• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2000

This study was conducted to evaluate development of seed pellet technique such as pellet polymer search, the shape formation and hardness, the germination and emergence rate of the pellet seeds for labor-saving and reducing production cost in onion(Allium cepa L.) cultivation. The pellet seeds shape formation was good such as kaolin, clay, ash, and gypsum, and clay was good shape formation but surface of pellet seed was cracked during the drying. PG(pearlite + gypsum) as pellet material and PVA as binder were the best among the material in consideration with shape and hardness together. The hardness of the pellet seeds was affected by polymers, the kinds and concentration of binders, and that degree was large at polymer. The high hardness polymers were gypsum and coal ash, but burned lime was the lowest hardness among the pellet material. The germination(GP) and emergence percentage(EP) of pellet seed with PG in vitro were the highest among the material, and that was 93.6, 91.8%, respectively. The EP of pellet seed with PG at 20, $25^{\circ}C$ were 91.3, 92.0%, respectively, The EP of pellet seed were over the 91%, and those did not show difference with field moisture capacity , and that of 5 and 6mm size seed were the highest as 92%, respectively. and other size seeds showed over 90%, too. The EP of pellet seed with PG was decreasing as increasing the sowing depth, and that of at 10mm sowing depth was the highest as 92.7%. The time to 50% emergence of that under 70% field moisture capacity was 158h, and that was delayed at 20h compare to control seed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.381-390
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• 2002

Direct seeding of rice-seed pellets is expected to be an alternative for solving problems in current direct seeding cultivation of rice. but mass production of rice-seed pellets is prerequisite for practical application. Design. construction and performance evaluation of an experimental rice seed pelleting machine were carried out for mass production of rice-seed pellets. The pelleting machine intended to make a ball type rice-seed pellet, which have 3∼5 rice seeds and diameter of which is 12 mm. Pellet materials ; rice seeds, soil, and binder were mixed and kneaded by the mixer. The designed rice seed pelleting machine fed pellet materials by screw conveyor to forming rolls and made rice-seed pellets. Capacity, ratio of perfect rice-seed pellets, seed and pellet material loss were investigated as mixing ratio of soil to rice seed and feeding rate of pellet materials. The pelleting machine showed up to 37,000 pellets/h of pelleting rate, 61∼71% of weight ratio of perfect rice-seed pellets to pellet materials supplied, 17∼48% of seed loss ratio. Average weight and average diameter of the pellets were 1.66 g and 12.0 mm. respectively. More than 3 rice seeds were included in most pellets at 6 : 1 of mixing ratio of soil to rice seed. And compression strength of the pellets was in the range of 88-130 N. To improve performance of the pelleting machine, improvements of the forming rolls, feeding mechanism, and discharging mechanism for reducing loss of pellet materials and seeds damage are needed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.163-176
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• 1997

Sesame was one of the economical crops in Korea. However, cultivation area of sesame has been decreasing rapidly due to the lack of mechanization for this crop and the opening of agricultural product market. Sesame seed is so small that ordinary seeder can not seed properly. In rural practice, farmers seed sesame with hand and do thinning after shoot emerges. Seeding and thinning in sesame cultivation take more than 40% of total labor To reduce labor in seeding and thinning, a pellet seed machine for sesame has been developed. The pellet seed machine is very simple in structure. It utilizes the chemical reaction between alginate solution and $CaCl_2$. Two material forms a membrane when they meet The uniqueness of the pellet seed machine for sesame were 1) a counter rotating roller for metering the mixture of activated carbon and alginate and 2) swinging plate for submerging seed into the mixture. The prototype machine can produce 30, 000 pellets per hour and costs ￦6, 891 per 1 km sesame.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2001

An impact-type seed-metering device was developed for the planting of rice-pellets. In this study, new design of pellet-metering device focused on simplicity and precision seeding for the planting of rice-seed pellets. In addition of seed-metering device, several devices were also developed such as seed-guiding device, seed-supplying tube and furrow opener for precision pellet planting. Field test was conducted to estimate the planting performance of the developed metering device. As a cam rotates, the impact bar of the metering device pushes a rice-seed pellet so that the seed can be discharged from the seed-supplying tube in the impact-type seed-metering device. Results of the tests showed that mean seeding spacing was 12cm at the traveling speed of 1.0m/s, corresponding to a target spacing for planting of rice-seed pellets. Also, both miss-seeded rate and damaged-seed rate were less than 2.0%, indicating acceptable levels for the precision planting. The developed mechanism of the impact-type metering device can be directly applied to the design of metering devices for the precision pellet planting of other crops.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.535-541
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• 1996

