PRODUCTIVITY OF CORN HYBRIDS IN RELATION TO SOWING OVERLAP

ABSTRACT The automatic control of section shut-off in seed drills minimizes seeding overlap and can reduce productivity losses, especially in responsive crops such as corn. In that context, this study evaluated the effect of sowing overlap on the grain yield and productivity of three corn hybrids. A DB-50 precision seed drill, with 33 rows equipped with a 16-row automatic section control, was used in this experiment. A randomized block design was applied to test three corn hybrids under two sowing conditions (without sowing overlap - WOSO; and with sowing overlap - WSO), with four replications. The analyzed variables were the number of plants per hectare, the number of cobs per hectare, cob length, the number of grains per cob, the thousand grain weight, and productivity. WOSO areas presented cobs that were larger and had more grains, as well as a higher thousand grain weight, resulting in a productivity 13% higher than that of WSO areas. Therefore, the use of automatic section control is a technically feasible alternative to reduce seed costs and avoid productivity losses in corn crops.