Fertilizer measurer to simplify the adjustment of fertilizer drills

Abstract

A cylindrical transparent plastic container was used as a fertilizer measurer to substitute weighing and to calculate steps of the conventional method to adjust fertilizer drills. The table printed on the container's surface showed the amounts of fertilizer delivered in kilograms per hectare units. An adjustment practice was simulated to obtain the samples from different fertilizers and two fertilizer drills to compare the new method to the conventional one. The data were independently analyzed for each fertilizer drill within a completely randomized design with methods and fertilizers combined in 2 x 6 factorial arrangement of treatments. The results showed no significant difference between the two methods with the samples delivered by the tractor-operated fertilizer drill. On the other hand, the two methods were significantly different according to the samples collected from the animal-driven fertilizer drill. However, this latter difference between the two means was only 4.6% which, practically, does not seem to represent a significant amount.