PLACEMENT OF N, P, AND S FOR MAIZE USING A REFINED OSU HAND PLANTER

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1019430
• Project Start Date: Oct 1, 2019
• Project End Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
STILLWATER,OK 74078

Performing Department
Plant & Soil Sciences

Non Technical Summary
The issue at hand is to deliver a robust, fully tested hand planter that consumers/farmers trust. The OSU hand planter/fertilizer applicator will hopefully take third world farmers into a 'new age,' where their production system is completely embodied withthe device that is delivered. Field trials are being conducted in Oklahoma, Uganda, El Salvador, and Thailand. As more cooperators are identified, we expect to have in-country data from many other locations. Homeowners, gardeners, and wildlife owners of the hand planter will be identified, whereby their feedback can also be garnered and embedded within new prototypes.

Animal Health Component

20%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

20%

Developmental

70%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	1480	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
1480 - Sweetcorn;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

hand planters

fertillizer rates for maize

field trials for maize

Goals / Objectives
Homogeneity of plant stands is a primary goal for producers of all cereal crops. Homogeneity of fertilizer placement that parallels seed placement has not received substantive attention in research. Combining these two issues, and delineating exactly how they should be used is the aim of the project. This combines more ubiquitous methods like the OSU Hand Planter and high-tech agricultural equipment seen in the developed world.The main objective is to simultaneously solve the issue of homogenous fertilizer placement (N, P, and S) while consistently being able to deliver equidistant plant-to-plant stands. The objectives of this work will be to investigaterealistic methods of applying N, P, and S together or separatelya refined hand planter for both the developing world with a life span of 10 years, and that would be capable of working with no failures over 1,000,000 cycles.a collapsible funnel for refilling seed/fertilizer (needs to collapse and fit in his back pocket) (canvas, mesh plastic, not sure)electronic by-seed planting detection and speaker feedback (beep)drum options for improved fertilizer application (sources and rates)drum options (and chart computations) for a range of seeds and seeding ratesFast, lock - in place - replaceable drumscommercial homeowner version of this plantershovel designs for different soils/tillage

Project Methods
Annual field trials will evaluate the current hand planter, compared to the new prototype that we annually advance for having better singulation, and ultimately higher seed emergence. Field trials will also evaluate the following variables, but that could include others, depending on what solutions are set forth:Current hand planter that was refined from previous yearsSimulation of the hand planter used in the developing worldAn array of new parts, some of which could come from more advanced injection molding. This would include but not limited to,drum cavity size, drum angle, drum material (seed specific)easy drum replacement/designfertilizer placement, fertilizer combinations, and fertilizer rates (size of drum)internal brush size, brush stiffness,outer and inner housing design, and housing materialseed reservoir size/width (concern for seed bridging)fertilizer drum design, cavity sizeplanter tip design (weight, construction method)planter sound device/display for confirmed singulation/seed delivery, and embedded within the hand planterSeed size (# of seeds/kg), needs to include a range of seed sizes from 2300 to 3900 seeds/kg.Soil type/texture (will need to operate over a range of soil textures and soil moisture). This will be tied back to the selected planter tip

Progress 10/01/19 to 10/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers, producers, regulatory agencies, and governments in third world countries, homeowners, gardeners, and wildlife personnel would be interested. Changes/Problems:This project ended with the untimely demise of project director, Dr. William Raun. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over 475 hand planters have been delivered and are in use across the globe. In addition, our program has trained several M.S. and Ph.D. students who have returned to their home countries and implemented the use of the hand planter. The results from our experiments have also been shared with numerous domestic audiences and incorporated as part of our undergraduate curriculum to increase understanding of the need for precision planting and fertilization regardless of the scale of enterprise. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results and deliverables of this project have been disseminated to US stakeholders via extension presentation, web-based decision tools, and train the trainers events such as Certified Crop Advisor continuing education classes. Globally, the results have been shared through graduate students returning to their home countries after graduation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project ended with the untimely demise of project director Dr. William Raun. There are no current plans for the continuation of the project research.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project further elucidated the benefits of seed singulation and by-plant fertilization techniques for small-scale and large-scale enterprises in the US and abroad. Significant progress was made in refining a hand planter that allows small production stakeholders to plant and fertilize with a precision that is on par with modern mechanized equipment. Field-based agronomic research showed that singulation of seed and by-plant fertilization provided significant yield advantages over non-precise delivery mechanisms, regardless of scale or location.

Publications

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers, producers, regulatory agencies, governments in developingworld countries, homeowners, gardeners, and wildlife personnelwould be interested. Changes/Problems:The global pandemic (COVID19) has impacted this work in a significant way. We were one week away from sending a team of 4 individuals to Nigeria to further extend this work. Working together with Rotary International, we were able to secure the added funding to do this. As it stands, we are trying to get this re-started (sending our training team to Nigeria), but this depends on when the pandemic might end or lessen. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have now delivered over 450hand planters all over the world. This has taken place with CGIAR centers in Africa, Mexico, India, and East Asia. Much of this has happened using our own graduate students who have been trained here (Oklahoma State University) and who have returned to their home country (in-country training). While entrenched in either their own Master of Science or Ph.D. program here,all our graduate students are fully vetted in the process (OSU hand planter) and have also assisted with improved engineering and design. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As noted in the previous section, developing world graduate students that are trained here have returned home to advance this technology on a global scale. US graduate students have been equally successful whereby the OSU hand planter is used by homeowners (gardens), and the hunting industry where the hand planter affords them the luxury of planting different types of seed in highly remote areas not accessible by mobile equipment. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are on the cusp of garnering additional funding from Rotary International to disseminate and train producers in Nigeria. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the OSU hand planter "in-country" is expected as all blueprints are digitally shared online. In addition, manufacturing videos have been assembled that deliver applied examples of exactly how all of this should be conducted in machine shops that can be found virtually everywhere in the world.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Over the past several yearsfield trials were established and carried through to cereal grain harvest. The evaluation has included both the OSU hand planter which simulates what takes place in the developing world and more mechanized methods that are used in the USA (vacuum planter). Nonetheless, the end product is the same, as spatial resolutions must take place at the by-plant scale. In the developing world, that is accomplished by training producers to think-by-plant because everything they are doing is all by hand (planting, hoeing, fertilizing, harvesting). Mastering the OSU hand planter to deliver homogeneity of plant stands and the by-hand mid-season practices that follow, ultimately increase yields. Simultaneously, in the developed world, we have already realized dramatic technological advances in mechanization that solve this problem.

Publications