초록
Since SRC (Short-term Rotation Coppice) such as poplar and willow can be harvested in three years, they are known to be a potential forest biomass as fuel for a power plant. The production system including transplanting and harvesting is, however, necessary to be mechanized because such a biomass should be handled in a massive volumetric size. A pull-type stem-cutting transplanter was developed in the research as the first step to realize the production of SRC. A needle-like transplanting device pushes a stem-cutting into the prepared soil bed by a pneumatic cylinder, and another device firms soil around a stem-cutting transplanted. Since this is an intermittent operation, it was necessary to develop a zero horizontal velocity mechanism which enabled only the transplanting needle part to continue a zero horizontal movement relative to the ground during the transplanting operation even when the tractor kept moving forward. The 2-row transplanter can transplant stem-cuttings at the rate of 6.5 seconds per row without missing a single attempt. The planting depth and distance were well maintained and controlled. Their CVs were between 2.1~3.4% and 0.87~1.7% for the depth and the distance, respectively. Although, the transplanted stem-cuttings tended to lean outward from the back-view and forward from the side view, they were planted within the range of $3^{\circ}$ from the upright position.
