Effect of Tillage Depth and Tractor Forward Speed on Some Technical Indicators of the Moldboard Plow

Abstract

Due to the lack of many in-depth studies on the moldboard plow in the conditions of the Republic of Yemen before, this research was conducted with the aim of finding the effect of forward tractor speed and depth of tillage on the slippage percentage, field capacity, field efficiency and fuel consumption. The experiment was carried out in the farm of the Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Thamar University in the year 2015. The Massey Ferguson 275 tractor (MF 275) 67.43 hp (50.3 kW) with moldboard plow was used. Three replicates were used for each experiment, the experiment included three depths (10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm) and three speeds (4.24, 5.54 and 6.75) (km / h) for each repeat, and the experiment included 27 identical experimental pieces. The results showed that increasing depth from 10 cm to 20 cm and 30 cm lead to increased slippage percentage (from 11.55 to 19.79 and 25.39 %), and fuel consumption (from 18.97 to 23.00 and 26.27 l/ha), but decreased field capacity (from 0.324 to 0.294 and 0.272 %) and field efficiency (from 59.39 to 53.80 and 50.04 %). Increasing speed from 4.24 to 5.54 and 6.75 km/h lead to increased slippage percentage (from 13.52 to 20.16 and 23.06 %) and field capacity (from 0.246 to 0.296 and 0.348 %) but decreased field efficiency (from 57.54 to 53.49 and 51.56 %) and fuel consumption (from 26.87 to 22.57 and 18.8 %). The first depth (10 cm) with first speed (4.24 km/h) gave the lowest slippage percentage rate (8.49 %) and the highest rate of field efficiency (61.08 %). The third speed (6.75 km/h) with first depth (10 cm) gave the highest rate of field capacity (0.381 ha/h) and les rate of fuel consumption per unit area (15.5 l/ha). The third depth (30 cm) with third speed (6.75 km/h) gave highest rate of slippage percentage (30.37 %). While the third depth (30 cm) with first speed (4.24 km/h) gave the highest rate of fuel consumption per unit area (30.8 l/h). We recommend the use of third speed (6.75km/h) and first depth (10 cm) because it recorded the highest rate of the field capacity and the lowest rate of fuel consumption per unit area (15.5).