A review on vegetable seedlings transplantation systems and their importance in Indian agriculture

The transplanting of seedlings is an important step in vegetable cultivation systems for efficient yields. The majority of the cultivation process is still carried out by a manual workforce, despite the availability of modern technologies such as tractors, seeders, transplanters, and drone-based pesticide and fertilizing processes. This study reviews the current advancements and challenges in vegetable transplantation mechanisms, including portable, semi-automated, and autonomous vegetable transplanting equipment, by emphasizing the need for modernization tailored to small-scale farming systems. Moreover, an analysis is conducted on the mechanization of Indian agriculture and the obstacles encountered during its implementation. Here, the various kinds of seedlings and the necessary seedling transplanters are covered. By reviewing various literature, the salient characteristics of the developed transplanters, along with their limitations, are investigated. To improve intelligent research on transplantation techniques, the review's details can help identify various technologies in vegetable transplanters and their limitations. Existing research highlights the effectiveness of fully automatic transplanters but also points out their limited accessibility for marginal farmers.