Field Crop 2025, Vol.8, No.5, 247-257 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 251 and wider, and the efficiency of absorbing water and fertilizer is also high, especially under the drip irrigation system (Li et al., 2021). The amount of fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorus should also be adjusted according to the density of planting. Only when they are well coordinated can the yield and resource utilization rate be increased (Kihara et al., 2022). In addition, some new practices, such as using biochar or inoculating AMF fungi, can also improve the soil and help crops grow better. These practices are particularly useful in alkaline soil or saline-alkali land (Ding et al., 2020). Therefore, at a time when climate change is becoming more and more obvious and resources are becoming more and more scarce, these measures are really critical to stabilizing wheat yields. 6 Case Study 6.1 Regional climatic and soil conditions relevant to wheat sowing In Paraná, Brazil, researchers conducted field experiments in Londrina and Ponta Grossa. They wanted to understand how wheat grows under different climate and soil conditions. Weather changes, soil fertility, water content, and temperature in these places will affect wheat germination, growth, and yield. Similar experiments were also conducted in Shandong Province and the North China Plain in China. These studies illustrate a truth: if you want to grow well, you have to choose the right sowing time and density according to the local climate and soil (Wen et al., 2023). 6.2 Implementation of variable sowing densities and monitoring In Brazil and China, the researchers selected different wheat varieties and tested different seed vigor conditions. They used sowing densities ranging from 150 to 450 grains per square meter to observe wheat seedling emergence, plant dry weight, ear number, green leaf index, and final yield. In Shandong, the sowing density ranged from 1.35 million to 4.05 million plants per hectare, and the research team also continued to track the changes in yield and quality in different ecological zones and sowing periods (Abati et al., 2018). 6.3 Observed outcomes: seedling vigor, yield performance, and economic return When the seeds are more vigorous, the seedlings will emerge evenly and the seedlings will grow better, especially in places where the conditions are not so good. When less seeds are sown, each wheat plant can grow more aboveground parts; when more seeds are sown, although there are more seedlings, the growth of each plant may become weaker (Marinho et al., 2021). When the sowing density is adjusted to the appropriate range, such as 450 seeds/square meter in Brazil and 3.15 million plants per hectare in Shandong, the yield can be significantly improved. Because there are more ears, there are more grains. But planting too densely will reduce the quality of seeds and make each seed lighter. Studies have also found that the effect will be better if the sowing time is well coordinated. For example, Jining, Shandong, sowed on October 25, with a density of 3.15 million plants/hectare, and the yield and quality were ideal (Figure 2) (Chen et al., 2025a). Therefore, as long as the density is well selected and seeds with strong vitality are used, the yield and resource utilization efficiency can be improved, and the final benefits will be higher. In Brazil, the local BRS Sabiá and BRS Gralha Azul varieties performed best in their respective regions, indicating that varieties must be matched with the environment. In China, different regions also adopted different sowing strategies, ensuring both high yield and high quality, and helping farmers earnmore. 7 Advances in Precision Agriculture and Sowing Density Optimization 7.1 Use of remote sensing and UAVs to monitor crop density and performance Nowadays, many people use remote sensing technology to farm, especially drones. The pictures taken by drones are clear, fast, and can be taken frequently, which allows us to better understand the density, growth and health of crops. Many drones are equipped with RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral or laser radar (LiDAR) sensors, which can help us draw very detailed crop distribution maps (Maes and Steppe, 2019; Omia et al., 2023). With these maps, we can see clearly which fields have uneven seedlings, which fields are growing slowly, and which fields may be under pressure. In this way, different management methods can be made according to different situations, and the seed density can be adjusted more appropriately to increase both yield and resource utilization (Mesas-Carrascosa, 2020).
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