Development of a Computerized Measurement System for in-Row Seed Spacing Accuracy

The aim of this study was to develop a computerized measurement system (CMS) combined with a sticky belt test stand for examining in-row seed spacing distribution accuracy. For this purpose 8 performance parameters were selected for precision seeding: mean seed spacing, the standard deviation, the multiples index, the miss index, the quality of feed index, the precision, the population index, and the coefficient of precision (CP-3). The CMS hardware consisted of a high precision optical mouse coupled with a laser pointer and a notebook computer. The use of optical laser technology is a new method for the determination of seed spacing distribution. The CMS stored seed coordinate data, which was input using a simple user interface, and sent to the data to Microsoft Excel for further statistical analysis. The results obtained from this study confirm that the combination of a sticky belt test stand and CMS can be used instead of a digital caliper and steel tape measure to rapidly and correctly obtain quantitative evaluations of seed spacing uniformity in the laboratory.