Applied Mechanics and Materials
ISSN: 1662-7482, Vols. 268-270, pp 1966-1969
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.268-270.1966
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
Online: 2012-12-27
Development History, Status and Trends of Plot Seeder
Shuguang Liu 1, a, Yunfei Ma1,b(corresponding author)
1
Institute of science and technology, Yantai Research Institute of China Agricultural University,
Yantai, CHINA 264670
a
b
[email protected], [email protected]
Keywords: Agricultural machinery, Plot seeder, Field test
Abstract. Plot seeder is a special seeder for field experiment on developing new varieties, breeding
high quality seed and holding comparison test of varieties. The three stages of plot seeder
development (germination stage, development stage and improvement stage) in developed countries
and the development over 30 years in China were introduced. Working principle, characteristic and
common types of plot seeder at the present time are shown. The trends of plot seeder from 4 aspects,
including structure and types, application, research, manufacturers, show development of plot seeder
is benign and China will make important contribution in the application for plot seeder development.
Development History of Plot Seeder in Developed Countries
Plot seeder has developed more than 70 years since 1930s[1]. From the development characteristic,
there are three development stages of obvious characteristics.
The first stage (1930s-1950s) is germination stage. After the first World War, world agriculture
began the postwar short recovery period. North America, in the absence of suffering from war damage
and relatively high mechanization level, became the first area of development of plot seeder. In
Canada in 1935 the world's first plot seeder was successfully developed, which realized major
transition of plot seeder from zero to some. Subsequently, America, Asia and some other countries
with higher levels of agricultural mechanization, such as Austria, the United States, Norway, France,
Sweden, Germany, Japan and the former Soviet Union had also began to develop. In 1954
Wintersteiger AG in Austria developed the first simple plot seeder for seed company. For influence of
the first World War and the second World War on agriculture, plot seeder was at the experiment stage.
No successful plot seeder continued development, but actual need and researchers’ achievements for
plot seeder were development foundation.
The second stage (1950s-1980s) is development stage. Since 1955 Mr. Egil Øyjord, the
professor of Agricultural University of Norway, began to develop plot drill. During the winter 1957
Mr. Øyjord designed a 10-row plot drill for front mounting on an Agria 1700 two wheeled garden
tractor. This seeder drill was put into operation in the spring of 1958 at Vollebekk research farm,
belonging to the Agricultural University of Norway (NLH)(now named Norwegian University of Life
Sciences)[2]. During the winter 1958 Mr. Øyjord designed a 4-row and a 6-row plot drill. These plot
drills were exhibited at a great agricultural show in Oslo in 1959. During the winter 1959-1960 Mr.
Øyjord designed and improved 4-row and a 10-row plot drills. In the spring of 1960 two plot drills
were put in operation at the State Experimental Farm, Møystad, Norway. Very successful results were
obtained and it was decided that these plot drills should be put into production. During the winter
1960-1961, 20 units of the 10-row plot drills and 5 units of the 4-row plot drills were manufactured at
Jens A. Schou Mek Verksted, Drobak, Norway. These plot drills were delivered and successfully put
into operation at Norwegian research stations in the spring of 1961.
During 1957-1961, Egil Øyjord successfully invented plot drill. Core structure of plot
drill—conule-disk seed-metering device realized fixed quantity of seeding, named Øyjord
seed-metering device, and was still in use. Øyjord seed-metering device successfully developed
became the milepost on phylogeny of plot seeder, while field breeding machinery also started to
become an independent discipline.
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Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 268-270
1967
On June 15-27 1964, this NATO Advanced Study Institute was arranged at the Norwegian Institute
of Agricultural Engineering, Vollebekk, Aas. 71 participants from 17 countries participated in this
Conference. According to a proposal of Egil Øyjord, the International Association on Mechanization
of Field Experiments (IAMFE) was founded. At this meeting, Øyjord plot drill was widely
recognized. In order to follow up the demand and develop of the Øyjord tractor mounted and
self-propelled plot drills, Mr. Øyjord established and operated the Øyjord Research Laboratory at Jens
A. Schou Mek Verksted from 1966 to 1976. From 1961 to 1976 the Øyjord plot drills were exported
from Norway to 57 countries all over the world. Mr. Øyjord invented and developed many new
models of his tractor-mounted and self propelled plot drills in the Øyjord Research Laboratory at the
Schou factory. Production continued in Norway until 1974-1976, when the Wintersteiger AG, Ried,
Austria, took over the production. Mr. Øyjord used the royalties from the export of Øyjord plot
seeders as a financial source for support of the IAMFE activities. Since 1972 the Øyjord plot drills
have been copied in USA. Later they have been copied in China, Czechoslovakia, India, Italy, Poland,
Turkey, Spain and the earlier Soviet Union. They are now in use in more than 100 countries all over
the world. Plot seeders produced by Wintersteiger AG in Austria, Hege AG in Germany and
HALDRUP AG in Denmark were the most classic products. In order to adapt to different seeds and
improve seeding uniformity, some different construction on seeding-metering devices, including
conule-belt type, conule centrifugal type, conule rotary type, and so on, were developed, which
increased product types of plot seeder. At the beginning of the 1980s, Wintersteiger AG developed a
precision plot seeder with air suction type seeding-metering device, which realized single seed sowed.
