A Field Vegetable Transplanter for Use in Both Tilled and No-Till Soils

Abstract

Abstract. A commercial, manually fed vegetable transplanter was modified and adapted to work in no-till soils. Details of the modifications are described in this article. The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of this transplanter under actual field conditions in both tilled and no-till soils. The draft force in the no-till soil was measured for different working tools mounted for tilling or loosening a narrow band of soil before passing with the furrower. The combination of a ripper shank opener with a straight nose point resulted in the lowest draft force values per unit of working depth. The transplanter accuracy and transplant success rate were evaluated in different vegetable crops. The accuracy parameters (multiple index, miss index, quality of feed index, and precision) were estimated and in general were similar in the tilled and no-till soils, indicating that the transplanter was able to operate in both soil conditions with the same accuracy. The transplant success rates were also similar in both soil conditions. The transplanter thus offers a satisfactory technical solution for transplanting vegetables in both tilled and no-till soils. Keywords: Conservation tillage, draft force, organic farming, transplanter accuracy, transplant success rate.

Agronomic Performances of Organic Field Vegetables Managed with Conservation Agriculture Techniques: A Study from Central Italy

“…This is well known in literature on no-till, especially in the transitional stage from inversion tillage to conservative management as in our case [6,44]. The use of the modified transplanting machine mounting shank openers [32] should have been reduced at least at the beginning problems of compaction for rootlets. At later stages, the persistence of shallow compaction might have caused a limited vertical root development that we were not able to assess.…”

“…The two machines and operating conditions are described in detail in References [28,31] and in the Table S7. Direct transplanting of the field vegetables into the untilled soil in the ORG+ system was successfully implemented by using the modified version of the FAST transplanting machine produced by Fedele Mario Costruzioni (Fedele Costruzioni Meccaniche, Lanciano, Chieti, Italy) and developed by the University of Pisa [32].…”

Evolution of Smart Strategies and Machines Used for Conservative Management of Herbaceous and Horticultural Crops in the Mediterranean Basin: A Review

“…Modifying drills, planters and transplanters used in conventional tillage farming has generally not been very successful and in the worst case it was very ineffective and stimulated weed growth. Planting depth can be difficult to manage because of the machine's increased weight and the opening generated by the fluted cutting disc [42]. No-till drills and planters equipped with rubber ground wheels that allow adjustment of height and depth bands on the coulter and "V" openers can also help to reduce planting depth difficulties using precision agriculture technologies.…”

Evaluation of the Agronomic Performance of Organic Processing Tomato as Affected by Different Cover Crop Residues Management

“…In NT plots with supplemental weeding, three inter-row mowing interventions (lawn mower) were done during the early season of tomato growth. In plots without plastic mulch, tomato seedlings were transplanted on 23 June 2016 and 11 May 2017 at a density of 2.22 plants m −2 (0.3 m along the row, 1.5 m between the row) with a commercial vegetable transplanting machine ("Fast" model, Fedele costruzioni Meccaniche, Lanciano, Chieti, Italy) modified at the University of Pisa in order to be properly used both on tilled and untilled soil [18]. Tomato seedlings were instead manually transplanted at the same plant density on plastic mulch systems.…”