PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MANUAL MAIZE SEEDING TECHNIQUES UNDER MINIMUM TILLAGE FIELD CONDITIONS

Abstract

The performance of an auto seeder, jab planter, cutlass and dibbler were comparatively characterized under farmers’ field conditions using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates. The goal of this study was to characterize the performance of the auto seeder, jab planter, dibbler, and cutlass under minimum tillage field conditions. In this study, seeding was possible in soils with 7.88%w.b. - 13.92%w.b., 1.50 g/cm3 - 1.66 g/cm3, and 0.59 MPa - 2.04 MPa, respectively. The Abontem maize seed with length, width, thickness, sphericity, thousand grain mass, and moisture content of 10.35 mm, 8.0 mm, 4.78 mm, 0.72, 289 g, 13.02%w.b. and 86.84%, respectively was used. Seed emergence, depth, inter-hill spacing, consistency, hilling consistency, effective field capacity, and physical power requirement ranged from 45% to 83.7%, 4.3 cm to 6.2 cm, 59% to 69.9%, 75% to 102.7%,
0.05 to 0.13 ha/h, 39 cm to 50.9 cm, and 463 W to 751 W respectively. The auto seeder and jab planter performed significantly (p≤0.05) worse than the cutlass and dibbler in terms of germination rates, hilling consistency and seeding consistency. For auto seeder, cutlass, dibbler, and jab planter seeding methods, economic feasibility analysis yielded BCRs of 1.04, 1.80, 1.86, and 1.22, respectively. Although the cutlass and dibbler outperformed the mechanized tools in germination rates, hill and seeding consistency, improvements to the metering mechanism and targeted training could enhance auto seeder and jab planter performance. Future studies could explore ergonomic adjustments and testing with crops like cowpea and rice under varying soil moisture conditions to further optimize seeding methods for smallholder contexts.