A Review of Spoon-Style Potato Seed-Metering Defects Monitoring and Inhibition

Worldwide, the combination of cutting potato seeds and spoon-type seed-metering devices holds a dominant position in the development of potato planters. In this context, miss-seeding and multi-seeding caused by the seed spoon are important factors contributing to consequent yield reductions. These issues have become key concerns in the precision seeding of potatoes in recent years. This study first analyzes existing research into the monitoring and inhibition of spoon-style potato seed-metering defects. Then, the main problems of spoon-type precision potato planters are analyzed independently in depth, including the lack of monitoring methods, insufficient active inhibition of potato seed-metering defects, unexplored deep additional impacts of the ‘catching-up compensation’ effect, and limited research into multi-picking monitoring and inhibition methods. On this basis, four strategies are proposed: (1) improving the reliability of the seed-metering monitoring system, (2) simplifying the practicality of the miss-picking compensation system, (3) reducing multi-picking based on the trajectory abrupt change in potato seeds, and (4) researching the deep additional effects of the ‘catching-up compensation’ strategy and utilizing multi-means coupling simulation to assist in active seed-metering defect inhibition. Subsequently, relevant conclusions based on the existing literature and in-depth analyses are presented. Finally, prospects for the future development of potato seed-metering technology are discussed. This study aims to provide effective references for achieving intelligent, precise, and information-based potato seed-metering.