Influence of Planter Width, Planting Speed and Seed Loading Methods on Planting Efficiency for Cotton Production

Planting is one of the most time-sensitive farming operations. Field efficiency is used to predict how equipment will perform in a specific farming operation and it determines the timeliness of that operation. The objectives of this study were to: 1) investigate the influence of 12-, 18- and 24-row planters and planting speed on planting efficiency and 2) investigate the influence of seed loading methods on planting efficiency.

RTK geo-referenced planting data was collected from 41 agricultural fields totaling 1342 acres. All fields were planted in cotton using 12-row planters on 38-inch row spacing. A-B lines representing the centerline of the tractor for each planter width were created in ArcGIS 10.2. On each side of these A-B lines, planting boundaries were offset half the width of the planter. These planter boundaries were used to determine the minimum travel distance that resulted in full planter coverage of each planter pass. Planter pass distances were summed to determine the total planter travel distance for each planter width for all fields in the study. Total predicted time in the row planting was determined by dividing the total planter travel distance by the speed of the planter. Planter speeds from 4 to 12 mph were selected for analysis.

Seed loading was classified into one of three methods; filling individual seed boxes with bags, filling individual seed boxes with seed tenders and filling central fill hoppers with seed tenders. The amount of time required accomplishing other nonproductive planting operations such as greasing planter units, folding and unfolding the planter, checking seed depth and fueling tractors was also collected. Field efficiency was determined by dividing the time spent on the row planting by the total time spent planting the field.