Research Results for a New Onion Seed Drill

Abstract

. For sowing small seeds of vegetables, in particular onions, special seeders are used. They are not produced in the Republic of Uzbekistan, while many diff erent pneumatic seeders are produced abroad. The authors note that foreign samples are complex in design, not adapted to local soil and climatic conditions, cannot provide even seed placement on ridges, and the cost of the seeders themselves and service are very high.(Research purpose) To develop a vegetable seeder in relation to the soil and climatic conditions of Uzbekistan, to determine the seeding rate of onion seeds depending on the length of the active part of the seed reel, to evaluate the formation quality of sowing ridges and irrigation furrows.(Materials and methods) The authors determined the sowing rate by turning the seeder drive wheel at a given length of the active part of the sowing reel and collecting the sown seeds in cups with further weighing. The quality of sowing ridges and irrigation furrows formation was evaluated by the method of profi ling the fi eld before and after the seeder’s pass.(Results and discussion) The authors developed a vegetable seeder that performed three operations in one pass: cutting irrigation furrows, forming sowing ridges of a trapezoidal shape and sowing onion seeds and other small-seeded vegetable crops in a three-row tape method in each tape. They found that the dependence of the seeding rate on the length of the active part of the reel had a slightly fragile parabolic shape, and the required seeding rates – 24-48 pieces per linear meter (3.9-7.8 kilograms per hectare) – were provided with the length of the sowing reel 3.3- 6.2 millimeters. It was proved that the seeder provided a high-quality formation of sowing ridges and irrigation furrows: the row spacing was 68.8 centimeters (installation spacing – 70 centimeters), the top ridge width was 42.5 centimeters (the predetermined one was 40 centimeters), the depth of irrigation furrows was on average 9.6 centimeters.(Conclusions) A vegetable seeder was developed for sowing small-seeded vegetable crops with the simultaneous formation of sowing ridges and cutting irrigation furrows, which ensured high-quality performance of all operations and observance of onion seeds.