Journal of Plant Nutrition

1 Hand Planter for Maize (Zea mays L.) in the Developing World Maize (Zea mays L.) grain yields in the developing world hover near 2 Mg ha-1. Planting maize involves placing two to three seeds per hill, with hills being roughly 30 cm apart. Variability in seeds per hill and distance between hills results in heterogeneous plant stands that lower yields. Oklahoma State University (OSU) has developed a durable hand planter with a reciprocating internal drum that delivers single maize seeds per strike and that can also be used for mid-season application of urea fertilizer. Our current prototype has been comprehensively tested and evaluated to deliver at least 80 % single seeds (singulation), 0 % misses, work well over a range of seed sizes (2652 to 4344 seeds kg-1), different operators, and can be used for mid-season fertilizer application