Promising Directions for Sorting Seeds of Various Crops: Improving Electric Field Methods and Integrating Them with Modern Sensor Technologies

Improving the germination capacity, purity, and uniformity of seed lots is a key task in seed production, yet pneumatic and mechanical sorting rely on only one or two physical traits, mass or size. This article reviews electric field sorting of agricultural seeds as an alternative that acts on several properties at once: mass, shape, density, electrical resistance, and dielectric permittivity. Published studies show that corona-discharge separation can improve seed purity and raise barley germination by 17.34%, and that an electrostatic separator can remove plastic film residue from seed cotton at up to 96.8% efficiency. Analysis of existing devices identifies a main limitation: electrode geometry is not matched to seed shape. To address this, a universal sorting device is proposed, with a polyethylene working body carrying screw-shaped channels and oppositely charged electrodes of triangular cross-section. Further directions are outlined: a hybrid electro-optical system combining electric field sorting with NIR/AI sensing, adaptive voltage control based on seed moisture, application to cotton seed cleaning, and sensor-based energy management. The proposed device and these directions are conceptual and still need experimental and numerical validation, for example by finite element modeling of the electric field.