Effects of Soil Penetration Resistance on the Performance of Semi-mounted Potato Planter

Abstract

This study is conducted to evaluate the performance of semi-mounted potato planter (two row with a cup), on an area of (50 x 8 m) in the farm of the College of Agricultural Studies-Sudan University of Science and Technology. The effects of three levels of soil penetration resistance (100-70kg/cm2, 70-45kg/cm2 and 45-25kg/cm2) on the performance of potato planter was evaluated in terms of the seed to seed spacing, percentage of missing seed , depth of planting and field capacity. The results revealed that the increase in the soil penetration resistance induced a significant decrease in the depth of planting, Also There is no significant different between the two higher and medium levels of soil resistance (100-70kg/cm2 and 70-45kg/cm2), for seed to seed spacing, while there are a significant different in the lower level (24-45 kg/cm2). In contrast the levels of soil resistance did not show significant differences in the percentage of missing seed At the recommended soil resistance the effective field capacity and  field  efficiency  of  the  planter  was  about  0.20  ha/hr  and 63%,  respectively. The developed polynomial relations between the studied evaluations attribute soil penetration resistance can be used to predict the field attribute to implement for certain soil penetration resistance