Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
dir. of travel
seeds
fertilizer
left wing
right wing
point
unfolded soil
Fig. 8.15
Broadcasting seeds underneath a “Collovati” undercutter wing opener. The unfolded
soil (
right
) falls back into place automatically. Fertilizer application in a line underneath the under-
cutter plane is optional (Courtesy of Tonutti Spa, Remanzacco, Italy)
8.4.4
Seeding Underneath Undercutters
An alternative no-till sowing method that makes it possible to obtain a good seed
distribution over the area for crops with a high seed density is sowing underneath
the wings of undercutters (Collovati
2008
). The operating principle is shown in
Fig.
8.15
.
The seeds can be broadcast over the whole area provided the lateral distance
between the openers is set accordingly. As a result, the seed distribution over the
area is even better than with narrow row drilling (see Sect.
8.2
). Concerning the
precision of the seeding depth, there is principally no difference between either
wing-openers, disc-openers or shoe-openers (Heege and Billot
1999
).
It should be noted that both ends of the undercutter wings are curved slightly
upwards (Fig.
8.15
). Because of this, the soil movement sidewards is restricted,
instead the soil falls back in its original position (Vamerali et al.
2006
). The front
chisel and the wings do some mixing of loose residues on the surface with soil
above the undercutter plane. Preceding cultivation does not improve the results with
this opener; in case it incorporates residues into the soil, it might even cause blockages.
In short, seeding underneath these undercutters is a no-till method.
References
Alberta Farm Machinery Research Centre (1994) Evaluation report 713. Kee Ultrasonic depth
control system. Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, Humboldt, pp 1-10
Auernhammer H (1989) Electronics in tractors and machines (in German). BLV Verlagsgesellschaft,
Munich
Bowers CG, Bowen HD (1975) Drying front sensing and signal evaluation for planters. Trans Am
Soc Agric Eng 18(6):1051-1058
