Effects of Direct and Conventional Planting on Soil Properties and Yield Characteristics of Second Crop Maize

Conventional tillage (CT), a commercial direct planter (DP1), and a modified direct planter (DP2) were used in this study to determine the performance of DP2 compared to CT and DP1 in second crop maize after winter wheat. Experiments were conducted with six replications through complete randomized block design. Average seed spacing was about 18 cm and the quality of feed index was about 90% in all methods. Multiple index was the smallest (0.56%) in CT, suggesting best horizontal seed distribution whereas DP1 had the highest rate (3.89%). Variation about the mean seed spacing was less than the upper limit of 29% in precision in spacing in all cases. The adjusted seeding depth was 6.0 cm in CT (5.99 cm) with the best placement and the poorest placement was found in DP2 (2.90 cm). Seed depth distribution was different in the three cases (P<0.01). Planting method did not have a significant effect on emergence rate and yield. Although the performance of the modified direct planter is very encouraging, the modified direct planter should probably be improved further so that higher down forces can be applied to maintain the set value of seeding depth for seeding in hard soil conditions.