Design and test of soft-pot-tray automatic embedding system for light-economical pot seedling nursery machine

Most of the commercially-available pot seedling nursery machines are incompatible with soft-pot-trays and are labor-intensive and low in productivity.A soft-pot-tray automatic embedding system was developed in this study to achieve automatic embedding of the soft pot tray into the hard tray following sowing and covering with soil.A control system was constructed using the Arduino program development environment.An embedded-hard-tray automatic lowering mechanism and conveyor-belt-based pot-tray embedding system were designed.Dynamics analysis was conducted to derive an equation to describe the embedding process of the soft pot tray into the embedded hard tray.A prototype of the soft-pot-tray automatic embedding system was manufactured and tested.The analytical equation suggested that a minimum linear velocity of 0.86 m/s was required for a complete embedding process.The experimental results showed that the embedded-hard-tray automatic lowering mechanism was reliable and stable as the tray placement success rate was greater than 99%.The successful tray embedding rate was 100%and the seed exposure rate was less than 1%with a linear velocity of the conveyor belt of 0.92 m/s.The experiment findings agreed well with the analytical results.The proposed soft-pot-tray automatic embedding system satisfied the technical specifications for a light-economical pot seedling nursery machine.

The technology of raising rice seedlings in dry nursery in China

A new technology of raising rice seedlings in dry nursery began to be adopted in early 1980’s inChina. It expanded in Northeast of the Country and spreaded from North to South in the followingyears. In 1995, it was listed as one of the national popularization project during the ’Ninth Five-Year-Plan’ by the Country Government. The total area was up to 9.3 million hm~2 in 1996 (cover-ing 80% paddy field in the northern parts of China). The expected popularized area will be up to15.3 million hm~2 in 2000 according to the Ministry of Agriculture, half of the total rice-growingarea in China.

Grafting Watermelon Seedling Production Management System Based on Process Control Strategy

Greenhouse environmental management,seedling bed scheduling,and fertilizer and water management are the core technologies of seedling nursery.Precision management and control of the whole production process guarantees high grated seedling quality.In order to improve management efficiency of grafted watermelon seedling production and seedling quality,this paper designs and develops a grafted watermelon seedling production management system based on process control methods by process control strategy,seedling bed planning design,and handheld device technology.

Use of Spent Mushroom Substrate as Growing Media for Tomato and Cucumber Seedlings

The aim of this research was to evaluate weathered spent mushroom substrate （SMS）, made from spent Flammulina velutipes mushroom substrate, as a growing medium for nursery seedlings. Two vegetable species, cucumber （Cucumis sativus L. cv. Jinchun No. 2） and tomato （Solanurn lycopersicum L. cv. Mandy）, were grown in 8 media of SMS in various ratios with perlite or vermiculite. A mixed substrate of peat with perlite （1：1; v：v） was used as the control （CK）. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design under greenhouse conditions. Prior to sowing, some physical and chemical properties of the growing media were determined. Results showed that all the mixtures had desirable physical and chemical properties for their use in nursery tomato and cucumber seedlings except for the T4 （SMS：vermiculite = 1：1; v：v） and the T8 （SMS：perlite = 2：1; v：v） mixtures. Compared with the CK, increased plant height, leaf area, fresh weight, dry weight and index of seedling quality were found in the T3 （SMS：vermiculite = 2：1; v：v） and T6 （SMS：perlite = 4：1; v：v） growing media. SMS should be considered as an alternative for the widely used but expensive and resource-limited peat in greenhouse cultivation.