Abstract
A new seeder was designed and built to ease thinning by placing the seeds at correct intervals. The performance of this seeder was evaluated. The seeder consisted of 2 conveyor belts for transporting seeds, a chisel furrow opener, a covering plate and a ground-contact drive wheel. The 2 conveyor belts were stacked one on top of the other. A hole in the upper conveyor belt picked up one of the seeds, then transferred to a larger hole in the lower conveyor belt, and released at a low position. The laboratory experimental setup was as follows : the new seeder, a commercial belt seeder, and a commercial vacuum seeder were mounted on the motors that were fixed on stands. This setup was driven at a working speed of 0.56 m/s. For sowing pelleted carrot seeds by using the new seeder, the seed spacing interquartile range (IQR) was found to be 8.4 mm, which was lower than half the IQR for a commercial belt seeder. In case of spinach seeds, the new seeder showed an IQR of 8.6 mm, which was less than a third of the IQR displayed by both the commercial seeders. In case of Japanese radish seeds, the new seeder showed an IQR of 12.6 mm, which was also less than the IQR presented by both the commercial seeders. During field trials, while sowing 3 seed types, the new seeder showed an IQR less than the IQR displayed by both the commercial seeders.
