Аннотация
Abstract Precision seeders (PSs) that ensure precise single-seed sowing are used both in domestic and international agricultural practices. A distinct feature of most foreign and domestic PSs designed for intertilled crops is the presence of optional equipment used to apply fertilizers simultaneously with sowing. Today, the seedbed (starter) fertilization option is a mandatory functional (consumer) characteristic of all newly developed and implemented PSs for row crops. Modern precision seeders can ensure nearly any seeding rate in the required geometric combinations (parameters) with the optimal placement (layout) of seeds in the field. One of the ways to enhance the yield of row crops is to increase the number of plants per unit area through the optimization of the seed placement (layout). The functionality of modern PSs and the introduction of new machinery systems make it possible to perform sowing with narrow row spacing and twin rows. The existing technical and technological local-band fertilization scheme implemented by modern PSs involves the continuous (uninterrupted) application of fertilizers. This results in an excessive consumption of fertilizers, and the applied nutrients are used by weeds developing in intervals between seeds. The conducted studies made it possible to optimize the row-crop sowing process with simultaneous seedbed (starter) fertilization by applying fertilizers in accordance with the 5 × 5 × 5 scheme (5 cm deeper than seeds, 5 cm away from plant rows, and in 5-cm “foci”). The 5 × 5 × 5 scheme reduces the application rate and increases the economy of fertilizers by two times and more. The proposed scheme is implemented in a technical concept codenamed “seeder for precision sowing of intertilled crops and local differentiated fertilization” (Patent of the Russian Federation no. 199944 of September 29, 2020). Its sowing unit is integrated with the dosing device for seedbed (starter) fertilizers.