Abstract
The Two-row seeder has been developed to shorten thinning labor hours for direct seeding vegetable cultivation. In contrast to existing seeders, the Two-row seeder is able to sow seeds with narrow row distance arrangements. Performance tests for the Two-row seeder were conducted using Japanese radish. The effects of thinning labor hours and influence of the weight of crop on sowing of employing the Two-row seeder was evaluated. The seed spacing between the two rows of the Two-row seeder was 19 mm and the row distance of the Two-row seeder was 35 mm. These specifications, simplified and facilitated the seedling thinning process. The thinning labor hours of the Two-row seeder was 2.3 s/hill, 1.9 s/hill shorter than the thinning labor hours of a vacuum-type seeder. The root weight of Japanese radish as a result of using the Two-row seeder at harvest time was 1284 g, and was not found to yield no statistically significant difference to the root weight of other seeders. In conclusion the results demonstrate that the Tow-row seeder can shorten thinning labor hours without decreasing the yield of Japanese radish.
