Hoshiarpur- PAU-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bahowal, Hoshiarpur organized field exhibition on extension of mechanical transplanting of paddy at village Mugowal recently.
On this occasion, Dr. Maninder Singh Bains, PAU-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bahowal, Hoshiarpur said that Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana has recommended machines for mechanical transplanting of paddy.
For mechanical transplanting of paddy, tractor-driven paddy nursery seeder machine has been recommended for mechanical sowing of mat type plants, which saves cost and labour. Dr. Bains said that progressive Sarpanch of the village, Mr. Bhupinder Singh had taken up mechanical sowing of paddy last year and sowed about 150 acres in this manner during Kharif, he said.
By the year 2025, mechanical sowing of paddy is being done in about 300 acres in village Mugowal and surrounding villages. This year, Sarpanch Bhupinder Singh and his brother Tarlochan Singh are doing mechanical sowing in their 80 acres and 100 acres in the fields of other farmers. Apart from this, this technology is also being adopted by Balbir Singh and Kashmir Singh.
Giving more information, Dr. Bains said that this time in village Mugowal, mat variety saplings were sown by PAU through tractor driven mat nursery seeder, which saves 64-68% cost and 93-94.4% labor compared to preparing mat variety saplings. Dr. Ajaib Singh, Assistant Professor (Agricultural Engineering), PAU-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bahowal, Hoshiarpur, gave important tips to the farmers on the proper use of mechanical transplantation of paddy.
He also demonstrated the method of PAU nursery cutter for cutting mat type seedlings recommended by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The mat cutting capacity of nursery cutter is 325-425 mats per hour and one person can easily cut mat type seedlings for 25-30 acres with this cutter. Cutting mat type seedlings with this cutter saves 58.8% labour and 55.7% time as compared to cutting mats manually with sickle.