Develop a seed metering unit by studying the physical properties of Castor (Ricinus communis L.) seeds

Abstract

Agricultural equipment manufacturers and engineers must consider seed properties when designing and developing machinery and equipment for planting, harvesting, processing, packaging, and storing seeds. A seed metering unit is developed based on several properties such as size, geometric mean diameter, thousand seed weight, volume, surface area, sphericity, bulk density, true density, porosity and angle of repose. Initially, seeds' physical properties were calculated. There are two varieties of castor seed available, GCH-7 and GCH-8. As a result, the seeds initially contained 6.24% and 5.98% dry matter of GCH-7 and GCH-8, respectively. As a result, the mean length, width, thickness, arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter, volume, surface area, sphericity, bulk density, true density, porosity, angle of repose, and thousand seed weight for GCH-7 were 12.29, 8.51, 6.24, 9.01, 8.49 mm, 351.35 mm3, 200.18 mm, 69.00%, 653.40, 1157.00 kg. m-3, 43.46%, 29.00Ëš and 343.00 g, respectively and for GCH-8 were 12.40, 8.92, 6.30, 9.21, 8.67 mm, 376.81 mm3, 209.34 mm, 70.03%, 671.00, 1198.00 kg. m-3, 44.01%, 29.23Ëš and 372.00 g, respectively. We developed efficient planter components based on these properties.