Cleaning Silybum marianum (milk thistle) seeds from hard to separate impurities
Volume 20 • Issue 2
Abiduev Andrey A., Darmaeva Tatyana G., Abiduev Alexander A.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22450/1999-6837-2026-20-2-71-77
Published on: 15.06.2026
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a valuable medicinal crop. The weed infestation of its plantings has been determined, including Amaranthus (pigweed), Chenopodium album(lamb’s quarters), Polygonum scabrum (rough knotweed), and Fallopia convolvulus (black bindweed). It was revealed that small seeded weeds such as pigweed, lamb’s quarters, and rough knotweed are easily separated from the fruit achenes of the plant using sieves with oblong and round holes. The main challenge lies in separating black bindweed seeds. It has been determined that these impurities differ most from milk thistle fruit achenes in terms of length. It was found that some fine particles of black bindweed are removed from milk thistle seeds in the aspiration channels of air sieve machines and on sorting sieves together with small seeds of the crop, while the remaining portion is separated from the processed material in a cylindrical working unit with cells of 4,5–5,0 mm and with the receiving edges of the troughs positioned at an angle of 40–50о. Methodological recommendations have been developed for selecting the cell size of cylindrical separators to clean milk thistle fruit achenes from short impurities. Specifically, to clean the fruit achenes from short impurities, it is recommended to choose a working unit with a cell size 1,10–1,25 times the maximum size of the corresponding impurities. It has been established that the proposed treatment method ensures the production of high quality seed material.
Abiduev A. A., Darmaeva T. G., Abiduev A. A. Cleaning Silybum marianum (milk thistle) seeds from hard to separate impurities. Dal'nevostochnyi agrarnyi vestnik. 2026;20;2:71–77. (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.22450/1999-6837-2026-20-2-71-77.
Metrics
15
Views
5
Downloads