Introduction
• The process of removal of dockage in a seed lot and preparation of seed for marketing
is called seed processing.
• Seed lots received from the field are often at high moisture content and contain trash
and other inert material, weed seeds, deteriorated and damaged seeds, off-size seeds,
etc.
• Seed processing is necessary to remove or reduce the extent possible various
undesirable material, weed seeds, other crop seeds, deteriorated or damaged seeds.
Requirement in seed processing
➢ There should be complete separation
➢ There should be minimum seed loss
➢ Upgrading should be possible for any particular quality
➢ There should be have more efficiency
➢ It should have only minimum requirement
Steps in seed processing
➢ Pre- conditioning and pre cleaning
• Pre conditioning: Isolation of seed from plant parts with which it was harvested
e.g. shelling
• Pre cleaning: Removal of external materials like trash, stones, clods which are
either in larger or lighter in weight.
• Cleaning
• The second stage of cleaning is carried out with air blasts and vibrating screens
and is applicable to all kinds of seeds.
• It is essentially the same as scalping but more refined. It is performed mostly by
one machine known as air-screen cleaner.
• Cleaning and Grading
• Physical characteristics normally used to separate seeds are size, shape, length,
weight, colour, surface texture, affinity to liquids, electrical conductivity, etc.
Pre-cleaning equipment
Scalper
• It removes the larger inert matter from the seeds.
• If it contains a single sieve it is called as scalpers, two sieves – rough cleaners.
• The unit consists of a vibrating or rotating screen or sieve having perforation large
enough to allow the rough seed pass through readily.
Debearders
• The machine has horizontal beater with arms rotating inside a steel drum.
• When the seeds pass through it do the action of rubbing the seeds and clip the seeds of
oats, debeard barley, thresh white cap in wheat, remove awns and beards, de hull some
grass seeds and polish the seed.
Huller – scarifier
• Have two rubber faced rough surfaces to rub the seeds.
• Dehulling (removal of outer coat or husk) and scarifier (scratching the seed coat) can
be done simultaneously or separately.
Cleaning:
Air-Screen cleaner cum grader
• The air-screen machine is the basic cleaner in most seed processing plants.
• The air-screen machine, effects separations on the basis of differences in size and
weight of seeds.
• This enables the air-screen machine to use three cleaning elements:
• Aspirator, in which light material is removed from the seed mass;
• Scalper in which good seed are dropped through screen openings; but larger
material is carried over the screen into a separate spout;
• Grader, in which good crop seed ride over screen openings, while smaller
particles drop through.
Disk separator
• The disk separator separates materials on the basis of difference in length of various
constitute.
• It consists of a series of discs, which revolve together on a horizontal shaft inside the
cylindrical body.
• Each disc contains many under cut pockets. The seed enter the intake end of the
separator and move through the open centers of the discs towards the discharge end of
machine.
• As the discs revolve through the seed mass the pockets lift out short seed but rejects
longer seed.
• Longer seeds are conveyed by flights on the disc spokes towards the discharge end of
the machine where they go out through the tailings gate.
• A number of distinct separations or grading of the grain of varying length can be made
in a single machine by installing combination of disks having pockets of different sizes.
• The mixture first passes through the disks with small pockets and then disks with
pockets progressively larger from inlet to discharge.
• The ‘R' pocket derives its name from rice and was designed to remove broken rice
grains from whole grains.
• The ‘V' pocket derives its name from Vetch and was designed to pick up and remove
round shaped grains.
Indented cylinder separator
• The indented cylinder separator is a rotating, horizontal cylinder with movable and
horizontal separating adjustments which are mounted inside it.
• Indent lines are there inside the surface of the cylinder. The indented cylinder revolves,
turning the seed mass to give each seed a chance to fit into indent.
• Short seeds are lifted out of the seed mass and are dropped into the lifting and long
seeds remain in the cylinder and are discharged out via., a separate spout at the end of
the cylinder.
• As the seeds enter the cylinder, the small, short, easy to separate seeds are quickly
removed.
• The centre cylinder section removes the intermediate sizes of seeds still in the cylinder.
• All indents in a cylinder are the same size, only the progressively declining amount of
material to be lifted causes this difference in separating action.