Evaluation of the work quality of the sugar beet planter in relation to the sugar beet seed parameters

: Due to the restructuring of the Slovak agriculture managed by the Common agricultural policy of the European union, the acreage under sugar beet has been significantly reduced (32 000 ha in 2003, 27 700 ha in 2006). For the growers with a high intensity of growing, sugar beet has the potential to bring profit. The quality of the crop stand establishment during seeding is considered as the basis for a high yield of the sugar beet roots. Biological and technological properties of sugar beet seed, tillage quality and the quality of the seed placement into the soil have a dominant effect on the value and evenness of the sugar beet field emergence. A regular seed placement is also required as the precondition for minimising the harvest losses. During seeding, the distance between two successive seeds in the row depends upon the technical parameters of the planter - forward speed, type of the seeding unit mounting to the frame, the design and the type of the seeding mechanism drive. Our paper is focused on the comparison of the seeding quality of two types of sugar beet planters equipped with different seeding mechanisms: ground driven seeding mechanism and electric motor driven seeding mechanism. Unicorn synchro drive planter provided better results (x2 = 17.89 mm) than Meca 2000 planter (x2 = 28.44 mm). The planters were evaluated in experiments conducted in field conditions according to the International standard ISO 7256/1.