Canola was seeded with Matt Steinert near Covington, OK on September 21 with a Flexicoil 6000 series air seeder.  A New Holland 4WD tractor was used to pull the air seeder at 5 speeds ranging from 4.5 to 8.5 mph.

Canola was seeded with Ed Regier near Enid, OK on September 29 with two John Deere 1590 drills pulled side by side.  A Versatile 850 tractor was used to seed canola at 5 speeds ranging from about 5.4 to 8.4 mph.

One dimensional accelerometers were mounted on three openers of each drill. Data were recorded using a notebook computer and USB data acquisition system.  Readings from three accelerometers were recorded at 25 hertz.

Preliminary research into the vibration dynamics of no-till row units indicated that row opener vibration was related to ground speed.  The figure below shows that vibration, as indicated by mean absolute vertical acceleration, increased with ground speed for two no-till drills.  Field conditions for the John Deere 1590 drill (blue diamonds) were fairly rough.  Anhydrous ammonia had been applied with a shank applicator.  Shank spacing was 20 inches and winter canola was planted at a slight angle to the anhydrous shank paths.  Though field conditions for the Flexicoil 6000 air seeder (red squares) were smoother, the trend was similar.