Abstract
To improve the overall mechanization level of rapeseed production in China, especially in some hilly regions where ground machinery cannot enter the fields or can only enter with very low economic benefits, a special aerial seeding system for rapeseed based on a miniature air-assisted centralized metering device was designed and tested in this study. Unlike existing commercial aerial seeding systems, the proposed seed meter was a miniaturized version derived from the traditional air-feeding seed meter on ground planters. The new version contained a redesigned seed feeding component to overcome problems of serious air backflow to the seed box and difficult seed feeding after miniaturization. Three groups of experiments were designed and conducted to optimize the parameters of the seed meter and test its performance. Results from the orthogonal experiment showed that the seed feeding component performed best when the seed layer thickness was 45 mm, the rotational speed of the gear disc was 45 r/min, and the airflow pressure was 2450 Pa. Results from the static workbench test showed that the designed seeding system had a maximum average total sowing efficiency of 537.17 g/min, with the maximum values of the stability variation coefficient of total seeding rate (seven ports) and the consistency variation coefficient between each port was 2.37% and 4.89%, respectively. Field tests further proved that the designed aerial seeding system could work stably, uniformly, and efficiently, so that the agronomic requirements of rape crop planting could be well met.
Highlights
Rapeseed is one of the most important oil crops in the world
Three operation modes of aerial seeding for rapeseed are usually utilized in practice [13]: (i) aerial seeding after tillage with a rotary tiller, in which the seeds can fall into the gaps between soil clods; (ii) aerial seeding without any field treatment, and covering the seeds with soil from trenching by a ground trencher or just by manual labor; and (iii) aerial seeding without any ground operation, only increasing sowing density to ensure enough seedlings per area
3, according to the conventional air assisted centralized metering device of the ground planter. This according to the conventional air assisted centralized metering device of the ground planter
Summary
Rapeseed is one of the most important oil crops in the world. Aside from its oil crop function, it is planted as important production sources of honey, forage, and manure and as tourist attractions [1]. Its multi-function application attributes determine that it is planted in different regions of China from plains to hills and from river valleys to shore fields This situation leads to a diversity of rapeseed planting methods including direct seeding and transplanting by manual labor, direct seeding. The main contributions of this study are summarized as follows: (1) an aerial seeding system for rapeseed based on a miniature air-assisted centralized meter was designed, with its main parameters determined to fit a multi-rotor agricultural UAV; and (2) the performance of the aerial seeding system was tested and evaluated in workbench experiments and field experiments, based on which a new aerial seeding solution for rapeseed was proposed.
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