ABSTRACT
Crop planting is very essential to increase production by facilitating optimum plant population per area and reduce unnecessary competition among crops. It is accomplished by any of broadcasting, seed drilling, single grain sowing, band planting, cross sowing, furrow sowing or hill sowing. This can be achieved by the use of machineries such as planters and seeders. The low field capacity, inaccurate placement of seed at a required depth and intra - row distance, seed damage due to metering,and high cost of imported planters associated with these planters envisage the need for a locally developed and cost effective multi-row animal drawn maize seed precision planter.This study focused on the design, fabrication and evaluating a four row animal drawn maizeprecision seed planter. The fabrication was done in the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Resources Engineering Workshop, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.The major components of the planterinclude the four hoppers, four seed metering units, four delivery tubes,four furrow openers with soil covering devices,four soil pressers,four ground wheel (drive mechanism), two guard wheels for marking out during operation and a single connecting bar (frame) on which the four units are attached and aligned. The machine was evaluated in the experimental field of the department during the 2019 rainy season. Three levels of planting speed (0.6, 0.8 and 1m/s) „S?, three levels of hopper seed quantity (25, 50 and 100%) „W? and two levels of planting depth (1.5 and 2.5cm) „D? were assessed. The field experiment was designed in a 3�“3�“2 randomized complete block design (RCBD). The results obtained showed the effects of planting speed, seed quantity and planting depth were significant on the planting performance of the machine. The result also showed that planting with 50 % seed hopper filled at a planting speed of 0.8 m/s and 2.5 cm planting depth recorded highest mean field efficiency of about 87 % which is significantly different from the other results obtained. Highest mean effective field capacity of 0.59 ha/hr for 25 % seed quantity at 1 m/s planting speed with 1.5 and 2.5 cm planting depth, seed rate of 22.3 kg/ha and highest germination count of 100 % with 100 % seed quantity at 0.6 m/s planting speed and 1.5 cm planting depth were recorded. The average draft required to pull the planter was also 0.96kN. Least mean field efficiency of 56 % for 100 % seed quantity at 1 m/s speed and 1.5 cm planting depth. The mean field capacity of 0.28 ha/hr for 100 % seed quantity at 0.6 m/s planting speed with 1.5 cm planting depth. The seed rate of 17 kg/ha for 100 % seed quantity at 1 m/s speed and least germination count of 73 percent with 50 and 100 % seed quantity at 1 m/s planting speed and 1.5 cm planting depth were recorded. A moderate planting speed and high planting depth gives a better field efficiency when the hopper is half full. With high planting speed and low seed hopper quantity, a best effective field capacity could be obtained while planting depth have no effective on the field capacity. Seed rate and high germination count could be obtained with a decreasing planting speed, depth and high seed hopper quantity.The targeted seed spacing could be achieved with moderate planting speed, but increasing planting depth and seed hopper quantity.Finally, the planting speed, planting depth and seed hopper quantity have no significant effect on seed per hill as the average seed drop across all the treatment is one seed. In conclusion, planting at 0.6 and 0.8 m/s, with 50 and 100 % seed hopper capacity and 2.5 cm planting depth result in maximum planting performance.With these combinations, optimum seed spacing, seed depth, germination count, seed rate together with high field efficiency and field capacity could be obtained.