Development of Pineapple Transplanter Attached with medium size Tractor

Abstract

The objective of this study was to research and development pineapple transplanter attached with a four-wheel tractor (39-50 hp) for small scale farmers in the northeastern region of Thailand. The pineapple transplanter was designed and fabricated for transplanting the pineapple suckers with double row planting system. Distances between planting row was set for 50 cm, while between plants in the row was 45-50 cm. The pineapple suckers were trimmed to uniform 30-50 cm in length which each weighed approx. 300-500 g before being sorted for uniformity. There were two containers which each container was could carry 200 pineapple suckers. The 4 inch diameter PVC feeders were driven by fifth wheel and gear transmission. The sucker was dropped after soil opened by a furrow opener and it was buried by buried component. Two men operation were required for feeding the pineapple suckers into the PVC feeders. Testing results showed that the field capacity were 0.63 rai/h at travelling speed of 0.28 m/s and fuel consumption was 2.15 l/rai. Planting efficiency was about 96.05%. The suckers made a ca. 72.02 degree with the ground and average depth of planting was 16.20 cm. Distance between plants in a row was approx. 34.80 cm with distance between row at 105 cm. The economic analysis showed that the break-even area of the pineapple transplanter that caused the operating cost of the pineapple transplanter to be equal to that of manual planting will be 58.47 rai/year for assumed service life of 7 years. In case of the farmers having annual land utilization 150 rai, the operating cost will be 730.83 Baht/rai which is lower than manual practice for 149.17 Baht/rai.