Equipment and Methods for No-Tillage Wheat Planting

Abstract

ABSTRACT FOUR experiments were conducted to evaluate grain drill performance in no-tillage seeding of spring and winter wheat in the Palouse region of eastern Washington. The drill survey experiment showed similar stands and yields for six drills in winter wheat seeding, except that the highest two in yield were significantly better than the lowest yielder. The opener design experiment showed better winter wheat yields for the double disk opener in pea (light) residue, while the hoe openers gave significantly better yields in wheat and barley (heavy) residue. The use of colters did not effect yield but enhanced drill operation in heavy surface residue. The fertilizer placement experiment showed a significant 330 kg/ha (5 bu/acre) winter wheat yield increase for deep banded nitrogen fertilizer compared to broadcast for wheat and barley residue, but no difference for pea residue. For spring wheat planted into winter wheat and spring barley residues, subsurface banding of the fertilizer gave an advantage of approximately 723 kg/ha (11 bu/acre) compared with surface banding. A second fertilizer placement experiment done in the greenhouse indicated that the seed-fertilizer separation distance must be at least 50 mm (2 in.) to avoid seedling damage at the fertilizer rates and row spacing used in the experiment.