Development and validation of unpuddled riding-type rice transplanter for wet land rice establishment

Manual transplanting is tedious and time consuming which often the causes of delayed planting resulting yield loss of rice in Bangladesh. Mechanized rice transplanting is seen as a solution of labor problems. Likewise, using mechanized rice transplanting ensures uniform plant spacing as well as fast and efficient planting that contributes to high productivity (Manjunatha et al., 2009). Transplanters have been developed for rice seedling planting into puddled soils to alleviate labour shortages and reduce costs of rice establishment (Adhikari et al., 2006). Although, tillage for rice establishment has significantly mechanized in Bangladesh, 16-18 % of total production cost are involved in tillage and land leveling (BRRI, 2013). Development of a rice transplanter suitable for unpuddled transplanting under minimum tillage conditions could further minimize the land preparation cost, which will be of interest to the farmers. No significant work to date has been conducted in Bangladesh to develop a rice transplanter for minimum tillage unpuddled soil conditions. Therefore, the following development and validation study was conducted during 2013-15 with modifying and evaluating a riding-type, 6-row mechanical rice transplanter for unpuddled soil conditions

Effects of inundation period and tillage option on field performance of self-propelled rice transplanter

Mechanized transplanting of rice could decrease costs and use of labor in the peak of transplanting periods. Self-propelled rice transplanter requires an ideal field condition as well as optimal inundation of non-puddled soil before transplanting. Hence, self-propelled rice transplanters (four rows walking type, model DP480 except clay loam soil during the Boro season in 2013-2014 where six rows riding type rice transplanter, model S3-680) was evaluated in clay loam, loam and sandy loam soil during the irrigated dry season (Boro) in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Tillage treatments in a strip plot design were stripped, zero and conventional tillage and irrigation treatments as inundation periods before transplanting as sub-plots were 12, 18 and 24 hours (hrs). Soil penetration resistance decreased with the increased of inundation period in both the seasons and three soil types. Field capacity of both the walking (0.11 to 0.14 ha hr-1) and the riding type rice transplanter (0.21 to 0.22 ha hr-1) had not varied significantly with the tillage options. Averaged of two seasons, strip tillage gave higher field capacity for 12 hrs inundation period in clay loam soil and 18 hrs inundation period in loam and sandy loam soil whereas zero and conventional tillage gave higher for 24, 18 and 24 hrs inundation period and 18, 12 and 18 hrs inundation period in clay loam, loam and sandy loam soil, respectively. The non-puddled strip and zero tillage reduced fuel consumption by 22% to 13% and 8% to 13% for transplanting in clay loam and sandy loam soil compared to conventional tillage, respectively. However, strip tillage reduced the percentage of missing hills (9.7%) compared to zero (13.0%) and conventional tillage (10.7%) while percentage of missing hills, averaged of two seasons and three soil types, decreased 13.7% to 9.2% with the increased of inundation periods 12 to 24 hrs. The highest percentage of picker missing hills was observed in zero tillage irrespective of seasons and soil types. However, zero tillage also gave higher percentage of damage hills compared to conventional and strip tillage. Floating hills decreased with the increased of inundation periods in non-puddled strip and zero tillage. Conventional tillage increased the buried hills significantly in both the seasons. Strip tillage gave higher grain yield compared to zero and conventional tillage in both the seasons except clay loam soil during the Boro season in 2012-13 where zero tillage gave a higher grain yield. However, 18 hrs inundation periods for strip (6.1 t ha-1), 24 hrs for zero (6.0 t ha-1) and conventional (5.9 t ha-1) tillage gave the highest grain yields. Finally, it can be stated that non-puddled minimum tillage (strip and zero) is a resource saving technique while 18 hrs inundation prior to transplant for strip and 24 hrs inundation for zero tillage showed more benefited for rice production

Conservation agriculture for rice-based intensive cropping by smallholders in the Eastern Gangetic Plain

