Defining the dynamic performance of a no-till seeder by measuring the geo-referenced seeding depth

Publication Type

Conference proceedings

Authors

Sharipov, G.M., Paraforos, D.S., Griepentrog, H.W., Gall, C.

Year of publication

2017

Published in

VDI-Berichte 2300

Pubisher

VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf

Conference name

LAND.TECHNIK AgEng 2017 - The Forum for Agricultural Engineering Innovations

Conference location

Hannover

Conference date

10-11 November 2017

Retaining a precise seeding depth throughout the entire seeding operation is one of the biggest challenges especially in no-till seeding. Harsh and variable soil conditions as well as high driving speeds are the reasons for unstable coulter movements and unsatisfactory seed placements. The first stage of this challenge requires to describe the seeder dynamic response to soil conditions along with the corresponding seeding depth variation. In the present paper, the performance of one coulter assembly and its dynamic response to soil surface profile was captured by a combination of different sensors placed at a sensor-frame and the assembly. After the operation, the position of each single seed within a specified section was georeferenced, to calculate the absolute seeding depth. The introduced methodology for the absolute georeferenced seeding depth was validated with the ground truth seeding depth measured from seedlings after emergence. The comparison indicated small differences of 0.9 mm between the mean values and 0.2 mm between standard deviations of absolute georeferenced seeding depth. Future work will focus on to reduce the vertical dynamics of the coulters.