Precision planting under the microscope for winter crops

Questions remain about whether precision planters can boost grain yields in winter crops.

The benefits of precision planters for summer crops are well established, but there is some way to go before their use in winter crops could be profitable or practical.

The benefits of precision planters for summer crops are well established, but there is some way to go before their use in winter crops could be profitable or practical, new research has found.

A GRDC project is looking at the ideal seed distribution and placement in winter crops for maximum yield and profit and how that might be achieved with precision planters.

Precision planters are specialised seeders using high technology disc row units and fitted with singulation devices, which plant one seed at a time with very accurate spacing.

The theory is that seed sown at a consistent depth and spacing promotes uniform crop establishment and minimises inter-plant competition, leading to greater crop vigour and grain yield potential, which in turn means using lower rates of quality seed, a major benefit when it comes to expensive hybrid seeds.

Precision planters are widely used with summer crops such as maize, cotton or sorghum, with wide row spacings, but it is not clear if the same precision and benefits can occur in winter crops such as canola, pulses and cereals grown at narrower row spacings.

The GRDC-funded trials were conducted at various West Australian, South Australian and Victorian sites led by Dr Glenn McDonald at the University of Adelaide, comparing crop performance in lentils, faba beans and canola using precision planters and conventional disc-tine seeders.

The trials found that precision planters do achieve mostly what they are meant to with winter crops, giving a more uniform crop and in a number of cases enabling lower plant density without reducing yield.

Potentially this could reduce the amount of seed used and lower upfront cost, a project report said.

But at the same time, there was no clear-cut trend that precision planting increased grain yields when compared to conventional seeders.

“It’s at low seeding rates that you often see the most yield difference between the precision planter and the conventional seeder,” said Dr McDonald. “In many cases we found little difference in yield between the precision planter and conventional seeder,” he said.

Dr McDonald believed the benefits in precision planting technology for winter crops would be most attractive in crops with high-cost seed such as hybrid canola but less so with cereals.

Crops that require a high seed population respond less to singulation so the technology might not deliver significant benefits in those crops, he said. That might change if high performance hybrid cereals became more mainstream in Australia, with greater financial benefits from lower seed cost per hectare.

Southern Farming Systems research agronomist Ashley Amourgis said that in trials at Inverleigh and Skipton, the precision planters definitely achieved a more even crop, particularly in faba beans, but they had some difficulty getting accurate seed placement with the canola.

The smaller seed size of some winter crops might make it harder for the precision planter to achieve accuracy, particularly with ungraded seed where contaminants confused the singulation device and gave less accuracy in seed spacing, Ms Amourgis said.

“Very even placement in crops such as cereals may be considered of lower value because you have a high plant density anyway so singulation is going to be less of an advantage,” she said.

Genevieve Clarke, research agronomist from the Birchip Cropping Group, also confirmed the placement of seed by precision planter in trials at Birchip and Rupanyup was more even than a conventional seeder but was still somewhat variable.

Dr Jack Desbiolles, agricultural engineer at the University of South Australia, also collaborated on the project and has been looking at whether singulation technology could perform on a contour-following tyne seeding system, which could open a wider adoption platform of more precise seeding, where tine seeding systems fit well into particular cropping systems.

“If singulation kits could ideally be retrofitted, one could combine singulation and air seeding capability on the same machine,” he said.

“These could then be used for both conventional seeding for say cereals and then switch to precision sown canola or faba beans, for example, where the benefits have been more evident. Ideally farmers with hybrid machines could choose singulation or air-seeding crop by crop or paddock by paddock, with minimal delays,” Dr Desbiolles said.

He said commercial hybrid seeders were now appearing on the market, such as the Bourgault Air-Planter.

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