In 1983 Wintersteiger AG obtained the world patent for the precision plot seeder, and principle of air
suction metering had been in use ever since[3]. With the definite principles of plot drill and plot
precision seeder, many developed seeding-metering devices and parts for different seed in size, shape,
weight, etc. and mature production technology on plot seeder made products system formed.
The third stage (after 1990s) was improvement stage. Along with the wide application of high
technology, such as computer, mechanical and electrical integration, automation, plot seeder also
ushered in the era of automation and intelligence. After Wintersteiger AG successful mergered Hege
AG of Germany, which produced similar products with Wintersteiger AG, in 1999 Wintersteiger AG
became the largest enterprise with the highest technology for plot seeder. The technologies including
the GPS, the Global Seed Control, seed monitor, plot data documentation, etc. were widely applied in
plot seeders, which greatly improved the performance of plot seeder.
Developed mechanization technology combined with emerging intelligent control successfully
realized humane, intelligence, automation and modernization of plot seeder, which showed that
technical level of plot seeder developed towards higher level with progress of science and technology.
Development History of Plot Seeder in China
Development of plot seeder in China, relatively late, began after the reform and opening up. Since
1978 China has introduced a variety of plot seeder from foreign country. For example, Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences system introduced 27 units of plot seeders, including plot drills,
plot precision seeder and plant line plot seeder, from Wintersteiger AG, Mainly in 16 research
institutions, such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing Agricultural University, Northeast Agricultural University and so on. The two meetings on
field test equipment respectively were held in Zhengzhou and Shijiazhuang at the end of 1981 and the
spring of 1983, while in 1983 Egil Øyjord invited by Agriculture Department lectured at the China
Agricultural University, which promoted the development of plot seeder in China, and indicated
China had entered the development stage of plot seeder. In the 1980s, some scientific research
institutions developed a number of plot seeders based on plot seeder introduced, such as ZXJB-4 plot
precision seeder (Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences), NKXB-1.4 plot
drill(China Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Beijing Agricultural University), 2BJ-2 plot
1968
Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Manufacture
precision seeder(Suning County Agricultural Machinery Institute in Hebei), XBJ-15, XBJ-15A plot
drill (Hongxinglong Farming Canal Bureau Research Institute in Heilongjiang), 2XB-10 plot drill
(the 3rd Repair Shop of 597 Farm in Heilongjiang), etc. It was reported that about 80 plot drills and
plot precision seeders had been made in 1992. After 2000 research was less in China due to less
development and restricted application.
Application Status of Plot Seeder
Plot seeder is a special seeder used for breeding new varieties and field experiment on variety
comparative test[4]. According to the present research status of plot seeder, plot seeder can be divided
into plot precision seeder, plot drill, and plant line plot seeder.
Plot Precision Seeder. Plot precision seeder requires in terms of length and width of the plot area
the same type of seeds sow into soil, according to precise seeding quantity (single or multiple seeds),
prescribed spacing, row spacing and sowing depth, and after finishing sowing a plot, seed shall be
drained from the seed-metering device at once. At present plot precision seeder consists of feeding
variants (including central seed distributor), control unit, seed-metering device with slotted disk
principle, opener systems, and so on. The vacuum suction seed-metering principle is applied in
Seed-metering device of precision plot seeder.
Working principle of seed-metering device with slotted disk:
Seeds are picked up by vacuum and held against the slots on the radial slotted disk. The rotation of
the radial slotted disk against the spiral slot continually changes the shape of the air intake aperture.
While the radial slotted disk turns, the seeds slide along the slots of the spiral slotted disk to the
outside, where the suction holding the seeds in place drops. The seeds fall into a cell in the cell ring.
From the cell ring they are transported on to the drop aperture. Seed drop from here through the
opener and into the ground.
For example, Monoseed TC self propelled, Monoseed B/K/DT/Vario, Plotking Dual tractor
mounted plot precision seeder installing predistributor produced by Wintersteiger AG.[5],
HALDRUP SP-35 plot precision seeder produced by HALDRUP AG belong to plot precision seeder.
