Seed Tape Effects on Corn Emergence under Greenhouse Conditions

Abstract

Seed tape has recently received attention as an alternative planting system for smallholder farmers in underdeveloped regions of South America, Africa, China, and India (Mateus, 2014). Seed companies are also developing seed-tape planting systems for germplasm evaluations (Deppermann et al., 2013). Although seed tape has been promoted as a method for ensuring uniform seed spacing and plant density of smallseeded flowers, herbs, and vegetables (Chancellor, 1969), little or no information is available on the use of seed tape for largerseeded row crops and its effect on crop emergence. The objective of this study was to compare the emergence of corn seed embedded in tape to seeds planted by hand and to determine seed tape effects on rate of corn emergence. Experiments were conducted in 2013 in greenhouses at Ohio State University and consisted of two treatments. Corn seed embedded in tape made of biodegradable cellulose, which is the material most widely used by seed tape manufacturers, was compared with seeds planted by hand. Two corn hybrids were used in the study—Pioneer brand 37Y14 treated with fludioxonil, mefenoxam, azoxystrobin, thiabendaz, and thiamethoxam and DeKalb DKC 65-63 treated with difenoconazole, fludioxonil, mefenoxam, and thiamethoxam. Seed tape and seeds were hand planted 2 inches deep in flats with commercial top soil (Fig. 1). Greenhouse temperature was maintained at 70 to 75°F, and metal halide lamps provided approximately 220 mmol–1 m–2 s–1 supplemental photosynthetic photon flux for a 16-h daily photoperiod. Corn emergence was recorded at the first appearance of coleoptile and monitored for approximately 2 weeks. Mean emergence time (MET) and emergence rate index (ERI) were used to measure how quickly and uniformly the corn emerged after planting. Multiple emergence counts were taken and used to calculate MET and ERI (Karayel and Ozmerzi, 2002). Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design replicated three times for each run. The experiment was repeated eight times (total of 24 replications), and a total of 240 seeds was used for each treatment (120 Published in Crop Management DOI 10.2134/CM-2014-0051-BR © 2014 American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711