WO2023055310A1

WO2023055310A1 - A smart seed capsule

Info

Publication number: WO2023055310A1
Application number: PCT/TR2021/051003
Authority: WO
Inventors: Emre GUVEN; Zubeyir EMINOGLU
Original assignee: Yildiz Teknik Universitesi
Priority date: 2021-10-01
Filing date: 2021-10-01
Publication date: 2023-04-06

Abstract

The present invention relates to a smart seed capsule which prevents the condition of the seeds being waterless and lacking minerals and which provides suitable favorable medium for the plant and high efficiency for farming thanks to the presence of high amounts of minerals and water retaining components in the body thereof.

Description

A SMART SEED CAPSULE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention belongs to the technical field related to tree, fruit, vegetable and sapling farming and relates to a smart seed capsule which prevents the condition of the seeds being waterless and lacking minerals and which provides suitable favorable medium for the plant and high efficiency for farming thanks to the presence of minerals and water retaining components at high amounts in the body thereof. By using the subject matter seed capsules, plant farming which needs less watering, labor and care becomes possible, and particularly realization of afforest activities by government and civil society organizations at high efficiencies and at low costs is enabled.

PRIOR ART

Seed is a structure covered with protective sheath which has auxiliary food in the body thereof and which can provide development of plant germ at suitable conditions. Seed, which plays a very important role in reproduction of plants, forms various new plants in case favorable conditions occur. Seeds are generally less than one gram. Sizes and shapes of seeds are very important for determining the dispersion. Seeds are spread to the environment by means of water, wind and animals.

In biological terms, germination is defined as protruding of a structure, which has a normal plant formation capability, from the seed germ by surpassing seed shell in case suitable conditions are realized. Seeds of most plants are germinated just after the harvest in case the environmental conditions are suitable. In order to provide germination of plant seeds, there have to be components like temperature, oxygen and water in the periphery of seeds.

In our country and in the world, tree and sapling farming could not have reached sufficient levels and particularly afforest activities made with sapling dibbling lead to high labor cost, watering and sapling costs.

For the sapling and seed planting processes, the necessary medium conditions -water, mineral and oxygen- and labor are needed. Meeting of all these actors particularly for municipalities, government institutions and civil organization societies leads to costs for sapling and seed farming.

More importantly, the seeds planted and the saplings dibbled in dry regions lose their vitality if they cannot find sufficient amount of water. In regions where there is average rain, in case the plant is sufficiently saturated with water, the remaining water mixes to the underground waters, and the plant must be watered again until a new rain. Plant roots cannot store this water which will be needed later and become dry.

As a result, in the related technical field, studies must be made which are related to elimination of the condition of being waterless and lacking minerals in order to be able to obtain high efficiency in germination of seeds and in sapling farming. Within this context, it is considered that the subject matter, where a favorable medium for the plant is provided and which prevents the condition of seeds being waterless and lacking minerals, shall be able to meet the novelty criterion.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a smart seed capsule, for bringing solutions to the above mentioned disadvantages and for providing new advantages to the related technical field.

An object of the present invention is to provide a smart seed capsule which prevents the condition of the seeds being waterless and lacking minerals and which provides suitable favorable medium for the plant and high efficiency for farming.

An object of the present invention is to provide a seed capsule which needs less watering, labor and care and which particularly provides realization of afforest activities by government and civil society organizations at high efficiencies and at low costs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In this detailed description, the subject matter belongs to the technical field related to tree, fruit, vegetable and sapling farming and relates to a smart seed capsule which prevents the condition of the seeds being waterless and lacking minerals and which provides suitable favorable medium for the plant and high efficiency for farming thanks to the presence of high amounts of minerals and water retaining components in the body thereof, and is explained with references to examples without forming any restrictive effect only in order to make the subject more understandable.

The subject matter seed capsule is shown in Figure 1 in a representative manner. With reference to Figure 1 , specific amounts of water retaining polymer materials, minerals and/or vitamins, active substances which will provide contribution to the growth of the seed and the seeds of the plant which is considered to be grown are retained in capsule which can be dissolved in water by time.

The main material of the subject matter seed capsule is capsule which can be dissolved in water by time. The basic function of said capsule is its wall function for the materials positioned therein. The capsule, which dissolves by water, starts the process by making the material therein ready for usage. Depending on the rain and humidity amount in soil, the capsule can dissolve within duration between 3 and 5 days. The capsule shape and volume do not have a specific format, and they show change depending on the seed to be planted. Capsules can be obtained from herbal and animal-sourced components. Capsule can preferably comprise gelatin, hydroxy-propyl methyl cellulose (shortly, HPMC), starch and cellulose derivative components.

The capsule consists of a head and a body. The head and the body are configured to be able to engage and lock to each other. The seed, the water retaining polymers, minerals and/or vitamins or other similar components are placed into the body, and afterwards, in order to be left to the soil, the body is closed such that the body enters into the head. Said configured structure is shown in Figure 1 in a representative manner.

The basic object of the present invention is to provide prevention of any problems for the seeds or saplings in plant farming, which are planted in dry regions or in regions where water is not sufficient. Therefore, the invention owners have recommended that water retaining polymers shall be added into the seed capsule. Thanks to water retaining polymers, the seed capsule retains water therein and prevents the seeds from facing drought.

The water retaining polymer materials retain the water they contact and function as a water depot for the plant in the area of the root and the vicinity thereof. The water retaining polymer materials have water retention capacity up to 600 times of their volume. The water retaining polymers are the components which have the greatest volume in the seed capsule. The water retaining polymer materials exist between 60% and 80% by volume of the body of the seed capsule.

