Studies on the effect of active tillage tools on soil properties

Abstract

Three active tillage implements; rotavator, power harrow and spading machine were tested in three fields at various engine speeds in order to study the tilth produced by these implements. It was observed that the suitability of an implement was changed according to the soil properties considered. Power harrow and spading machine can be recommended for getting lower bulk density, whereas rotavator and power harrow were suitable for higher soil pulverization and soil inversion. The deeper operating depth can be achieved by the usage of spading machine. Rotavator consumed less fuel and lower operating cost per unit area. The soil tilths obtained by these implements were compared using value of tillage performance index and ranking by grey relational analysis. In both the cases rotavator was found to be better compared to others. The cost of operation, energy requirements and time of operation of the tillage implements showed that lower values of Rs. 3300, 827.91 MJ and 3.03 hours per hectare were observed in operation of rotavator followed by power harrow, Rs. 4500, 1029.68 MJ and 4.76 hours, and higher values of Rs. 7900, 1686.10 MJ, 9.09 hours were found in spading machine respectively. The implements were operated in multiple passes on the same field to study the variations in tillage quality. Two pass of rotavator, two pass of power harrow and three pass operation of spading machine were found to be similar based on the soil properties. The respective ratios of cost, energy and time expenditure were obtained as 1 : 1.33 : 2.93, 1 : 1.42 : 3.43 and 1 : 1.18 : 2.41 for rotavator, power harrow and spading machine. While considering in the point of view of grey relational ranking and tillage performance index, rotavator operation was found best. The cost and energy analysis of the operations also have computed. It also indicated rotavator has the best results. The spading machine can be used for fields which need higher operating depth, even though it’s operating cost and time of operation were higher.