Effect of Cup Size, Seed Characteristics and Angular Speed on the Performance of an Automatic Potato Planter under Laboratory Conditions

The seed metering mechanism is the most important unit of potato planters. Accuracy of row plant spacing depends on the ability of the seed metering mechanism. The ability of the seed metering mechanism is directly associated with the constructive and operational variables of the planter. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different cups sizes (C1<C2<C3), different seed sizes (25 to 45 and 45 to 65 mm), different shapes (oblong and spherical), and angular speeds (0.9, 2.04 and 3.18 rad s-1) on the seed metering mechanism in a full automatic potato planter. The cup, angular speed, seed size and shape have an important role on the efficiency of the seed metering mechanism. The seed spacing uniformity was determined including doubles and skips. The coefficient of variation (CV%) was used to determine the seed spacing uniformity. The values of CV% for cups were 29.24, 23.76 and 26.11% for C1, C2 and C3, respectively. C3 has the highest percent value of doubles and the lowest percent value of skips. The seed spacing uniformity of oblong potato seeds was better than that of spherical potato seeds. The percent value of doubles increased and percent value of skips decreased for oblong potato seeds, opposite to the spherical potato seeds. The seed size of 45-65 mm gave a better seed spacing uniformity than the other seed size. It was observed that the seed size of 25-45 mm had higher percent value of doubles. The seed spacing uniformity tended to increase as the angular speed reduced. The CV% values of angular speed were 22.83, 24.90 and 31.39% for 0.9, 2.04, 3.18 rad s-1, respectively. As the angular speed increased, percent value of doubles decreased and percent value of skips increased.

Keywords:

Seed metering mechanism; Seed spacing uniformity; Laser measurement system; Doubles; Skips,

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