It is preferred that the water retaining polymer materials have weight of at least 5 mg in the body of the seed capsule.

As known in the art, specific medium conditions must occur for germination of seeds. Another important condition among these medium conditions is feeding of the seed with minerals as required. The seed capsule comprises minerals with specific volume proportions. Said minerals are positioned so as to be in interaction with the seeds in the seed capsule. Thanks to this, during germination of the seed, the needed minerals can be supplied from this part.

As said minerals, at least one of or mixtures at specific proportions or all of nitrogen, phosphor, calcium, molybdenum, manganese, sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, boron and potassium is/are provided. The minerals are provided at a value between 5% and 10% by volume in the seed capsule.

Any kind of seed can be added and farmed to the subject matter seed capsule. The capsule can be shaped according to the type of the seeds, and accordingly, the materials provided in its body can show change.

The subject matter seed capsule is characterized by comprising the following components:

• a capsule which makes the materials therein ready for usage thanks to the dissolving characteristic with water and which starts the germination process and comprising a head and a body and configured such that said head and said body can engage to each other and stay fixed and wherein the seed, water retainer polymers and the minerals can be placed in a manner coming into the body and whose shape and volume are compliant to the seed and to the other components therein and which functions as a wall for said components,

• at least one water retaining polymer material positioned inside said capsule and which retains the contacted water inside and which functions as water depot for the plant in the area of the root and in the vicinity thereof,

• at least one seed selected according to the plant which is desired to be farmed and positioned in the vicinity of the seed inside the capsule, • at least one mineral added according to the need of the seed and the soil and positioned in the vicinity of the seed inside the capsule.

The subject matter seed capsule can comprise auxiliary components if preferred. As these auxiliary components, vitamins, growth mixtures or additional minerals can be added depending on the need of the soil or the seed.

TESTS

In order to test efficiency of the subject matter seed capsule, tests have been made based on growth amounts of the seeds in various medium conditions.

In this test, there are 5 different test mediums named as Groups 1 -5.

Group 1 -plain soil;

Group 2-plain soil with 75% by weight + vermi-compost with 25% by weight

Group 3-plain soil with 75% by weight + dry compost with 25% by weight

Group 4-plain soil with 75% by weight + humid compost with 25% by weight

Group 5-plain soil with 75% by weight + garden soil with 25% by weight.

One of the seeds having the same weights is left in a stand-alone manner to said groups 1 -5, and the other is added and left into the subject matter seed capsule. Afterwards, examination with the same time periods has been started. The results have been obtained after 8 weeks. The plant lengths have been measured by making weekly observations.

Table 1. Growth amounts in terms of grams for the ordinary seed and the subject matter seed capsules in various test groups

When Table 1 is examined, it is seen that in almost all test groups, the growth amount of the seed which exists in the body of seed capsule is higher than the growth amount of the seed which has not been put into the capsule. Moreover, in some test groups, the amount of seed which exists in the seed capsules is substantially greater than the other seed amount. The protection scope of the present invention is set forth in the annexed claims and cannot be restricted to the illustrative disclosures given above, under the detailed description. It is because a person skilled in the relevant art can obviously produce similar embodiments under the light of the foregoing disclosures, without departing from the main principles of the present invention.

Claims

1. The present invention belongs to the technical field related to tree, fruit, vegetable and sapling farming and is a seed capsule which prevents the condition of the seeds being waterless and lacking minerals and which provides suitable favorable medium for the plant and high efficiency for farming thanks to the presence of minerals and water retaining components at high amounts in the body thereof, wherein the subject matter seed capsule comprises the following components:

• a capsule which makes the materials therein ready for usage thanks to the dissolving characteristic with water and which starts the germination process and comprising a head and a body and configured such that said head and said body can engage to each other and stay fixed and wherein the seed, water retainer polymers and the minerals can be placed in a manner coming into the body and whose shape and volume are compliant to the seed and the other components therein and which functions as a wall for said components,

• at least one water retaining polymer material positioned inside said capsule and which retains the contacted water therein and which functions as water depot for the plant in the area of the root and in the vicinity thereof,

• at least one seed selected according to the plant which is desired to be farmed and positioned in the capsule,

• at least one mineral added according to the need of the seed and the soil and positioned in the vicinity of the seed inside the capsule.

2. The seed capsule according to claim 1 , wherein said water-soluble capsule comprises a mixture of at least one or some or all of the material groups of gelatin, hydroxy-propyl methyl cellulose, starch and cellulose derivative components.

3. The seed capsule according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the duration of dissolving of the water-soluble capsule in water is at a value between 3 days and 5 days.

4. The seed capsule according to claims 1 -3, wherein the water retaining polymer is at a value between 60% and 80% by volume in the seed capsule.

5. The seed capsule according to claims 1 -4, wherein the water retaining polymer is at a value of at least 5 mg in the seed capsule.

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6. The seed capsule according to claim 1 , wherein as said mineral, the seed capsule comprises at least one or some or all selected from nitrogen, phosphor, calcium, molybdenum, manganese, sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, boron and potassium elements.

7. The seed capsule according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the minerals are at a value between 5% and 10% by volume in the seed capsule.

8. The seed capsule according to claims 1-7, wherein auxiliary components are provided in the body, and as said auxiliary components, vitamins, growth mixtures or additional minerals can be added depending on the need of the soil or the seed.

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