ArrowTube a new tool for uniform corn emergence, says U.S. company
A seed delivery system for use in planters is being marketed as a tool for seed orientation, a growing interest among corn producers.
Precision Planting’s ArrowTube, scheduled for a late 2026 release, has been designed to orient corn seed during planting for optimal emergence.
This means placing it in the soil with the tip pointing down and aligned with the furrow, enabling upward germination from a portion of the seed called the coleoptile.
Read Also
Robot performs precision weeding, crop thinning
An India-based robotics company is touting its three-in-one artificial intelligence-powered robot as a partial solution to labour shortages among specialty crop growing operations.
Why it Matters: Ongoing research says the orientation of corn seed in the furrow can make a difference in plant emergence.
The Illinois-headquartered company says regular seed tubes — key components of a planter’s delivery system — aren’t designed to do this. Instead, the coleoptile lands in any direction, leading to uneven emergence and poorly aligned leaves that limit sunlight capture and plant yield.
“ArrowTube controls the seed all the way into the furrow with optimal orientation, giving the coleoptile a direct route to the surface and minimizing leaf overlap,” reads the product description on the Precision Planting website.
“Research has proven that uniform emergence and maximized light capture are the foundations of crop yield. Every plant that lags behind costs producers bushels.
“ArrowTube is the only seed delivery system designed to optimize orientation, ensuring seeds are placed in the best position for enhanced canopy coverage, even emergence and early vigour.”
Uneven orientation doesn’t prevent germination but instead slows it down and reduces uniformity. If the seed is placed tip up, for example, it will grow downward until it “realizes” its mistake and starts growing upward. By that point, emergence time has already been wasted.
The ArrowTube process starts with accelerator wheels that take the seed from the meter and into the delivery system. The seed is then released into the delivery tube, which maintains its stability as it travels to the ground.
It’s then placed into a slot created by the subfurrow knife, oriented tip down and embryo facing sideways.
However, orientation is only part of the story, says Precision Planting.
“ArrowTube not only optimizes seed orientation but controls all aspects of seed placement, including depth, seed spacing and singulation to help each plant reach its fullest potential.”
In 2021, Keith Strang, co-designer of the similarly named AeroTube, spoke with The Western Producer about the agronomic benefits of proper corn seed orientation, including uniformity. Because all the coleoptiles have the same distance to travel to the soil surface, there’s a higher chance of uniform emergence, he said.
“Farmers always say your highest yield potential is when the seed’s in the bag, and it just goes down after that. This is basically a new level of precision planting that helps you retain yield you can’t capture any other way.”
Source: producer.com