METHODOLOGY AND TEST RESULTS OF THE SOWING SECTION USED FOR SEEDING FORAGE CROPS

Abstract

The sound practice of keeping meadows and pastures, including the simultaneous use of long-term fallow lands in the crop rotation pattern, is possible only through improving the existing agrotechnical methods, sowing being the least energy-intensive among them. The study goal was to assess the uneven seeding of small-seeded crops using the technical modernization of a seeder equipped with mechanical seeding units and an innovative coulter group that ensures high-quality sowing. Comprehensive studies of the problems under consideration were carried out at Tver State Agricultural Academy. The authors present a systematic approach for assessing and implementing the technological process of sowing multi-species agrophytocenosis of small-seeded crops. The method includes the following stages: studying the profi le of the soil layer necessary for even germination of seeds; analyzing the parameters of placing the seed material, taking into account the depth of planting, the inter-row spacing width, the width between the seeds in the rows and determining the modeled level of plant density; assessing the possibility of modernization and use of the grain-fertilizer seeder SZ-3.6 for the simultaneous sowing of seeds of two crops; designing and testing a combination opener for simultaneous strip sowing of two diff erent crops. The data obtained aim to expand the theoretical and practical grounds for the development of new seeding machines and their working elements and introduce highly productive multicomponent agrophytocenoses for forage production. The following stages of research will optimize the methodology for studying the seeding parameters of agricultural plants to reduce the labor intensity and conduct fi eld tests of the sowing section using various types of small-seeded crops.