The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)- Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, and Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Coimbatore regional centre, have jointly developed and commercialised a tractor-mounted, two-row mechanical transplanter for sugarcane seedlings raised from sugarcane bud chips and single-bud setts. The transplanter is expected to reduce the cost of sugarcane cultivation by 20%, the scientists at the Sugarcane Breeding Institute have predicted.
In the conventional system of sugarcane planting, about 8-10 tonnes of seed cane (called as setts) are being used as planting material per hectare. "Both the quantity of seed material and the cost of seed material are relatively high which accounts for about 20% of the total cost of cultivation of sugarcane," said a release issued by the Sugarcane Breeding Institute on Monday.
Using sugarcane bud chip-raised seedlings/single-bud sett-raised seedlings for transplanting could be one of the viable alternatives for reducing the cost of sugarcane production and could help the farmer in doubling his or her income, said the director of Sugarcane Breeding Institute Bakshi Ram.
Compared to manual transplanting of seedlings, mechanised transplanting has distinct advantages such as saving cost, labour and time, offering a new and progressive change in sugarcane agriculture, said Ram. Taking this into account, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute and Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering have jointly developed this SBI-CIAE tractor mounted two- row mechanical planter, he added.
The equipment consists of a mainframe which can be attached to standard three-point hitch arrangement of a 35 HP tractor. "Two persons will be feeding the rotating system with sugarcane seedlings in furrows at a desired adjustable spacing between rows. The SBI- CIAE settling transplanter saves cost, time and labour. It can be used for transplanting single bud seedlings raised in portrays. The transplanter can fit in an agricultural field with row to row spacing of 90, 120 and 150cm. It is also adjustable in plant to plant spacing 30, 45 and 60 cm and adjustable depth of planting at 2, 4.5 and 6 cm.
"The furrow openers open the furrow in which settlings with soil mass are transplanted. The field capacity of the equipment is 0.15 ha/h and the missing 3-4 per cent at a working speed of 1.4 km/h," Ram said.
This machine has been tested successfully in field trials conducted at various locations including Coimbatore, Sathyamangalam and Andipatti (Tamil Nadu) and Karnal (Haryana).
The technology has been licensed to Rohith Krishi Industries, Pune.