Sesame Hill Dropping Performance of a Vacuum Seeder for Different Tillage Practices

The purpose of this research was to examine the performance of a modified vacuum seeder for hill drop sowing of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) following wheat (Triticum aestivum) for no-till and reduced tillage farming. Tests were conducted during the growing seasons of 2008 and 2009 in the Bati Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute's fields in Antalya, Turkey. A fluted coulter and double disc-type furrow opener were mounted on each unit of a common vacuum seeder. A seed plate modified to achieve hill-dropping of seeds was used in the metering mechanism of the seeder. Mean plant number per hill, coefficient of variation of plant number per hill, mean hill distance, coefficient of variation of hill distance, scattering distance ratio along the length of the row, sowing depth uniformity, and percent emergence of seeds and of hills were determined. Uniformity of hill spacing obtained from no-till plots was lower than from reduced and conventional tillage plots. Treatment effects were compared for three sesame seed varieties. No-till decreased the percent emergence of both seeds and hills for all varieties.