A 15 hp mini tractor operated 4-row automatic onion transplanter was developed to transplant onion seedlings raised in hexagonal shaped (honeycomb) paper pot chain of length 800 mm, width 180 mm and depth 40 mm. A total of 128 seedlings were raised in this paper pot chain. The onion transplanter was developed to transplant 4- rows of onion seedlings at a time with a spacing of 10 cm between each row. It consisted of a furrow opener, a covering device, conveying belt and cutting units, a seedling delivery tube for each of the four rows and two ridgers for making two ridgeseach of 40 cm wide at the top. Belt-type conveying unit was employed for the movement of the paper pots. On the conveyor, paper pot chain was put and it conveyed the same to the furrow opener through the seedling delivery tubes after singulation using two types of cutting units . three rotary cutters and a vertical blade. | Design and development of a tractor drawn automatic onion transplanter
