Barley, crimson clover and wheat

seed conditioning in a continuous

seeds flowing blower with
vertical air-stream
Avelar1, S.A.G.; Garay2, A. E.; Peske3, S. T.; Elias2, S.G. (1Associao dos Produtores de Sementes de Mato Grosso APROSMAT,
Rondonpolis, MT, Brasil; 2Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR,USA; 3Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brasil).

100.0 f(x) = - 0.04x^2 + 1.05x + 92.41

R = 0.98
99.8

INTRODUCTION

99.6
99.4

Seed separation based on aerodynamic properties can be

carried out to remove poorly nourished or empty seeds and
impurities. The Continuous Seed Blower TM is a continuous
flowing blower that uses only a vertical air stream to
perform seed cleaning. The aim of this study was to evaluate
the use of vertical air stream on barley, crimson clover and
wheat seed cleaning and quality upgrading.
.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Seeds 3 barley seed samples
- 4 crimson clover seed lots cv bolsena
- 16 wheat seed lots
Equipment - Continuous Seed Blower; a rotary
anemometer Turbo MeterTM; hot-wire anemometer Testo 425 TM

99.2
99.0

Physical purity (%)

98.8
98.6
98.4
98.2
98.0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Air velocity (m.s-1)

Figure 1 Wheat seed physical purity after cleaning in a

continuous flowing blower at different air velocity.
7.0
6.5

f(x) = 0.68x - 2.26

R = 1

6.0
5.5
5.0
Thousand
seeds weight (g)

Air behavior three different horizontals distances (0.022

m, 0.038 m and 0.054 m);
-Air velocity was measured in different sets
of fan velocity and motor frequency
Air speed - 6 m.s-1 to 14 m.s-1 (barley);
- 8 m.s-1 to 13 m.s-1 (crimson clover);
- 8 m.s-1 to 13 m.s-1 (wheat);

4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0

10

11

12

13

Air velocity (m.s-1)

Figure 2 Crimson clover thousand seed weight after

cleaning in a continuous flowing blower at different air
velocity.

Evaluations physical purity; thousand seed weight,

germination, dry weight of seedlings at 7 and 15 days after
sowing.

100
95= - 1.66x^2 + 34.85x - 84.58
f(x)
R90
= 0.95
Germination (%)

85
80
75
70

f(x) = - 1.19x^2 + 24.98x - 73.13

R = 0.89
germination rate

10

11

12

Air velocity (m.s-1)

10

11

12

Air velocity (m.s-1)

C
30.0
f(x) = 3.77x - 17.24
R = 0.96

25.0
20.0

f(x) = - 1.14x^2 + 27.52x - 122.05

R = 0.99
SDW 14 days (mg)

SDW - 7 days (mg) 15.0

10.0
5.0
7

10

11

12

Air velocity (m.s-1)

10

11

12

Air velocity (m.s-1)

Figure 3 Barley seeds physiological quality after

cleaning in a continuous flowing blower at different air
velocity.

Equipments

RESULTS

Barley seedlings vigor difference

CONCLUSIONS
1 - the voltage affects the air velocity and there is an
air velocity gradient in the horizontal plastic tube;
8 m/s

10 m/s

Crimson clover seed germination difference

2 - it is possible to clean and quality upgrade barley

wheat and crimson clover seeds in a continuous flowing
blower with vertical airstream;
3 - there is an optimum air velocity to remove the most
impurities with least seed losses, obtaining the maximum
seed germination and vigor.