• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.77-86
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• 2016

Due to aging of the rural and mountain populations the labor force is reduced. However work intensity continues to increase, thus, there is a need to improve the current effectiveness of forest operations. This study compared and analyzed the Operation productivity and efficiency of planting containerized seedlings using a battery-powered planting auger and a mattock. Growth was also investigated by looking into the initial growth increments in the planted seedlings. Tasks were investigated by analyzing the process and operation time needed to plant 1 containerized seedling using a planting auger and a mattock. The time spent on the various elements of the planting process was measured with a stopwatch but observations were done continuously. Result of the study shows that with the use of a lightweight planting auger the average time spent to plant a containerized seedling is 18.61 seconds while with the use of a mattock it took an average of 26.96 seconds which clearly demonstrates that the planting auger is more efficient in terms of working hours. Working intensity was also analyzed with the use of a portable heart rate monitor (Polar V800). The average increase in heart rate and work intensity index were analyzed for one planting cycle. It was observed that when using the lightweight planting auger, there was a 46.51% increase in the average heart rate while a 74.67% increase in heart rate when the mattock was used which shows that there is a significant increase in heart rate when mattock is used. In addition, work intensity index was observed to be 29.95% and 47.83% when the planting auger and mattock were used respectively. With the continuous use, work intensity index is significantly higher with the use of the mattock as compared to that of the lightweight planting auger. There were no significant differences on the growth increment of seedlings planted using the different tools until a year after planting, however differences in growth increment were observed after a year. A difference of 15.1 cm in height and 3.41 mm in diameter was observed which shows that the use of lightweight planting auger is excellent for planting containerized seedlings.