Refinement of sweet pepper seeds on a pneumatic sorting table

With the development of production technologies and the introduction of automated technological processes, there are increased requirements for the quality of seed. Sowing quality of seeds that meet the requirements of GOST 32592-2013 «Seeds of vegetables, melons, fodder root crops and fodder cabbage. Varietal and sowing qualities. General technical conditions» do not always satisfy the requirements for seeds and their quality. To automate sowing, seeds must be aligned in size and have high energy and laboratory germination rates. One of the ways to improve the sowing qualities of seeds of sweet pepper is to refine the seeds on a pneumatic sorting table with separation of seeds according to their specific gravity, performance. The work was carried out on the experimental basis of ARRIVG – branch Federal State Budget Scientific Institution Federal Scientific Center and the seed finishing shop of the Poisk agroholding. In the experiments, we studied the possibilities of preparing seeds using the PSS-1 pneumatic sorting table manufactured at the Voronezh GSKB Zernomash. During processing, five fractions of seeds, conditionally light impurities, an intermediate fraction, two main fractions of the purified material and heavy impurities are isolated and sent to the receivers, including mineral particles (pebbles, grains of sand, which are the same size with seeds, but they are much heavier). For a better separation of fractions, separators are provided in the receivers, which can be shifted relative to the incoming seeds from the deck. The design of the machine provides for the possibility of changing: the angle of the longitudinal inclination of the deck from 0 to 8 degrees., The angle of the transverse inclination of the deck from 0 to 9 degrees, the oscillation frequency of the deck from 300 to 500 counts/min., аnd the amplitude – positionally – 3 and 5 mm. Completion of the seed pile on the PSS-1 pneumatic sorting table makes it possible to select seeds with higher sowing qualities that are suitable for modern intensive precision technologies in vegetable growing. The main direction of the sale of high-quality seed material is commodity producers. Despite the fact that the cost of high-quality seeds is an order of magnitude higher, the positive effect on the economic effect is the refusal to pick, sowing pepper seeds directly into cassettes, and better seedlings, since seedling grows more uniformly and amicably due to the germination energy.

Key words: seed fractions, seed heap, seeding quality of seeds, sweet pepper, pneumosorting table, density separation