- 40 -
6.4 SETTING THE SEED DOSE
Using high-quality certified seeds is not enough to deter-
mine the weight in kilograms to be distributed with the ma-
chine, since the final result of the harvest will depend on the
number of plants that reach full maturity.
Each plant requires a certain amount of soil space from
which it will obtain nutrients. Thus, a low plant density can
be just as bad as a plant density that is too high. To calculate
the number of kilograms to be sown per hectare, we must
first know how many plants we are going to sow per square
metre.
As a guideline, the number of plants recommended for
wheat and barley in dry farming fields is as follows:
AUTUMN
SPRING
Early sowing, 200 plants per m
2
Early sowing, 310 plants per m
2
Late sowing, 265 plants per m
2
Late sowing, 445 plants per m
2
Seed doses must be adjusted to each soil according to its
texture, fertilization level, rainfall and sowing season, grain
quality, germination and tillering power, etc.
In addition, it should be remembered that the seed's ger-
mination capacity is variable and depends on many factors.
Experimentally, it can be calculated between 70 and 80%,
which in practice is equivalent to multiplying the number of
grains to be sown by 1.43 or 1.25, respectively.
NOTE THAT IN SPRING, TILLERING IS ALWAYS
LOWER AND THEREFORE THE AMOUNT TO BE
SOWN SHOULD BE INCREASED.
MAQUINARIA AGRÍCOLA SOLÀ, S.L.
, RECOM-
MENDS THAT FARMERS SEEK PROFESSIONAL
ADVICE FROM TECHNICIANS OR SPECIALISTS
IN THIS FIELD.
The following describes a practical method for calculating
the kilograms per hectare to be distributed, based on the
number of plants per square metre that we want to obtain.
Fig. 6.51
1-
Insert the "grain counter" (Fig. 6.51) into the seed bag to
fill it.
2-
When you take it out, brush your hand over it so that only
one grain remains in each cavity (100 grains in total).
3-
Repeat the operation 10 times to obtain 1,000 grains.
4-
Weigh the 1,000 grains on a precision scale.
The weight obtained in
GRAMS
is called the
OPERATING
WEIGHT
. When you know the grains you are going to sow
per square metre, the kilograms per hectare that we must set
in the dosage control are:
KILOGRAMS PER HECTARE
=
(
grains per m
2
x
OPERATING WEIGHT
) /
100
Summary of Contents for VESTA-2813 NS PLUS
Page 75: ... 75 ...
Page 76: ... 76 ...
Page 77: ... 77 NOTES DATE NOTES ...
Page 78: ... 78 DATE NOTES ...
Page 79: ......