Results of Studies on Optimization of Seeder Mechanism for Sowing Vegetable Seeds in Cell Trays

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to optimize the parameters of cell tray vegetable seeder with the aim of adopting it to a specific working conditions. Two major factors, the vacuum pressure in the seeding drum and suck hole diameter were tested on cabbage seeds (Valentina cultivar) and plastic tray with 64 cells at three levels (–1, 0, +1) for each factor using the orthogonal central composite design (CCD) regression experiment. The effects of these factors on the single-seed rate (seed singulation), double-seed rate and empty-seed rate were investigated. The experimental results showed that major factor affecting single-seed rate, empty-seed rate and multi-seed rate was vacuum pressure, while suction hole diameter do not affect double-seed rate. It has been established that the round holes of the seeding drum conform to the round-shaped cabbage seeds to ensure high-quality seeding within the required agrotechnical indices — up to 96.0 % of single-seed sowing, and up to 4 % seeding of cells with double and emptyseed rate. The study determined the optimal parameters of vacuum pressure to be 2,9 kPa and 1,0 mm for suction hole diameter at a constant speed of conveyor belt 2,4 m/min. These parameters provided the basis for design and performance improvement of the tray vegetable seeding mechanism.

Keywords

• vacuum pressure
• hole diameter
• seed-metering performance
• cabbage
• seeding mechanism