We review the recent development of Conservation Agriculture (CA) for rice-based smallholder farms in the Eastern Gangetic Plain (EGP) and the underpinning research on agronomy, weed control, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions being tested to accelerate its adoption in Bangladesh. The studies are based mostly on minimum soil disturbance planting in strip planting (SP) mode, using the Versatile Multi-crop Planter (VMP), powered by a two-wheel tractor (2WT). One-pass SP with the VMP decreased fuel costs for crop establishment by up to 85% and labour requirements by up to 50%. We developed strip-based non-puddled rice (Oryza sativa) transplanting (NPT) in minimally-disturbed soil and found that rice grain yield increased (by up to 12%) in longer-term practice of CA. On farms, 75% of NPT crops increased gross margin. For non-rice crops, relative yield increases ranged from 28% for lentil (Lens culinaris) to 6% for wheat (Triticum aestivum) on farms that adopted CA planting. Equivalent profit increases were from 47% for lentil to 560% for mustard (Brassica juncea). Moreover, VMP and CA adopting farms saved 34% of labour costs and lowered total cost by up to 10% for production of lentil, mustard, maize (Zea mays) and wheat. Effective weed control was obtained from the use of a range of pre-emergent and post-emergence herbicides and retention of increased crop residue. In summary, a substantial body of research has demonstrated the benefits of CA and mechanized planting for cost savings, yield increases in many cases, increased profit in most cases and substantial labour saving. Improvement in soil quality has been demonstrated in long-term experiments together with reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Optimization of seedling density as influenced by seed rate for mechanical transplanting

Mechanization of rice cultivation, including transplanting, is spreading in Bangladesh in order to reduce the cost of production, the need for labour and to increase productivity of rice cultivation. Quality seedlings are a key factor for the success of mechanical rice transplanting. Seeding density in the seedling tray has considerable influence on seedling quality, and hence on plant establishment and the percentage of missing hills in the field after transplanting. There are combined effects of seedling adjustment options of the rice transplanter and seedling density on number of plants per hills and percentage of missing hills. Rice grain size and shape in terms of length, breadth and length-breath ratio differs among rice varieties. Based on size and shape, rice grain can be classified as bold, medium and slender, long and extra long (Belsnio, 1992). This study, conducted during the irrigated dry season of 2013-14, aimed to identify the optimum seed rate for quality seedlings production to minimize the percentage of missing hills. In addition, suitable seedling adjustment option of the rice transplanter for different seedling densities were identified to maintain optimum numbers of seedlings per stock (plants/hill) by the rotary picker of the transplanter

Transplanting into non-puddled soils with a small-scale mechanical transplanter reduced fuel, labour and irrigation water requirements for rice ( Oryza sativa L.) establishment and increased yield

Mechanizing the transplanting of rice can decrease labour requirement and costs for crop establishment. The cost of crop establishment can also be reduced by changing from conventional tillage with puddling to reduced tillage in non-puddled soil. However, mechanized rice transplanters for suitable for the small-scale fields of Asia have not been evaluated on non-puddled soils. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a 4-row walking-type mechanical rice transplanter under different tillage options for rice establishment. Field experiments were conducted on a clay loam soil in Gazipur and on a loam soil in Kushtia during the irrigated dry (Boro) season in 2012–13 and the non-irrigated wet (Aman) season in 2013. Three non-puddled soil treatments (shallow beds, strip tillage on the flat, zero tillage on the flat) were compared with conventional puddled tillage (‘puddling’). The non-puddled plots were flooded 18 h before transplanting to soften the soil. Strip tillage reduced tillage time and fuel consumption for tillage by 50–70% relative to puddling. Strip and zero tillage also reduced the irrigation water input for transplanting by 22 and 28%, respectively. The transplanter had a significantly higher rate of area coverage in strip and zero tilled soil (0.131–0.134 ha/h) than in puddled soil and beds (0.115–0.121 ha/h). Non-puddled strip and zero tillage also reduced fuel consumption for mechanical transplanting by 11–18 % compared to puddling. The proportion of missing hills was lower in strip tilled soil than in puddled soil, and there were fewer missing hills due to less floating and burial of plants. Transplanter slippage significantly reduced the plant to plant spacing during transplanting in puddled soil compared to the spacing in non-puddled soil. All non-puddled tillage treatments gave similar or significantly higher yield of rice compared to puddling. On the clay loam soil, strip tillage and zero tillage gave significantly higher yields (5.4–5.6 t/ha) than bed tillage and puddling (5.1–5.2 t/ha). On the loam, yields with strip tillage (5.1 t/ha) and bed tillage (4.9 t/ha) were similar, and yield with strip tillage was significantly higher than that of zero tillage and puddling (4.7–4.8 t/ha). Operating the mechanical rice transplanter in non-puddled soil reduced labour and fuel costs and irrigation water input for rice establishment. Crop production was profitable with mechanized transplanting into all tillage treatments at both sites in both seasons, with gross margin ranging from US$273 to US$582/ha, and BCR from 1.3 to 1.7. Strip tillage and zero tillage were more profitable than puddling at Gazipur, while strip tillage was also the most profitable treatment at Kushtia. Mechanized transplanting into non-puddled soil is thus a promising option for smallholder wetland rice farmers in Asia

