DEVICE FOR DETERMINING FORCE OF SEED GROWTH Russian patent published in 1994 - IPC

FIELD: agricultural engineering. SUBSTANCE: device comprises conical casing 2 and tray 3 with circumferentially arranged cells 5 for seeds with bed 1 and electrodes 4. Casing is made of electroconducting material and filled with material 6 (porolon) permeable to plant shoots and acting as a hold-down member whose outer surface is coated with ring-shaped graphite layer 7 which serves as the second electrode. Flexible variable-volume chamber 8 with air valve 9 is disposed inside the porous material. Contacts 10 on surface of casing 2 corresponding to graphite layers 7 connect the graphite layer 7 via switching unit 11 with counting unit 12. Located in lower part of casing 2 is stop of hold-down member in the form of, for example, a latch. Seeds are planted into cells 5, and thermostated. Shoots of test seeds grow up inside the gap between walls of casing 2 and hold-down member and intersect the electrodes constituted by graphite layers 7. Periodically, counting unit 12 is connected across switching unit 11 to contacts 10 of one of graphite layers 7. This enables determining the number of seeds whose shoots have reached this particular electrode. The provision of variable-volume chamber 8 allows adjusting the value of pressure applied by shoots to the graphite layers and producing reliable signal indicating the height of the shoot. Information on the force of seed growth serves for correcting the sowing rate and the embedding depth of seeds in soil. EFFECT: improved design. 2 cl, 1 dwg