GB1512606A - Process and an installation for the industrial production of plants - Google Patents

Abstract

1512606 Treating plants O RUTHNER 11 Aug 1976 [5 July 1976] 33483/76 Heading A1E Seed is germinated in a first chamber in boxes arranged in stacks, and the resulting root fleeces are transferred to a conveyor in a second chamber which provides an environment favourable to shoot formation. Boxes 10, with or without a substrate, are loaded with seed from a hopper 1 and are arranged in stacks; the stacks are put in a chamber 4 having air inlet ducts 12 and extraction ducts 13 at opposite sides of each stack. and nozzles 14 for intermittently spraying nutrient solution. Excess nutrient solution gathers on the floor of the chamber and collects in a channel whence it is recirculated. As shown the chamber 4 is divided into sub-chambers 4A, 4B each housing two stacks. Sub-chamber 4A serves for pre-germination, the stacks are then moved to sub-chamber 4B and the spacing between the boxes of a stack increased and light sources 30 introduced. The seeds, together with a substrate if present, then form a coherent root fleece. The stack is then removed from the sub-chamber 4B and placed on a platform 15 which is slowly lowered. As the boxes register with a roller 17 they are projected forwardly to bring the root fleece into contact with a gripping roller 18 which removes the fleece from its box and places it on a conveyor 16. The conveyor 16 feeds the fleece to a carrier 28 of a conveyor 6 in a chamber 5, the conveyors 16, 6 being driven in timed relationship to correctly position the fleece on the carrier. Nutrient solution is sprayed onto the fleeces through nozzles 29 and illumination is provided by lights 31 to encourage the formation of shoots. With seed such as barley the entire process takes about eight days. The boxes are of shallow tray-like form and have one side omitted to facilitate the extraction of the root fleece by the roller 18. The lower part of opposite sides of a box may be inset from the upper part to facilitate stacking of the boxes and to guide longitudinal movement, and a toothed rack may be provided on the bottom of the box for engagement by the roller 17 which is formed as a pinion.