초록
The characteristic of moisture absorption of granular fertilizer was measured at several different opening sizes on the top cover of a hopper in a humid weather. The size of the opening was to represent the degree of looseness of sealing of the top cover of the hopper. The application distribution was characterized by the scattering distance of granular fertilizer with different degree of moisture absorption in a pneumatic granular fertilizer applicator. The moisture absorption rates were 12.92 and 12.26 mg of moisture an hour for one gram of each granular fertilizers of NPK 22-12-12 and 21-17-17, respectively. The moisture absorption increased linearly as the opening size increased. The median value of the scattering distance distribution decreased with time of absorption, however, it decreased very slowly after three hours of absorption.