China’s First Simultaneous Ditching and Rice-transplanting Machine Succeeded in Field Test for Big Seedlings of More Breeding Days

　　Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanization of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, or NIAM, has built recently the first rice transplanting machine of the kind that simultaneously ditches and transplants big seedlings, which have more days to grow stronge in nursery before being transplanted to paddy field. The new machine has gone through a series of field tests and demonstrations successfully in Xinghua and Suining counties, Jiangsu province and will further mechanize the rice growing in China. Especially, the creative philosophy behind the research-and-development of agricultural machinery is helping to solve the problem of seasonal competition in resources in double rotation or the multiple cropping systems practiced in south China.   

　　Zhang Wenyi, research fellow at NIAM and the chief scientist of the team, states that even though the tallest seedlings that we used in this series of field test reached 40 cm, our ditching and transplanting machine performed well at significantly lowered rate of seedling-damage, which is a strong evidence for the suitability of our machine for big seedlings of longer breeding time.

　　The team is now working on follow-up experiments. At the next step, research focus will shift to companion techniques such as the breeding of strong seedlings with more days in nursery, paving the way through to large scale demonstration and promotion.