engleski

AN INVESTIGATION OF AUTOMATIC TREATMENT OF SEEDS WITH LOW POWER LASER BEAM

The paper describes two successive sets of experiments of low-power diode laser treatment of corn kernels and wheat seeds. First experiment was conducted by use of laser beam for excessive moisture removing from corn kernels. Second experiment was conducted to determine influence of low power laser beam on mycotic population on wheat seeds. For proper doses indication seeds were artificially infected with various fungi, such as Penicillium, Fusarium, Alternaria, etc. in two intensities (high, low). The experiment was planned to establish the effect of laser treatment as compared to chemical treatment on sprouting efficiency, defined as percentage of total kernels that sprout after a specific incubation time, and on fungus survival, expressed as level of infection. An experimental conveyor belt system was build to expose the kernels/seeds to laser light in the latter case. Laser treatment was to some extent effective in increasing sprout efficiency and reducing fungus survival, although less effective in these preliminary experiments than fungicide treatment. This paper proposes an automatic set-up for laser beam treatment as an environmentally safe alternative to chemical treatment of various cultivars of seed.

moisture; kernels; wheat; corn; fungi; infestation; laser; preprocessing; ecology

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