Elwakeel Abdallah Elshawadfy, Elbeltagi Ahmed, Salem Ali, Dewidar Ahmed Z
Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt.
Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 May 16;16:1531377. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1531377. eCollection 2025.
Precise seed placement during potato planting critically determines crop distribution and density, yet mis-planting remains a persistent agricultural challenge. Current manual detection and correction methods introduce inefficiencies, increase labor costs, and risk human error.
To address these limitations, this study developed and evaluated a high-precision variable-rate electronic metering mechanism (EMM) capable of automated mis-planting detection and replanting under controlled laboratory conditions. The EMM was built to operate at different planting distances and travel speeds, with its design focusing on finding the best mechanical setup before testing it in the field at four different planting distances (24.12, 31.06, 34.87, and 41.24 cm) and five speeds (2.13-6.11 km/h).
The obtained results demonstrated optimal stability at lower speeds (2.13-3.07 km/h), where sensor accuracy remained consistent, achieving peak performance (QI=98.7%, RI=100%, minimal MPI) at 41.24 cm spacing and 2.13 km/h. Performance degraded significantly at higher speeds (3.94-6.11 km/h), with factorial analysis confirming both speed and spacing as statistically significant factors affecting all indices. Furthermore, the total cost of the developed system was approximately $130 USD.
Future experiments will include further field experiments to study the influence of field variables such as soil type, surface irregularity, and environmental disturbances on the performance of the EMM.
马铃薯种植过程中精确的种子播种位置对于作物分布和密度至关重要，但播种错误仍是一个长期存在的农业挑战。当前的人工检测和纠正方法效率低下，增加了劳动力成本，并且存在人为误差风险。
为解决这些局限性，本研究开发并评估了一种高精度变量电子计量机制（EMM），该机制能够在受控实验室条件下自动检测播种错误并重新播种。EMM的设计旨在能在不同的种植距离和行进速度下运行，在将其在田间以四种不同种植距离（24.12、31.06、34.87和41.24厘米）和五种速度（2.13 - 6.11千米/小时）进行测试之前，重点是找到最佳机械设置。
所获得的结果表明，在较低速度（2.13 - 3.07千米/小时）下具有最佳稳定性，此时传感器精度保持一致，在41.24厘米间距和2.13千米/小时的速度下达到最佳性能（质量指数=98.7%，可靠性指数=100%，最小种植间距指数）。在较高速度（3.94 - 6.11千米/小时）下性能显著下降，因子分析证实速度和间距都是影响所有指标的统计学显著因素。此外，所开发系统的总成本约为130美元。
未来的实验将包括进一步的田间试验，以研究土壤类型、地表平整度和环境干扰等田间变量对EMM性能的影响。
