A No-till Plot Drill for Small Grain Variety and Agronomic Testing in the Pacific Northwest.

The adoption of no-till or direct seed farming practices is increasing in the Pacific Northwest.  Currently, much of the agronomic and variety testing is conducted using conventional tillage and seeding methods.  There are significant differences between these systems and growers are constantly wondering if the conventional trials are applicable to their no-till production systems.  However, developing a plot sized no-till drill that works in the various production (low to high residue) systems has been difficult.  Even small (3.1 m) commercial no-till drills are too large to easily transport.  In addition these drills typically require larger and more powerful tractors.  Thus, to date it has been difficult to conduct no-till trials in much of the Pacific Northwest.  To address this issue, several researchers at Oregon State University recently developed a new small plot no-till drill that is attached to a 60 horsepower tractor using the three point hitch and can be easily transported to trial sites throughout the state.  The drill combines both a hoe-type opener and a disk opener that allows for maximum flexibility across the many production environments in the Pacific Northwest.  In addition, the drill is outfitted with dry fertilizer attachments that allow the placement of fertilizer below the seed and/or with the seed as a starter fertilizer.  To date, the drill has been successfully used in multiple environments to establish variety and agronomic trials.