Development of Ginseng Seeders for the Dual-use in Seedling and Direct Planting

묘삼 직파 겸용 인삼파종기 개발

Standard ginseng seedling, selected after one year's rearing in the seedling bed has been conventionally transplanted in Korea. Recently, the direct seeding areas have been increasing to product high quality ginsengs for red-ginseng processing. Reciprocating push-rod brush, holed-roller and vacuum suction seeders, planting with 30 ${\times}$ 30mm spacings and adjustable to the folds were designed and theirs performances were evaluated. The developed three types of seeders reliably performed at the success rate over 95% with less than 10% in slip rate, and could be used a seeder for the greater spacings by adjusting metering parts. The research concluded that the vacuum suction seeder was the most feasible and practical with the greatest metering success and the least slip among three type seeders of the reciprocating push-rod brush, holed-roller and vacuum suction seeders. The vacuum suction seeder holds a seed with each needle nozzle using the negative pressure created by a vacuum pump. The capacity was 24.5 times greater than a man power at the speed of 5 m/min.