Design and experiment on flexible combing brush seed metering device for forage

Slender shape and insufficient fluidity of some varieties of forage seeds lead to the bridging or blockage problem under sowing condition. To solve this problem, a mechanical combing method was proposed to improve uniformity of the forage seeder. A prototype of flexible combing forage seeder was developed. The length of seed outlet was determined, which was 48-55 mm. The sowing uniformity experiment was conducted and the mean coefficient of variation of Chinese Leymus and Tall Fescue was 28.54% and 21.28%, respectively, which met the Chinese national standard requirements. The results also showed that flexible combing forage seeder could perform successfully and avoid seed damage. This research can provide reference for the development of seed metering devices and grass seeders.