Page 19 - New Cloth Market December 2022 Digital Edition

Seeds in Textile Packaging

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The German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF)
has developed technical textiles for agriculture together with ESKUSA
GmbH. Under the umbrella of the DITF, work is being carried out on
all future textile topics in three research areas - textile chemistry and
chemical fibers, textile and process engineering and management re-
search. The affiliated ITV Denkendorf Produktservice GmbH, which
as a technology transfer center provides the market with a wide range
of services, supports these activities.

The research funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

In order for seed to sprout optimally, it can
be “packed” beforehand. This creates small
balls, which is why the process is called
EXECUTIVE P
"pilling". The advantages are obvious: the
seed becomes "grippy", all seeds get a
uniform size and weight and very small
seeds get more volume. This makes it
easier to place the seed in the ground with
machines. Textile coverings are particu-
larly suitable as packaging because, un-
like plastics such as PAV, they are biode-
gradable. In contrast to seeds embedded
in gelatin capsules or alginate, the textile
seed packaging can be excellently
functionalized. They are equipped with nu-
trients for the growing plants and sub-
stances such as activated carbon protect
against pests.

Up to now, the production of these multipills could not be
standardized in commercially available pilling machines, it
requires a great deal of sensitivity and leads to different num-
bers of seeds within a pill for each pilling batch. It is not un-
common for entire seed batches to become unusable during
the process.
In the "Mufus" project, a modular seeding line was therefore
developed with which the seed of one or more plant species
can be placed in a textile, deep-drawn seed container in pre-
cise doses. The heart of the sowing line is a drum sowing
machine that has been modified so that it sows the seed in a
deep-drawn endless textile web instead of propagation trays.
After extensive tests, a cotton fleece was The sown textile web is closed with a second textile web and
selected as the material, the textile struc- separated into individual seed packets. The seedlings pack-
ture of which quickly yields when seed- aged in pills enable direct sowing of many plants - the prereq-
ling pushes outwards to the surface. uisite for large-scale agricultural cultivation.

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