Tynes are a cheap and easy option for no-till beginners. They offer excellent incorporation and safety of pre emergent herbicides, creates a furrow for water capture and offer cultivation below the seed. Seed and fertiliser can also be delivered separately into the seeding row. To practice no-till farming, narrow knife points with less than full cut out are required.
Three major factors have been found to influence seed placement and seed-soil contact are:
- Equipment design
- System setup and operation
- Soil environment condition
The design of the tyne will greatly affect the performance of the seeder due to its influence on break out pressure, point types that can be fitted and frame clearance plus layout configuration which in turn affects residue handling ability. In general, hydraulic tynes provide greater flexibility in setting breakout pressures to match the seeding conditions.
Some guidelines when selecting a tyne seeder bar include:
- Minimum 50cm clearance under the frame
- Minimum 50cm rank spacings (most modern frames have ranks 65-80cm apart)
- Tyne break-out needs to be at least 90 - 150kg per tyne
- Preference for vertical or tilted backward tynes
- Consider the proximity of wheel to tynes to avoid stubble blockages
- Look for smooth, flush joins and blotting to avoid clumping
- With combines, the boxes may need to be raised or a blower fitted to allow wide spaced tynes
Points:
Like anything based on machinery, manufacturers have designed an array of points. In general, points can be classified into sweeps, spear, knife or inverted T points. Generally in no-till, knife points and inverted T’s are used. The angle of the point will greatly influence draft force required to pull the point through the soil and the angle will greatly affect soil disturbance.
Press wheels:
Press wheels are designed to provide in furrow packing to both improve germination rates in marginal moisture conditions and to consolidate the integrity of furrows for water harvesting. The optimal packing force should be the lightest that improves seed soil contact. Press wheel width should be as wide as the seed band, and slightly wider than the natural furrow produced by the seeding boot.
Residue managers:
To keep rows clear of stubble residue managers can be worth fitting to the seeder. Examples of residue managers include stubble tubes (a cheap and simple option), row cleaner wheels, disc coulters and treadwheels. Inter row sowing can also be adopted if guidance is an option, to limit the impact of stubble on establishment.
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