COMPARITIVE EFFECT OF SOME PLANTER FURROW OPENERS AND SEED COVERING DEVICES ON SOME SOIL PROPERTIES AND CROPS PRODUCTIVITY

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Soil Conservation Dept., Desert Res. Center, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out at a private farm in East Qantara; Ismailia Governorate, Egypt during two cultivated successive seasons (summer and winter) of 2011. The experimentsaimed to compare the effect of planter furrow openers (single disc, double disc, hoe and shoe) and seed covering devices (press wheel, paddles and drag chains) on some soil physical properties and energy consumed of seeding operation as well as seed germination and biological yield of corn silage (Zea mays) and pea (Pisum sativum ) on sandy loam soil under sprinkler irrigation system. The comparative effect of studied furrow opener devices on the values of soil bulk density of cultivated surface soil depth (0- 15cm) under both crops in this study were ranked as hoe > shoe > single disc > double disc. While, the comparative effect of studied covering devices on the soil bulk density of cultivated surface soil depth values were ranked as wheel > paddles > drag chains. Under studied treatments, the lowest of soil bulk density value was 1.40 and 1.38 g/cm3 for double disc furrow with drag chains treatment at 40 and 3 days after the planting date of the corn silage, respectively. The obtained results showed that soil porosity values at 40 days of the planting date of the corn silage and pea plants were lower than after 3 days of planting under studied treatments. Under the same treatments, the soil porosity highest value was about 47.92 and 47.17 % for double disc furrow with drag chains treatment after 3 and after 40 days of the planting date for corn silage, respectively. At the same treatments, the highest value of soil porosity was 50.19 and 49.43 % for double disc furrow opener with drag chains treatment after 3 and after 40 days of the planting date of the pea plants, respectively. Soil water content takes the same trend of obtained results of soil bulk density and soil porosity using the furrow opener devices, while it takes the opposite trend with using covering devices at the same treatments. The obtained results revealed that the consumed energy values of corn silage varied 35.65 to 51.02 and 31.93 to 45.73 kW. h /fed for corn silage and pea plants under studied treatments, respectively. Generally the single disc furrow openers was less double disc, shoe and hoe furrow openers respectively. The biological yield values of corn silage varied between 39260 to 20410 kg/fed and 5299 to 815 kg/fed for pea plants under studied treatments, respectively. Also, the obtained results showed that the highest value of biological yield was 39260 and 5299 kg/fed at double disc furrow with wheel treatment for the corn silage and pea plants under the same treatments, respectively. The using double disc furrow opener with wheel treatment at seeding operation is preferabletreatment for increasing the productivity of studied crops.

Keywords

References

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