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Seed cleaning and upgrading
The first step in seed handling starts
after the harvesting of the seed. Before
and during harvesting, various foreign
substances are introduced to the seed
lot, such as sticks and stones, other
crop seed, weed seed and so on. Also,
depending on harvesting systems used,
some seeds might be broken. Any weather
conditions and seed handling may result
in the moisture content of the seed lot
being higher than optimal for the seed.
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Some cleaning and sorting techniques
used: |
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Seed sorting by size or thickness
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Seed sorting by air velocity
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Seed sorting by color
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Seed sorting by shape
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Seed sorting by specific weight
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Seed polishing, debearding, and/or
dehulling
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Seed sorting by pericarp texture
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Cleaning services include precleaning,
specific weight fractioning, cleaning,
debearding, weed seed removal, broken
seed removal, etc. Using mechanical
operations, inert material, other crop
seed and weed seed can be removed,
resulting in a high purity of the seed
lot. Specialized equipment such as a
color sorter and magnetic separator are
available.
After cleaning, the quality of the seed
lot may remain unsatisfactory in terms
of germination. A seed lot may contain
nothing but pure seed, but the quality
of those seeds can be such that overall
germination of the seed lot is low. Some
seeds have hairy outer coats that cause
the seeds to stick together. And other
crops can improve in germination if a
part of the outer coat is removed.
Upgrading services cater to these
situations. Through a combination of
specialized mechanical operation, the
quality of a seed lot can be increased
to set standards, and increase the
overall performance of the seed lot. In
this way, the seed is ready for a high
end treatment, pelleting and/or coating.
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For more information, e-mail us at
astec@astecnet.com |
