Fertilizer application depth and soil water content: Effect on seed plantability of a seeder in direct planting

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Mechanization is key to increasing efficiency and productivity in agriculture. Therefore, it is important to understand these machines and their operating conditions to assess whether the quality of equipment operation has been satisfactory. Furthermore, planting windows have become increasingly narrower; therefore, an efficient planting operation is essential to ensure uniform stands with high yields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of three soil water contents (28.7; 36.4 and 47.6%) and three fertilizer application depths (6.3; 11.3 and 14.8 cm) on the seed plantability of a direct planting machine. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot randomized block design, with three replications. The water contents were assigned to the plots and the fertilizer depths to the subplots.