In short
Field trials in Turkey and Kazakhstan put useful wheat seeding rates between about 300 and 600 seeds per square metre, and the best figure depends on variety, moisture and sowing date, not on one national number.
Past a point more seed adds cost without grain. A Kazakh trial found no real gain from 400 seeds over 300, and an irrigated durum trial in Turkey found no yield effect across 100 to 250 kg/ha. Seed by weight then follows from thousand seed weight, as the seed rate guide explains. Planva keeps the rate you choose in the agroplan, planned and actual.
Plan wheat in seeds per square metre
Seeds per square metre is the easiest unit to compare across fields and varieties. Multiply million seeds per hectare by 100 and you have seeds per square metre, so 3 million per hectare is 300 per square metre. Alberta Agriculture lists a target stand of 250 plants per square metre for hard red spring wheat and 210 for durum. Those are plants after losses, so you sow more seeds than that. The trial rates below are different: they count seeds sown.
What field trials found
| Trial | Rates tested | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Edirne, Turkey, rainfed bread wheat, 2003 to 2005, Trakya Agricultural Research Institute | 300 to 700 seeds/m² | Best rate depended on the variety: 400 for Pehlivan, 500 for Gelibolu, Tekirdag and Selimiye, 600 for Flamura-85 |
| Harran Plain, south-east Turkey, one durum cultivar, irrigated trials in 1994, 1997 and 1998 and a rainfed trial in 1996 | 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg/ha | Seeding rate had no significant effect on grain yield; the lowest rate gave the most grain per ear and the highest thousand kernel weight |
| Akmola region, Kazakhstan, spring wheat, 2022 and 2023, Barayev grain centre | 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 million viable seeds/ha | 2.0 gave significantly less than 3.0 in the dry year; 4.0 added no significant yield; 3.0 was judged the best option |
Read the table as a warning against one fixed number. The Edirne varieties peaked at three different rates, the irrigated durum did not respond at all, and the Kazakh authors note that raising the rate in a drought is hard to justify economically.
From seeds per m² to kg/ha
Two cases, and mixing them up inflates the rate. For trial rates, which are seeds sown, the sum is short: kg/ha = seeds sown per m² × thousand seed weight (g) ÷ 100. Four hundred seeds of 40 g grain is 160 kg/ha. The Edirne institute reports about 170 to 180 kg/ha for its 400 seeds optimum, which fits grain of 43 to 45 g.
For a target of plants, you also divide by expected survival: kg/ha = target plants per m² × thousand seed weight (g) ÷ survival ÷ 100. Teagasc, the Irish advisory service, plans winter wheat on 280 plants per m². With a thousand grain weight of 55 g and establishment of 0.80 that is 350 seeds sown and 193 kg/ha. The table shows the plant-target sum at survival 0.85 for three seed sizes.
| Target plants per m² | Thousand seed weight 35 g | 40 g | 45 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 82 kg/ha | 94 kg/ha | 106 kg/ha |
| 300 | 124 kg/ha | 141 kg/ha | 159 kg/ha |
| 400 | 165 kg/ha | 188 kg/ha | 212 kg/ha |
| 500 | 206 kg/ha | 235 kg/ha | 265 kg/ha |
| 600 | 247 kg/ha | 282 kg/ha | 318 kg/ha |
The same stand takes nearly 30 percent more seed when the grain is 45 g than when it is 35 g. That is why the lot has to be weighed. See thousand seed weight.
What moves the rate
- Rainfall. Alberta Agriculture notes that target stands are generally lower where rainfall is limited and higher where moisture is plentiful.
- Variety. The Edirne trial gave each variety its own optimum, so use the breeder or the national variety list for a starting point.
- Sowing date. Plan the rate together with the date; the winter wheat sowing dates guide covers the timing side.
- Printed list values. Teagasc points out that the thousand grain weight printed on a recommended list is a three-year average, not the figure for the current crop.
How this works in Planva
- Seed catalogue. Germination, thousand seed weight, purity, maturity group and tillering for each wheat seed you hold.
- Agroplan. A sowing profile holds seed by rate or quantity, plan and actual.
- Crop rotation. Each season shows crop, variety, sowing and harvest dates and the yield.
Sources
- Trakya Agricultural Research Institute, The Effects of Seeding Rates of Some Bread Wheat and Barley Varieties Grown in Trakya Region
- Kabakci, Effect of Planting Methods and Seeding Rates on Grain Yield and Yield Components of Durum Wheat in Harran Plain, 2009
- Werner and Kokonov, spring wheat seeding rate and fertiliser trial at the Barayev centre, Akmola region, 2024
- Alberta Agriculture, Agdex 100/22-1, revised May 2018
- Teagasc, Use thousand grain weight to accurately calculate seed rates, October 2026
Common questions
There is no single figure. Trials in Turkey and Kazakhstan favoured rates from about 300 to 600 seeds per m², depending on variety, moisture and sowing date. Check your regional recommendation.
The real Planva interface, shown with test data.
