Studies on the Movable Type Crop-bed System in Greenhouse (4)

Practical Application Test and Economical Evaluation for The System

Abstract

For the purpose of labor-saving and the improvement of the working environment in greenhouse, a new type of movable crop-bed system, including the working machinery and the partial cooling apparatus was developed and practically used. The practical application test and the economical evaluation for this system were done. As for the result of the cultivation test using this system, the yield of tomatoes of forced growing for winter production was about 3.7kg per one plant, which are neary equal to the yield for usual growing. The total working hour required for that cultivation was about 374h/10a, which is only about 1/3 of the labor for usual forced growing of tomatoes. When the labor-expense is increased higher than 1100yen/h, it seems to be profitable to use this movable type crop-bed system.