need to produce high-quality seedlings with adequate quantity has placed a burden on nursery operators, who often require substantial capital and labour with limited daily production capability. The goal of this project was to develop a seedling polybag soil filling machine and evaluate its performance in a simulated oil palm nursery, emphasising small polybag production. The 51 kW diesel engine of a universal, multipurpose 4WD (four-wheel drive) prime mover was utilised to transmit the power to the mixer and auger of the machine system. The recorded average production capacity was 198 bags man hr–1, which was 24.24% higher than the conventional practice of 150 bags man hr–1. The final weight was within the limit (<5%) for both small and large polybags. The production capacity of the machine was moderately improved, despite an increase of approximately 53% in total costs per polybag over the conventional practice. Generally, the machine can be deployed in seedling production of the oil palm nursery stage to fill the polybags with suitable planting media selection.

KEYWORDS:


1 Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

2 Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Melaka Branch,
Jasin Campus, 77300 Merlimau, Melaka, Malaysia.

3 Department of Agricultural Technology,
Faculty of Agriculture,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

4 Institute of Plantation Studies,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

5 Smart Farming Technology Research Centre,
Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: azmiy@upm.edu.my, darius@
uitm.edu.my