Abstract
An air-assisted strip seeder was developed for the cost-effective and efficient seeding of paddy fields. The results of previous studies indicated that the seeding depth was too shallow, even though the hourly field capacity was high. The seeding depth is an important factor in preventing bird damage and lodging. We investigated a technique to increase the seeding depth of an air-assisted seeder. We investigated the base performance of the mechanism for blowing seeds, and examined two methods. The first method entailed increasing the airflow velocity to increase the seed velocity. The performance test results indicated that the airflow velocity has little effect on the seed velocity. In addition, the seed angle of descent increased with increasing airflow velocity. Moreover, the seeding rate decreased because the airflow velocity increased the pressure inside the tube under the grain hopper. The other method entailed the formation of grooves in the field surface before seeding. We developed an auxiliary airflow technique for forming grooves in the field surface. Field test results showed that the white part of seedlings was extended by 3 mm. This result suggests that the seeding depth can be increased.