Plot Drill. Plot drill requires in terms of length and width of the plot area the same type of seeds
sow into soil, according to seeding quantity (the grains within length segments), prescribed spacing,
row spacing and sowing depth, and after finishing sowing a plot, seed shall clear automatically seed in
the seed-metering device at once. At present plot drill consists of feeding variants, control unit,
seed-metering device, seed distributor, opener systems, and so on. Seed-metering device of plot drill
including conule-belt type and conule-disk type(Øyjord seed-metering device).
Working principle of conule-belt (conule-disk) seed-metering device:
The seed passes through the filling funnel into the filling tube. When the funnel lifts, the seeds are
uniformly distributed by the conical hopper onto the belt (the disk). The belted cone (the disk) rotates
exactly once while travelling over the plot; as it does so, the seed continually drops into the rotary
distributor.
For example, XBJ-150 plot seeder self propelled produced by Hongxinglong Scientific Research
Institute in China, Plotseeder TC self propelled, Plotseeder S/XL tractor mounted plot seeder
produced by Wintersteiger AG, HALDRUP SB-25, SD-50 plot precision seeder produced by
HALDRUP AG belong to plot drill.
Plant Line Plot Seeder. Plant line plot seeder requires in terms of length and width of the plot area
the different type of seeds sow into different seed drilling, according to seeding quantity (the grains
within length segments), prescribed spacing, row spacing and sowing depth, and after finishing
sowing a plot, seed shall clear automatically seed in the seed-metering device at once.At present plant
line plot seeder consists of feeding device, control unit, seed distributions per row (conule-belt or
conule-disk seed-metering device), opener systems, etc. For example, Rowseeder S/XL plot seeder
tractor mounted produced by Wintersteiger AG, HALDRUP SR-30 plant line plot seeder produced by
Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 268-270
1969
HALDRUP AG. belong to plant line plot drill and Monoseed TC/B/K/DT/Vario, Plotking Dual plot
precision seeder installing single funnel (one filling funnel per row) or magazine system (seed is filled
into some row magazines and sowed automatically) belong to plant line plot precision seeder.
Trends of Plot Seeder
Structure and type. The current plot seeder is divided into three major categories and working
principle of its structure is basically determined, while structure of plot seeder will further optimize to
improve work performance, enhance parts’ or accessories’ commonality of different types, and
adaptation ability of all models, perfect control function and improve control technology, which are
chief development of plot seeder to a higher level. In addition, larger plot seeder is developed
according to the breeding needs, by the forms of coexists large-scale, mid-scale, small-scale plot
seeders or combination with small-scale plot seeder.
Application. For a long time, the traditional sowing by hand is used in China, which seriously
affects on accuracy, scientificity, catholicity of the plot test. In contrast, high efficiency of
mechanization and consistent of sowing index avoid a obvious error of the traditional sowing by
hand. Plot seeder will gradually replace the artificial sowing mode, and become important tool in
breeding test in colleges of agriculture, departments of crop breeding and seed production and
research institutions on breeding research and test. In order to accurately compare the differences
between varieties, according to working principle of plot seeder, application area of plot precision
seeder will gradually increase.
Research. With the high technology application in agricultural machinery, 3S technique (RS, GIS,
GPS) gradually integrates into control system of plot seeder, which further improves operation
convenience, sowing accuracy, monitoring real-time and accuracy and job intelligence of plot seeder.
Although the technology progresses rapidly, greatly advance on application level, the current types of
plot seeder which can still satisfy breeding test requirements of the plots and adapt to the development
of breeding will exist for a long time.
Manufacturers. As a result of narrow application scope of plot seeder and relatively small
application number, in contrast, excessive production enterprises will cause fierce competition led to
the fittest survival. Products produced by large enterprises with high-tech and powerful breakthrough
will be on behalf of development level of plot seeder, leading the development of plot seeder.
Conclusions
Although plot seeder research started later, technical level is lower in China, and China's production
enterprises of plot seeder has been basically failed at the beginning of this century, many large and
medium-sized breeding companies introduce foreign advanced plot seeder with vigorous
development of China's breeding enterprise. As a large agricultural country, China will make
important contribution in the application for plot seeder development.
References
[1] Guo Peiyu, Shang Shuqi, Wang Yu’an: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural
Engineering Vol. 20(2004)(supp), p.53-55
[2] Egil Øyjord. Øyjord plot seeders (Secretariate and Information Centre of IAMFE, Norway 1998).
[3] Information on http://www.wintersteiger.com/zh/Group/Facts-und-Figures/History
[4] Guo Peiyu, Shi Senbao, Wang Yu’an: Field breeding mechanization and modernization of seed
processing (China Agricultural University press, China 1998).
[5] Wintersteiger AG. Precision spaced planters, Single row seeders, Plot seeders (Wintersteiger
AG, Austria 2009).
Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Manufacture
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.268-270
Development History, Status and Trends of Plot Seeder
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.268-270.1966