A Comparative Analysis of the Grafting Efficiency of Watermelon with a Grafting Machine

Abstract

The rising age of the population in rural China and the labor intensity of grafting have resulted in a decrease in the number of grafters and a subsequent increase in their wages. Manual grafting can no longer satisfy the increasing demand for watermelon-grafted transplanting; thus, machine grafting will be an effective alternative. In order to accelerate the implementation of machine grafting in China, a comparative analysis between the automatic grafting machine (model 2TJGQ-800) and traditional hand grafting was conducted. The reliability and feasibility of machine grafting were evaluated through a comprehensive evaluation of the production capacity and grafting seedling quality. This study focuses on the grafting application of watermelon plug-tray seedlings. The scion and rootstock seeds were sown on 9 November 2022. Grafting experiments using an automatic grafting machine, skilled workers, and ordinary workers were conducted with the root-pruned one-cotyledon grafting method on 24 November 2022. The results showed that the machine grafting had a high uniformity and grafting speed. The grafting speed of the grafting machine was 774 plant·h−1 and 1.65–2.55-fold higher than the hand grafting. With training, workers can improve their grafting speed, but it will still be slower than machine grafting. In addition, there was no significant difference in the grafting survival rate between the machine grafting and hand grafting. However, using machine grafting, the success rate decreased from 100% to 90.07% and the rootstock regrowth rate increased from 18.44% to 72.69%. Incomplete rootstock cutting, clip supply failure, and grafting drop failure are the three main factors that result in machine grafting failure. In conclusion, the grafting machine has advantages in terms of grafting speed and uniformity. Upon improving the accuracy of the cutting mechanism and grafting success rate, it will be adopted by commercial nurseries.

An Original UV Adhesive Watermelon Grafting Method, the Grafting Device, and Experimental Verification

“…For optimal rootstock grafting, the seedling age was set at 8 to 10 days, with the external morphology of the rootstock characterized by two spreading cotyledons and a stem thickness of about 3.5 mm, as depicted in Figure 14a. In contrast, the scion was sown three days earlier than the rootstock, displaying 2 to 3 leaves in its growth [39,40], as shown in Figure 14b. The designed spray grafting device was subjected to drawing, machining, module assembly, and control software development to integrate the spray grafting device as shown in Figure A5, which only requires one person to operate it.…”

“…In 2016, Helper Robotech Co., Ltd. (82, Yuha-ro 226beon-gil, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do 621-834 Korea) developed the AFGR-800CS grafting machine for Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae [23][24][25], which fixes the grafted seedlings with plastic clips, and developed a visual information recognition system for the seedling incision, utilized for calculating the seedling incision centerline position and achieving an overlap between the rootstock and scion incision centerlines during the butt joint session, with a production efficiency of 800 plants/h, and the grafting success rate was 98%. In 2020, Jiang Kai et al at Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences in Beijing, China developed the 2TJGQ-1000 four-station grafting machine [26,27], also using plastic clips to fix the grafted seedlings, determined the cutting angle for the rootstock (white-seeded pumpkin) and scion (watermelon) to match the grafting, and realized the synchronous operation of cutting the seedlings and joining the butts on four stations, which for the first time exceeded the efficiency to 1052 plants/h for cucurbits, with a grafting success rate of 96.67%. In 2021, AiGRAFT Co., Ltd. (the second floor of Shengya Office Building, No.…”

Influence of Grafting Methods on Production of Grape ‘Campbell Early’/3309C Nursery Stock

“…포도나무의 경우 외국에서는 주로 혀접을 많이 이용하지만 [1,2], 접목 기술자의 숙련도에 따라 할접 등의 접목 성공률이 혀접보다 높거나 비슷할 수도 있다 [10,23]. 또한, 과채류에서는 내병충성, 과실품질 및 불량 환경에 대한 적응성 향상을 위해 접목묘를 생산하고 있는데 [24][25][26], 국내외 접목묘의 생산 가격은 접목하지 않은 묘들(삽목묘 등)보다 2배 정도 높아 생산비 절감을 위해 기계 접목 혹은 접목 로봇(robot grafting)을 이용하고 있다 [27][28][29]. 포도나무 역시 생산비 절감을 위해 외국에서는 손 접목용 기계(handmanual grafting units), 접목 기계(grafting machine) 및 접목 로봇(robot grafting)이 개발 및 상용화되었으며 [18,[30][31][32][33] 로 구분하여 산출하였다(Fig.…”