Influence of Operational Parameters on Seed Rate and Hill Spacing in a High Density Cotton Planter

Productivity of rainfed cotton in shallow and marginal soils can be improved by high density planting of early maturing varieties. The mandatory requirements of high density cotton planting system are seed singulation, plant spacing and placement of single seed at desired depth. Inclined plate metering mechanism was selected. Four levels of peripheral velocity of seed metering disc (0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 m s⁻¹), 5 levels of angle of inclination of inclined plate with horizontal (40°, 45°, 50°, 55° and 60°), 3 levels of cell size (8.5, 9.4 and 10.7 mm) and 3 levels of forward speed of planter (1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km h⁻¹) were selected for the laboratory test conducted in a test rig to measure the seed rate and hill spacing. The required seed rate of 12.5 per cent and hill spacing of 150 mm were obtained at 0.20 ms⁻¹ peripheral velocity, 8.5 mm cell size and 55° inclination of seed metering disc with horizontal at 1.5 km h⁻¹ forward speed.