EFFECTS OF A COMBINED ACTIVE AND PASSIVE TILLAGE TOOLS ON SOIL COMPACTION AND THE REQUIRED ENERGY

Abstract

The general objectives of this study were to investigate the performance characteristics of a combined machine which consists of chisel plow and rotary plow. The performance of this combined machine was compared with the pure passive tillage tool (chisel plow). The comparison was concentrated on soil compaction (which was considered in terms of soil bulk density, soil porosity and soil penetration resistance), soil pulverization, fuel consumption, power requirements, specific energy and the total cost per unit area. The comparison was made under three different soil moisture contents (from 12.77% to 20.52%), three different plowing depths 10, 15 and 20 em, three different travel speeds 2.5, 3.4 and 4.8 km/h and three different soil conditions (according to the residue of the preceding crop). The obtained results showed that soil compaction decreased in case of using combined active and passive tillage machine as compared by a chisel plow (two passes). For example: The combined machine, produced lower specific energy, at 16.96% moisture content, 3.4 km/h travel speed and 10 em plowing depth, the use of combined machine produced 7.18% less soil bulk density, 5.86 % more soil porosity, 28.57 % less soil penetration resistance and 51.10 % less specific energy than the use of chisel plow for soil A (wheat crop residue).