Development of a self-propelled machine for holing soil in large polybags in oil palm nursery

The nursery operation is considered as one of the most important operations in the oil palm cultivation. Presently, all the operations in the oil palm nursery are carried out manually. Such method had caused tiredness to the workers since it consumed lot of human energy in performing the operations. A newly self-propelled machine for holing soil in large polybag has been successfully designed and developed in an effort to mechanize the operation in oil palm nursery. Characteristics of polybags, transplanting hole and nursery layout were considered in establishing the design concept of machine system. The machine configuration consists of main chassis, drilling units and operator compartment. The machine is powered by a 8.2kW water-cooled diesel engine and equipped with four tires. Only one operator is needed to drive and operate the operational procedures of the machine. The new machine system has successfully improved the operation of holing soil in large polybags by giving 49.22% increase in production capacity, and 38.50% and 28.57% reduction in human energy expenditure and total operating costs, respectively as compared to the current manual method. Conclusively, this machine has great ability in improving production capacity, removing some tedious works from oil palm nursery and saving costs.