OBTAINING “ORGANIC SEEDS” OF VEGETABLE AND INDUSTRIAL PLANTS USING THE AERODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF THE SEEDS

• Published in: INMATEH - Agricultural Engineering pp. 355 - 364
• Main Authors: Paun, A., Stroescu, Gh, Zaica, Al, Stefan, V., Olan, M., Yasbeck Khozamy, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2021
• ISSN: 2068-4215; 2068-2239
• DOI: 10.35633/inmateh-63-36

The production and quality of any agricultural crop is determined both by the factors acting from the moment of sowing until harvesting, as well as by those that directly influence the seeds before sowing. In the organic cultivation of cereals, industrial plants, vegetables, medicinal plants, the seeds must be clean without any impurities because the maintenance of these crops does not allow using chemicals. There is a number of technologies and pieces of equipment for separating impurities. In case of separating impurities from the mass of small seeds, especially vegetable and flower seeds, the use of separation on sieves is very expensive because compared to other crops, vegetable seeds are produced in small quantities (except for beans, peas, lentils, etc.) and have a wide variety of characteristics. Vegetables belong to a large number of plant families. This is why their seeds have a very different structure, shape, size and chemical composition. To overcome these challenges, the experimental model Seed conditioning module for vegetable species – MCSL, which separates impurities by using the aerodynamic properties of the seeds was developed. Seed conditioning module for vegetable species is designed to improve the technologies of organic seed production for vegetable seeds, flowers, industrial plants, cereals and to solve practical problems regarding seed production in the case of vegetable crops. Starting from these considerations, the paper will present theoretical and experimental information on the influence of some factors on the aerodynamic properties of cereal seeds, vegetables and industrial plants. The quality of seed separation in this module depends on the degree of uniformity of the air velocity field in the working area, on the stability of this field and on its extent.