Effect of seed rate on seedling quality for mechanical rice transplanting

A study was conducted in the Farm Machinery and Postharvest Technology Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Gazipur in the irrigated dry season (Boro) of 2012-13. It was aimed at identifying the optimum seed rate of different graded rice variety for mat type seedlings preparation and suitable seedling adjustment option of the rice trans planter to maintain required number of seedlings dispensed per stroke by the rotary picker of the trans planter. Walk behind type 4-rows rice trans planter (DP 480) was used to conduct the study. The experiment was followed as two factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Three categories of rice variety as short and bold grain (cv. BR3), medium and slender grain (cv. BRRI dhan28) and extra-long and slender grain (cv. BRRI dhan50) were considered as main factor whereas seed rate of 100, 120, 130, 140, 150 and 160g pertray (280×580×25 mm) were considered as sub-factor. Irrespective of rice category, seedling emergence decreased with the increase of seed rate. Seedling emergence decreased from 77 to 56, 74 to 57 and 77 to 54% in BR3, BRRI dhan28 and BRRI dhan29 respectively with the increase of seed rate from 100 to 160g per tray. Seed rate did not affect the seedling height significantly whereas it was varied with the rice verities only and BRRI dhan50 produced higher seedling length. However, number of leaf, stem thickness and shoot dry weight decreased and root-shoot ratio increased significantly with the increase of seed rate. The highest shoot dry weight was observed in BR3 followed by BRRI dhan50. Seedling strength also decreased with the increase of seed rate. The highest seedling strength (0.043 mg cm-1) was observed for the seed rate of 100g of BR3 and the lowest (0.020 mg cm-1) for the seed rate of 160g of BRRI dhan28. The number of seedling increased and percentage of missing hills decreased with the increase of both the seed rate and seedling adjustment option of the rice transplanter irrespective of variety. In case of BR3, seedling dispensed per stroke and percentage of missing hills varied from 4.3 to 5.7 and 6.8 to 7.8 for the seed rates of 140, 150 and 160 g of seeds tray-1 for 5 to 7 seedling adjustment option of the rice transplanter respectively. Seedlings per stroke and percentage of missing hills of BRRI dhan28 for the seed rate of 130, 140 and 150 g of seeds tray-1 was found almost same for 5 to 7 seedling adjustment options of the rice transplanter (4.2 to 6.3 and 5.7 to 9.8). However, there was minimum difference of seedlings per stroke and percentage of missing hills among 120, 130 and 140 g of seeds tray-1 for the option of 4 to 7 (4.0 to 5.6 and 3.9 to 7.8 respectively) for BRRI dhan50. It can be concluded that 140 g of seeds tray-1 for short and bold grain (BR3) and 130 g of seeds tray-1 for medium and slender grain (BRRI dhan28) under the seedling adjustment options of 5 to 7 and 120 g of seeds tray-1 for extra-long and slender grain (BRRI dhan50) under the seedling adjustment options of 4 to 7 may be used for desired seedlings per hill and minimum missing hills along with good quality of seedling

Участь жінок у підприємницькій діяльності в постпандемічний період COVID-19: емпіричний аналіз малого та середнього бізнесу

