Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Sometimes, research simply concludes that you've been doing it right all along.
That is exactly what happened with a recent Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) study on canola seed damage from metering and air distribution systems in seeders, funded by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food’s (SAF) Agriculture Development Fund (#200400520).
According to Wayne Stock, PAMI's Assistant Manager of Soils and Crops, PAMI was approached by the Canola Council of Canada to do this work because their field trials showed up to 30 per cent canola seed damage with air seeders. They asked PAMI to find out where and why this damage was occurring, and to find out if operating the machines at different air speeds would reduce losses.
Given the increase in hybrid seed costs, Stock believed reduced seeding losses might increase producers' profitability. The Canola Council of Canada would then publish literature on how to adjust seeding rates to reduce the seed damage.
“But the trials revealed something else," he says. "We weren’t able to duplicate that 30 per cent damage at all. We tested two varieties: a hybrid and a non-hybrid. When we tested an open-pollinated variety, we did find slight damage, but not enough to be significant. We tested them at different air speeds and, in the end, we could not make a conclusion. The damage was very low.”
“Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food funded this project because of some anecdotal evidence the Canola Council had found in their own research plots and in dealing with farmers,” explains William Greuel, Provincial Oilseed and Transgenic Crop Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food.
What this proves, Greuel believes, is that the existing air seeding equipment is well engineered.
“The study found that metering systems don’t do a whole lot of damage. If we go back in time to the introduction of air seeding technology, metering systems were damaging seeds, and we have come a long way since," he says.
“The other way through which seed can be damaged is fan speed. If you have your air fan speed set too high, you will end up with cracked or damaged seed. We didn’t see that in this study, but it is a good reminder for farmers to think about what fan speed seeders are set at when planting canola.”
According to Greuel, Bourgeault and Agricore United conducted a similar study on flax in the past, and they found significantly different results: a lot more damaged and cracked seeds in flax as fan speed increased. It appeared that the seed damage was a result of the fan speed being set too high for flax.
Taking a little extra time at seeding to review procedures can help farmers maximize efficiencies, with a view to reducing those ever-challenging input costs.
The complete final report on the study, entitled Reducing Canola Seed Damage from Metering and Air Distribution Systems, may be obtained from the Agriculture Development Fund section of the Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food website, www.agr.gov.sk.ca.