An evaluation of seed drills with various openers for seeding winter wheat in southwest Saskatchewan

Abstract

Four seed drills were evaluated for seeding winter wheat in South West Saskatchewan. Furrow opener types were the Swift Current zero-till offset disc, an air-seeder with Dutch banding knives, the Swift Current zero-till hoe, and Versatile Noble zero-till hoe. Soil disturbance varies from least to greatest in order listed, however, sufficient stubble is retained with all openers to normally ensure winter survival and adequate plant stands. No yield differences were observed for plots seeded by the various drills on chemical fallow on a clay loam soil. There is a tendency for the zero-till disc to show better yield on stubble on a clay loam soil whereas a hoe opener tends to show better yields on stubble for a sandy loam soil. However, other factors such as weather between fall and spring, GSP and spring soil moisture interacting with plant densities appear to affect yields equally as great. More years of data are required to confirm these trends.