Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is an edible and medicinal crop belonging to family Polygonaceae and it is native to southwest of China, northern India, Bhutan and Nepal. The seeds are widely consumed as daily diet and traditional medicine, such as tartary buckwheat flour, noodles, bread, tea, vinegar, sprouts, etc. Tartary buckwheat is one of the most complete and nutritional foods and rich in minerals, vitamins, proteins, dietary fiber, amino acids, trace elements, and various bioactive phytochemicals. Thus, interest in the use of tartary buckwheat for health benefits is growing, and the market demand is increasing. However, the major tartary buckwheat production is in hilly and high-cold mountainous areas. Because of the inconvenience in transportation and lack of communication with outside, the mechanization of farming in these areas is still under developed, which seriously limits the development of tartary buckwheat industry. As we known, mechanization for farming is important in increase of farm productivity and improving efficiency for modern agriculture production. In order to investigate the feasibility of mechanized seeding technology and the measures of improving the mechanical sowing quality of tartary buckwheat in the hilly areas, a field experiment with three sowing depth (2, 4, 6 cm) and soil-covering (no-covering as CK) was conducted to study quality of tartary buckwheat seedlings during the growing season of 2012 at the farm of Jintang county in Sichuan Province. The results showed that sowing depth was the most important factor, and the optimum depth was 4 cm. The emergence rate, seedling number, seedling rate, root activity, stem diameter, dry matter, area per plant and leaf chlorophyll content of the treatment of 2 cm sowing depth decreased significantly (p<0.05) as compared to 4 cm sowing depth. Besides, the 6 cm sowing depth resulted in significantly (p<0.05) lower emergence rate, plant height, dry matter weight, area per plant, stem diameter and leaf chlorophyll content as compared to the treatment of 4 cm sowing depth. Compared with the treatment of no soil-covering, the emergence rate, root activity, dry matter and length of underground stem were significantly (p<0.05) enhanced by the treatment of soil-covering. Results from the principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that there were large differences among the tartary buckwheat seedling quality among different sowing depth treatments, and soil-covering enhanced the change of these qualities. The high root activity, plant height, total dry matter weight and root dry weight, large stem diameter and area per plant, moderate length of underground stem and short length of cotyledonary node served as the indicators for good tartary buckwheat seedling quality. Above all, the sowing depth of 4 cm with soil-covering was beneficial to improve the quality of tartary buckwheat seedling, which can be recommended in the hilly areas of southwest China.%为探索西南丘陵山区苦荞机械播种的可行性和提高机械播种质量的农艺措施，该试验研究了播深（2，4，6 cm）和覆土（不覆土为对照）对苦荞幼苗性状的影响。结果表明，播种深度对苦荞幼苗性状影响最大，4 cm播深有利于培育苦荞壮苗，播深2 cm时表现为出苗率差、基本苗和成苗率低，根系活力、茎粗小、干物质量、单株叶面积及叶绿素含量下降，而播深6 cm时地中茎过长导致出苗率下降，株高、干物质量、单株叶面积、茎粗和叶绿素含量均降低；覆土有利于提高苦荞的出苗率和根系活力，干物质量增加，地中茎适度增长，幼苗素质较不覆土高。苦荞幼苗各性状主成分分析表明，各播深处理条件下苦荞幼苗性状差异较大，覆土加剧了各处理间的分异程度。在机械播种后进行苦荞幼苗素质评价时，应选择株高、根系活力、总干物质量、根干物质量、茎粗、单株叶面积、地中茎长度适中和子叶节长度等指标，能够准确地反映苦荞幼苗素质。综合可知，采用4 cm 播深和覆土最有利于提高苦荞幼苗的素质。
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