A research on the determination of mechanization management data and optimum mechanization selection models for greenhouse vegetable cultivation in Antalya province

ABSTRACT A RESEARCH on THE DETERMINATION of MECHANIZATION MANAGEMENT DATA and OPTIMUM MECHANIZATION SELECTION MODELS for GREENHOUSE VEGETABLE CULTIVATION in ANTALYA PROVINCE Murad ÇANAKÇI Ph.D. Thesis in Agricultural Machinery Adviser : Prof. Dr. İbrahim AKINCI Jan 2005, 168 Pages In this study, general characteristics, mechanization properties and machinery management data of greenhouse vegetable farms located in Antalya Province were determined and optimum tractor power and machinery sizes of the farms were calculated. A questionnaire study was carried out to constitute database of mechanization management in the research region. In this study, five districts of Antalya, namely, Central, Gazipaşa, Kumluca, Kale and Kaş in coastline were taken into consideration. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine working parameters, power and energy requirements of agricultural machinery. Minimum cost method was used in order to calculate optimum tractor power and agricultural machinery sizes needed in greenhouse operations. A spreadsheet model was created for solving the equations in MS Excel. In the spreadsheet model, five production areas and 18 different farm propertries were evaluated. The study resulted in creating a database of agricultural machinery management for the greenhouse vegetable farms. Optimum tractor power and machinery sizes of the farms were determined according to the database. It was found that production area, mcrop pattern, operation number and distance of transport affect tractor power while production area, crop pattern, operation number and the period of tractor usage affect agricultural machinery sizes. KEY WORDS : Greenhouse vegetable cultivation, agricultural operations, machinery management, machinery cost, machinery usage models, machinery selection, Antalya COMITTEE : Prof. Dr. İbrahim AKINCI Prof. Dr. Aziz ÖZMERZİ Prof. Dr. Alim IŞIK Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet KÜRKLÜ Assist. Prof. Dr. Ibrahim YILMAZ IV