A seed pelleting technique was developed for easy handling of small tobacco seeds (variety, NC82) and for direct seeding in temperary planting bed or in field. The mixture of pelleting material, binder and seeds were moulded in cylindrical holes sized 2 mm diameter and 2 mm height in a plastic plate. Bentonite and cellulose powder were good materials to make pellets with CMC as binder, and bentonite formed the hardest pelleted seeds among the materials. The number of the pelleted seeds made with the same weight of the materials was different with materials used and the number of seeds contained in a pelleted seed could be controlled by mixture ratio of materials and seeds. The seedless pellets ranged 6.9 to 16.0% at the ratio of pelleting material and seed for 2~3 seeds in a pellet. The moisture absorption rate at 100% RH and $25^{\circ}C$ was greater in the order of clay < bentonite < cellulose. Germination rates of pelleted seeds with bentonite and cellulose were similar to that of usual seed, but it was significantly lower with clay pelleted seeds.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2000

In order to improve the sowing practice, pelleted seeds of tobacco NC 82(Nicotiana tobacco L.) were manufactured in use of binders at the different levels of viscosity, and their physical properties according to pellet size and biological activity in seed germination were investigated while storage time elapsed. Proper range of the binder viscosity for the pellet formation was 20.3-37.2 m.pas. At the high level of viscosity(45.7 m.pas) took longer time to form the pellet and pelleting was not easy. The high binder viscosity and large pellet size revealed higher level in hardness of the pelleted tobacco seeds, which caused the longer splitting time of pellets in water. High level of binder viscosity(37.2 m.pas) in pelleted seeds led to decrease the biological activity of tobacco seed germination by the storage at 4 t over 30 days. But at the level of 20.3m.pas in binder viscosity, the germination of pelleted seeds was little affected by the long storage time to 120 days.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.678-684
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• 1996

Seed pelleting have successfully been used in many crops for better crop estab-lishment and for mechanizing seeding process for small crop seeds in developed countries. In this experiment various pelleting materials and binders were tested to get basic information on the shape, hardness and germination of pelleted seesds of cabbage (cv. Seoul Beachoo) and rice (cv: Ilpoom). PLL-11, paper clay, lime and coal ash were good materials to make smooth shape of the pellets with pel gel and AG-11 as binders, and PLL-ll as material and pelgel and AG-11 as binders were the best among them in consideration of shape and hardness together. The hardness of the pelleted seeds were differed with each other depending on both of the pelleting materials and binders. Pelleted cabbage seeds coated by pelgel as binder with different materials showed lower germination percentge than control in general, but the seeds pelleted by PLL-11 with different binders showed no restraint effects. When the cabbage seed pelleted by PLL-11 with pelgel as binder showed almost same germination percentage as control. The pH and electrical conductivity of the extract from bentonite and zeolite were very higher than other materials tested and germination percentage showed a little lower than control when the cab-bage seed planted on the filter paper damped with the extract. As a result, PLL-11 as pelleting material and pel gel and AG-11 as binder appeared the good materials to make pellets of cabbage seeds and rice in consideration of shape, hardness and germination.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.411-420
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• 2003

