Maize is a staple cereal in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, it is most commonly used as livestock feed and in the production of ethanol, sweeteners and other related products. It can also be consumed as food either by roasting or boiling. Production of maize successfully depends on the correct application of production inputs that will sustain the environment as well as agricultural production. An electrically powered maize planter was designed and fabricated. Light reflecting optoelectronic field counter capable of detecting and counting free falling object with equivalent or greater than 0.7 mm distance in planter delivery tube was designed and built to monitor seed drop on the planter. It was observed that the performance of the device was not affected by the shape and colour of the counted objects (maize grains). The device accurately counted the falling seeds with the planter forward speed of 1.38 m/s and seed delivery tube of 24 mm. Several tests were carried out to determine the counting accuracy and seed spacing uniformity. The average number of two (2) seeds was discharged per hole as read on the sensor display unit. The seed counting device was 95 percent efficient and the whole sowing efficiency of the machine was 78%.

Keywords: Optoelectronic, Counter, Space uniformity, Application rate, Discharge rate