Tendencies and Prospects for the Development of Domestic Machinery for Sowing Grain Crops

The design of domestic grain drills largely determines the quality of sowing and the effectiveness of technologies for cultivating farm grain and seed crops in general. (Research purpose) To consider the development stages of domestic industrial production of grain drills and, in the form of an analytical review, to present the main information a chronological order. (Materials and Methods) the authors have conducted an expert analysis of the results of domestic scientists’ research on the effect of the surface distribution of seeds on the yield of grain crops and determined general trends in the development of sowing machines, which made it possible to implement various methods of sowing cereals. The authors have also identified the main trends and stages of industrial production of grain drills in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. (Results and discussion) The contribution of Russian and Soviet scientists to the improvement of grain drills and the issues of the optimization of structural and operational characteristics of sowing units have been analyzed in the paper. The authors have determined and examined the main directions of development of grain drill in the pre-­perestroika period, as well as characterized the state of the domestic agricultural machinery industry at the present stage. (Conclusions) Basing on the results of the conducted research, the authors have found that the development of grain drill designs in the domestic agrarian market is influenced by various reasons and has several directions. Among the most obvious trends we can single out the following ones: the use of the best foreign samples as prototypes; a tendency to increase the area of plant nutrition; the use of operational experience and comparative test results; optimization of design and technological parameters of drills based on the results of targeted scientific research; the development of machines that ensure the rational utilization of the energy resources used; extending the functionality of sowing machines as a result of combining operations and carrying out sowing on stubble backgrounds.