Entrepreneurs contribute to economic development regarding innovation, job creation and income generation. It is also effectively recognized as a fundamental part of economic development and vital in lifting countries from poverty. Women entrepreneurs organize and manage an organization, particularly a business. Women's entrepreneurship has consistently expanded worldwide during the 20th and 21st centuries. Bangladesh will have a big number of young women and productive workers after the COVID-19 epidemic, allowing them to engage in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Women entrepreneurs can help in the elimination of hunger, the reduction of inequities, and the improvement of children's nutrition, health, and school attendance. Also, it has been acknowledged as an important source of economic growth since it creates new jobs and provides society with various solutions to managerial, organizational, and business challenges. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the impact of technological factors, parental support factors, municipal factors, knowledge and skills factors, psychological factors, and financial factors on women's engagement in innovative business development in the context of Bangladesh's SME sector in the post COVID-19 pandemic. This study included both statistical and discussion of the data. Data was collected from over 300 real Bangladeshi ladies using an online purposive sampling approach. To test hypotheses, the data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, collinearity statistics, and other regression analyses. As per study's results, most variables, including administrative, scientific, and familial cooperation, knowledge and skills, psychological, and financial component, has both advantages statistically impressive relationship with women's involvement in the context of the SME area in Bangladesh in the post COVID-19 pandemic. In the post COVID-19 pandemic, everyone from every sector will use the findings to encourage women's participation in entrepreneurial activities in the context of the SME division in Bangladesh.Підприємці сприяють інноваційному економічному розвитку, створенню робочих місць та отриманню прибутку. Вони також фактично виступають фундаментальною частиною економічного росту та є особливо важливими у виході країн із прірви бідності. Жінки-підприємці організовують і керують організацією, зокрема бізнесом. Жіноче підприємництво постійно поширювалося в усьому світі протягом 20-го та 21-го століть. Після епідемії COVID-19 у Бангладеші буде велика кількість молодих жінок і продуктивних працівників, що дозволило їм працювати в секторі малих і середніх підприємств (МСП). Жінки-підприємці можуть допомогти у ліквідації голоду, зменшенні соціальної нерівності, покращенні харчування дітей, зміцненні здоров’я та удосконалення середньої освіти. Крім того, підприємництво визнане важливим джерелом економічного процвітання, оскільки створює нові робочі місця та надає суспільству різноманітні рішення управлінських, організаційних та бізнесзавдань. Таким чином, метою цього дослідження є визначення впливу технологічних, опікунських, муніципальних, освітньо-наукових, психологічних та фінансових факторів на участь жінок в розвитку інноваційного бізнесу в контексті сектору малих і середніх підприємств країни Бангладеш після пандемії COVID-19. Поточна студія включала як статистику, так і обговорення даних. Дані були зібрані від понад 300 корінних жінок із Бангладешу за допомогою онлайн-підходу цілеспрямованої вибірки. Щоб перевірити гіпотези, дані були оцінені за допомогою описової статистики, статистики колінеарності та регресійного аналізу. Згідно з результатами дослідження, більшість змінних (включаючи адміністративну, наукову та сімейну співпрацю, знання та навички, психологічний і фінансовий компонент) мають переваги, демонструючи статистично вражаючий зв’язок із залученням жінок у контексті малого і середнього підприємництва у Бангладеші після пандемії COVID-19. У постпандемічний період кожен із секторів використовуватиме результати для заохочення участі жінок у підприємницькій діяльності в малих і середніх організаціях Бангладешу

Development of the riding-type rice transplanter for unpuddled transplanting

Transplanters have been developed for rice seedling planting into puddled soils to alleviate labour shortages and reduce costs of rice establishment (Adhikari et al., 2006). Although tillage for rice establishment is significantly mechanized in Bangladesh, 16-18 % of total production costs are due to tillage and land leveling (BRRI, 2013). Development of a rice transplanter suitable for unpuddled transplanting under minimum tillage conditions could further minimize the land preparation cost which will be of interest to small-holder farmers. No significant work to date has been conducted in Bangladesh to develop a rice transplanter for minimum tillage unpuddled soil conditions. The following development study was conducted to modify and evaluate a riding-type, 6-row mechanical rice transplanter for unpuddled soil conditions

Study on inundation periods of land for mechanical transplanting under minimum tillage unpuddled transplanting

In Bangladesh and other countries in Asia, manual transplanting of rice into puddled soil is conventional practice but relies on access to cheap readily-available labour. Besides being costly and time consuming, puddling results in degradation of soil (Chauhan et al., 2012). The use of continuous puddling results in the formation of a hard pan with a consequent increase in bulk density and lowering of hydraulic conductivity below the plow layer (Singh et al., 2009). To overcome labour and water shortages, mechanical transplanting of rice under minimum tillage is of considerable interest but little is known of the optimal inundation for soils before transplanting. In this study both farmers’ participatory and research station-based experiments evaluated the performance of a mechanical rice transplanter at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute research farm, Gazipur and on farmers’ fields at Kushtia and Rangpur, Bangladesh under minimum tillage options and varied inundation periods

Evaluation of a mechanical rice transplanter under minimum tillage unpuddled soil conditions

Labour shortages for rice transplanting across Asia are stimulating interest in mechanical transplanting. While the transplanters have been evaluated in puddled soils, there is little understanding of their efficacy for transplanting into soils following minimum tillage such as zero tillage, strip tillage and raised beds. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a mechanical rice transplanter (4 rows walk-behind type daedong rice transplanter, model DP480) under minimum tillage options at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute research farm, Gazipur and on a farmer’s field at Kumarkhali, Kushtia, Bangladesh during the irrigated dry season of 2012-13 and the non-irrigated wet season of 2013