STAND-TESTING OF AN EXPERIMENTAL SEED DRILL FOR SOWING LAWN GRASS

Abstract

The rational movement of a seeding unit when sowing lawn grasses requires the seed drill to move both along straight-line and curvilinear trajectories, thus enabling it to sideslip possible obstacles, while maintaining uniform sowing. To ensure uniform sowing during a curved path, a different amount of seed material is required to enter the soil from the seed wheels, which travel distances of different radii. To check the indices of the non-uniformity of sowing between units and the general variability of sowing at rectilinear and curvilinear movement, the experimental seed drill SV-0.9 equipped with the seeding unit of a reel type was developed and manufactured. It is capable of uniform sowing both at rectilinear and curvilinear movement. The authors present some stand test methods for determining the rate of the non-uniformity of sowing between the units for the experimental seed drill with regard to its ability to provide uniform sowing both at rectilinear and curvilinear movement. Benchmark tests of the experimental seed drill were carried out on seeds with different physical and mechanical properties - white clover and grass mixture “Sportivnaya”. The sowing area was 30 m2. The results of benchmark tests confirmed a linear relationship between the number of the reel grooves and the amount of sowing. It was found that between the units of the seed drill, the index of the non-uniformity of sowing of white clover seeds ranged between 2.23 and 3.10% and of grass mixture - 3.97 and 4.79%, the standard value being 8%. The variability index of the total sowing of white clover seeds was 2.77%; while for grass mixture “Sportivnaya”, this index was 2.95%, the standard value being 9%. The study experimentally confirmed the effectiveness of the developed seed drill for the uniform sowing of lawn grasses.