Evaluation of Soil Loss with Surface Covering Methods Using Strip Tillage Seeding Device

Abstract

Most fields in highland areas are covered with rye or hairy vetch for conservation during a fallow. However, using cover crops needs an effort to sow, and this makes top soil more vulnerable to loss due to surface disturbances. The aims of this study were to develop an automatic seeding-regulator device using a low-price, extensive-use GPS sensors and a DC motors and to evaluate a working efficiency of it after adaptation to partial tillage machine for reducing seeding effort. The amount of runoff water and soil loss was evaluated with partial tillage and simultaneous-seeding after harvesting soybean, in 17% slope lysimeters. In results, the seeding amount with the machine speed was stable between 0.5~0.8 m s -1 of working sections. The automatic control device of seeding-rate could be enough to solve the slip problems of power selecting supply system or five four-wheel drive device. In partial tillage and simultaneous seeding, runoff water was 11.6% (1.8 m³ ha -1 ) of the scatter-seeding control (15.5 m³ ha -1 ) and soil loss was 13.2% (7 kg ha -1 ) of the scatter-seeding control (53 kg ha -1 ). These results suggest that partial tillage and simultaneous-seeding methods are very effective in decreasing work effort and soil loss of sloped land.