Scientists at the Siberian State University of Science and Technology named after Academician Reshetnev (Reshetnev University) have developed an automated module for feeding seedlings with a closed root system (a plant grown in an individual container/cell of a cassette) into tree-planting machines. With its help, manual labor can be eliminated and planting productivity increased, the university's press service stated.
Existing analogues, including foreign systems, have a number of disadvantages: complex design, bulkiness, the need for preliminary manual extraction of seedlings from cassettes.
The development by Siberian scientists solves these problems, ensuring a continuous seedling planting process.
Device design
The product consists of several sections. A gripper extracts seedlings from the cassette cells and feeds them into a storage unit. Then, they move along a conveyor with a belt drive to the cup of the tree-planting machine. Next, the seedling drops into the desired compartment under its own weight and is planted in the ground.
The main feature of the development is the automatic cassette replacement system. It is designed for 10 cassettes with 81 seedlings in each. Consequently, a tree-planting machine equipped with such a module can plant up to 810 seedlings without stopping for reloading.
The inventor, Kristina Chernik, said that she and her colleagues are currently manufacturing prototypes of the key components of the device. A fully functional working model for integration with a tree-planting machine will appear by 2027, she concluded.
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