Distribution of corn plants in a pneumatic system with different vacuum pressure adjustments and seed sieves

Abstract

The use of seeders with pneumatic distribution systems is increasingly demanding for plantation of corn crop. Knowledge about the operation and adjustments of the components of agricultural machines is fundamental to increase the good distribution of plants and to ensure higher productivity. The main goal of this research was to evaluate the influence of the size of the corn seed sieve under different vacuum pressure regulations on a pneumatic distribution system, to understand the longitudinal uniformity of the plants, as well as the final and individual productivity per plant. The vSet® (Precision Planting®) pneumatic distribution system equipped with 4 corn seed sieves (C1, C4, R1, and R4) subjected to 4 different vacuum pressure adjustments (7, 12, 17 and 22 in H2O-1) was applied as treatments on corn hybrid 30F53VYH. The design used was that of randomized blocks, with subdivided plots and 4 replications. The main plot presented the vacuum pressures and the subplots presented the sieves, each composed of two sowing lines of 20 m in length. The results showed that low vacuum pressure resulted in increased unevenness between corn spacings and consequently lower yield. Smaller sieves showed less gaps and higher percentages of normal spacing. The larger sieves showed higher standard deviation and more gaps. Regular and uneven gaps provided a higher number of grains per row, higher number of grains per corn spike and a higher grain yield per corn spike.