Design and Experiment on a Wedge Shaped No-tillage Opener

Abstract

A wedge-shaped no-tillage opener consisting of sharp front knife edge and pedestal with lateral wings has been designed. The front knife is connected with the pedestal by means of inner bolts and can be conveniently changed when it is abraded.Tests of resistance and power consumption are carried out in the field covered with maize straw.Test results show that the wedged-shaped no-tillage opener can reduce the surface soil disturbance to between 15% and 25%,and reduce the straw coverage rate by 10%～20%, so it can satisfy the requirement of no-tillage sowing.In comparison to the tine opener,it has the advantages that the soil bulk density is decreased significantly,the resistance and the fuel consumption are reduced by 13.2% and 15% separately when the depth of furrow opening is 10 cm,thus reducing the power consumption of tractor.So the wedged-shaped no-tillage opener solves the problem of high resistance and power consumption when the depth of furrow opening is 10 cm,and creates the loose seedbed,and which has important significance to the popularization and application of no-tillage seeders in China.