Engineering and technical solutions to improve effectiveness of pre-sowing moistening of seeds

Abstract

Pre-sowing treatment protects seeds against diseases and pests, and forms a nutrient reserve stimulating growth and increasing yields of the cultivated crops. Pre-sowing moistening is one the simplest ways to prepare seeds for boosting their adaptation to soil conditions and increasing the yield. However, in spite of a rather positive influence on crop yield, the application of pre-sowing moistening is limited. The research on pre-sowing moistening influence on seedlings of crops found that seedling vigor by the soaking in water and potassium humate increases by 24% and 28%, respectively. At the same time the experiment has shown that by the pre-sowing moistening along with the temperature of the liquid where soaking happens, ensuring respiratory regime is of a great importance. Otherwise, seed life process oppression occurs. Ensuring the respiratory regime by pre-sowing moistening is possible by two methods. The first one is the rotation of immersing in the moistening liquid and respiratory process, and the second one is spraying the moistening liquid over the moving seeds. One of the main reasons preventing the mechanized sowing of seeds after pre-sowing moistening is the abundant amount of moisture on the seed surface. During the experiment, it is found that warm air blow-off of seeds does not bring the desired result and requires significant energy consumption by substantial process duration. By means of experiments, it is found that the effective way of moisture removal from the seed surface is the contact provision of moistened seeds with the moisture absorbing surface. As the result of the patent search, the principal schemes of units for seed moistening ensuring the respiratory regime during the process of moistening and units for moisture removal from the seed surface after soaking are developed. It is expected that the application of the developed units will allow widening the possibilities for pre-sowing moistening of seeds.