Crop Placement and Row Spacing - Western Fact Sheet
Published: 8 Feb 2011
A systems approach to row spacing
The depth of seed placement and the distance from the adjacent row both influence crop performance. With the greater uptake of no-till and precision farming the opportunies to vary row spacing by crop and sow on the inter-row have increased. However, increasing row spacing is not always beneficial to yield.
Key messages
- Increased interest in no-till farming has created a trend for wider crop row spacing.
- In general, increasing row spacing has no effect on cereals when yields are less than 0.5 tonnes per hectare.
- In cereal trials with high yield potential (greater than 3.0t/ha), significant yield penalties have been recorded with wider row spacing.
- The yields of broadleaf and pulse crops vary in their response to wider row spacing.
- Precision agriculture makes inter-row sowing and fertiliser applications easier at wider row spacing. Weed control can be a major problem.
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Region: West
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