# Research Progress and Future Prospects of Key Technologies for Dryland Transplanters
## 4 Questions and Suggestions  
### Existing Challenges  
(1) Insufficient integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy  
Current R&D of dryland transplanters primarily focuses on mechanical performance, failing to adequately consider agronomic factors like biological characteristics of different crops and cultivation technical requirements. Agronomic techniques mainly prioritize yield, neglecting the adaptability of agricultural machinery operations, thus resulting in insufficient integration between machinery and agronomy. During transplanting, farmers expect quick completion for earlier returns, but existing transplanters struggle to precisely meet this demand for speed and efficiency. The disconnect between equipment and agronomy leads to issues such as missed planting and seedling damage, reducing transplanting efficiency and quality, affecting crop survival rates and yields, and causing overall planting benefits to fall short of expectations. (2) Incomplete standards for each transplanting stage  
In seedling raising and transplanting, unified standards for plug-seedling specifications and growing medium composition are lacking, leading to significant variations in the morphological characteristics of plug seedlings for the same crop. During transplanting, high consistency is required for operation targets during seedling extraction and feeding, resulting in ineffective integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy. Moreover, current land preparation conditions vary widely across regions, with poor soil conditions in some areas restricting the application of transplanting machinery. Technical standards for transplanting operations exist for only a handful of crops, causing fragmentation between standards for seedling cultivation, land preparation, and transplanting. This fragmentation disintegrates transplanting procedures, making it difficult for transplanters to achieve optimal performance in practical operations. (3) Poor adaptability of existing agricultural machinery Existing dryland transplanters exhibit prominent adaptability issues, primarily in two aspects: terrain adaptability and soil condition adaptability. Dryland terrains are complex and diverse, encompassing mountainous, hilly, and plain areas. Most transplanters are designed for plains, struggling with poor trafficking and instability in complex terrains like mountains and hills, which hinders normal operation. Moreover, soil texture and moisture vary significantly across regions. Some transplanters face issues like soil accumulation and clogging in cohesive or dry compacted soils, compromising seedling extraction and planting efficiency. In sandy soils, plug seedlings often fail to anchor firmly after planting. These challenges result in significant functional disparities, poor universality, and limited adaptability of transplanters across regions, impeding their promotion and causing substantial resource waste. (4) Low level of informatization and intelligence in existing agricultural machinery  
Current dryland transplanters exhibit low levels of informatization and intelligence, primarily evidenced by the lack of monitoring-feedback mechanisms and subpar automation. Most transplanters lack real-time operation monitoring and data feedback, making it difficult for operators to promptly grasp working status and planting quality, thus impeding timely issue detection and resolution and leading to unstable operation quality. Moreover, numerous auxiliary personnel are required during the transplanter's operation, limiting transplanting speed and productivity. Low efficiency and high labor intensity hinder the promotion of transplanting technology, resulting in marginal comprehensive benefits for agricultural production. (5) Lack of innovation in key components such as seedling picking and transplanting mechanisms  
Although seedling picking mechanisms exist in various forms--multi-link, slideway, finger-gripper, and gear train--the innovative design process still heavily relies on experience and inspiration.