Physical and cultural properties were investigated on the rice-seed pellets made by the pelleting machine(Yu, 2003) as the changes with mixing ratios of soil to rice seed of 6 : 1, 7 : 1, and 8 : I, and rotating speeds of forming rolls of 7, 10, and 13 rpm. Average weight, average diameter, and average sphericity of the pellets were 1.70 g, 12.0 ㎜, and 99.1 ％, respectively. Average number of seeds per pellet was more than 3, and almost all pellets had more than 3 seeds in the cases of mixing ratios of 6 : 1, and 7 : 1 at the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm. Gradual drying was needed because rapid drying caused cracks on surface of the pellets. Compression strength of the pellets dried in shady room was in the range of 132 ∼ 152 N, which was enough for handling. Comparing with the previous pellets(Park, 2002), average number of seeds per pellet, ratio of pellets including more than 3 seeds, and compression strength increased due to the effects of pressure feed of pellet materials, and improvements of the forming rolls. Emergence ratio of the pellets made at the mixing ratio of 6 : 1 and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm, was 100 % on dry paddy and was 97 % on flooded paddy surface. Good growth characteristics, and yield except number of seedling stand and ratio of missing plant were shown in planting of the pellets made at the mixing ratio of 7 : 1 and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm on flooded paddy surface field. Considering the cultural results, the mixing ratio of 6 : 1, and the forming rolls' speed of 7 rpm seems to be optimum operating condition for the improved pelleting machine.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.403-410
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• 2003

To enhance the performance of a rice seed pelleting machine and the quality of rice-seed pellets made, improvement of the rice seed pelleting machine developed previously(Park, 2002) was tried and its performance was evaluated. As compared with the previous pelleting machine, a feeding mechanism of pellet materials to the forming rolls was changed from screw conveyor to hydraulic cylinder for proper feeding, rings were installed among rows of semi-spherical forming grooves on the forming rolls for reducing pellet materials loss and seeds damage, and discharging air nozzles were added for complete discharging of the pellets made. Through performance tests, capacity, pelleting ratio, and seed loss ratio of the pelleting machine were investigated at the mixing ratios of soil to rice seed of 6 : 1, 7 : 1, and 8 : 1, and rotating speeds of the forming rolls of 7 rpm, 10 rpm, and 13 rpm. As results of performance evaluation, pelleting ratios were in the range of 77 ∼ 89 ％, and maximum pelleting ratio increased by 18 % in comparison with that of the previous machine. Maximum capacity was about 110 kg/h(about 63,000 pellets/h), which was increased by 70 % in comparison with that of the previous machine. But, ratios of seed loss were in the range of 24 - 49 ％, which were not improved.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2020

In this study, the effect of seed pre-treatments and pellet coating materials to enhance the efficiency of large-scale propagation of Aster koraiensis seeds were investigated. Seeds were immersed in water for one day, and only those that sank were used for pre-treatment to use filled seeds. Pre-treatments were divided into hormone treatments, with gibberellic acid (GA₃; 200 and 500 ppm) and 24-epibrassinolide (10^-6, 10^-7, and 10^-8M), and priming with potassium nitrate (100 mM of KNO₃). To produce pellet-coated seeds, pellet materials (DTCS or DTK) were applied to control (unprimed) and primed seeds with binders (PVA or CMC). The maximum germination percent (GP) of seeds before pellet coating was 65% (with the priming treatment), and there was no difference in the GP of seeds among hormone treatments. For seeds sown in a growth chamber on filter paper, GP was 41% for control (unprimed/uncoated) seeds, 65% for uncoated primed seeds, 71% for DTCS/PVA-pellet-coated seeds, and 42% for DTK/CMC-pellet-coated seeds. Seeds that were primed first and then pellet-coated showed greatly improved GP, mean germination time (MGT), and germination rate than seeds that were only pellet-coated. For seeds sown in commercial soil in a greenhouse, control seeds had a GP of 27%, whereas primed seeds had the highest GP (58%), and their MGT and GT were 9.4 days and 7.0%·day, respectively. In addition, DTK/PVA-pellet-coated seeds (40%) also had a GP higher than the control (27%), and their MGT was 15-27 days. For seeds sown in sandy-loam soil in a greenhouse, unprimed-pellet-coated seeds and primed-pellet-coated seeds both had GPs ranged of 39%, which were lower than that of control seeds. In general, the seeds that were pellet-coated with DTK had a higher GP than those pellet-coated with DTCS. Furthermore, the MGT of unprimed-pellet-coated seeds was 15.0-19.8 days, which was longer than the MGT of primed-pellet-coated seeds. These results suggest that priming enhances seedling emergence of Aster koraiensis seeds. Moreover, when priming is combined with pellet coating, DTK is a more suitable pellet material than DTCS, and PVA and CMC are equally suitable adhesives.