The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the performance of a set formed by an agricultural tractor equipped for precision farming and a broadcaster spreader not adapted for applications of fertilizers at variable rates. The variations of the rates of fertilizer application were controlled by varying the travel speed. The width, uniformity of traverse and longitudinal distribution and the variation of the applied rate of NPK fertilizer were determined. The study was accomplished in a commercial farming of soybeans in the city of Santa Rosa, RS. For better reliability of the tests, a soil condition and farming relief that would represent a real situation of use of the mechanized set were looked for. The results showed that, in the study situation and with the used fertilizer, it is possible to use the set for widths between 20.5 and 22.5 m in the continuous application circuit and back-and-forth, with variation coefficient below 15%. In the analysis of the longitudinal profile of distribution, the values of variation coefficients between 8.78 and 12.48% were obtained. The mechanized set allows composing several application rates varying the travel speed in the system of precision farming.
broadcaster spreader; application rate; longitudinal distribution
