Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

The cultivation area for domestic cabbage increased by 26.3% from 10,968 ha in 2019 to 13,854 ha in 2020, and among leafy vegetables, the cabbage cultivation area was 62%, and production was 78.9%. Demand for field crop production of cabbage, which has a relatively high-income level compared to rice farming, is increasing, and mechanization of the field operation is urgently needed due to the insufficient development of related farming machinery. In this study, a prototype fabrication and performance test of a tractor-attached cabbage collector was carried out. The transport section was divided into two parts, one for the feeding and transportation and the other for the screening and packaging to selectively collect cabbages in bulk bags or boxes. The length of the primary collecting conveyor was designed to meet the field conditions of the Korean cabbage cultivation standards so that six cultivation rows could be worked simultaneously. Power was controlled by a hydraulic transmission line of the tractor and was easily mounted onto the 3-point hitch links behind the tractor. When the performance was evaluated, the transfer rate, loss rate, damage rate, and work performance were 100, 0, 1.2%, and 1.9 h·10 a-1. Final improvement and commercialization of the prototype would considerably contribute to the mechanization of harvesting cabbage, the main ingredient of Kimchi.