Fuel demand as a function of furrow opener and soil conditions in no-tillage system

Abstract

In a no-tillage system, the timing of beginning to work with agricultural machines and tools is of great importance because it may be the key to the low cost of the operation. This study was conducted to evaluate the fuel consumption of a tractor and the effects of using different types of hoe-type openers on the soil disturbance at two soil moisture contents in a no‑tillage system. The experiment was conducted in an area of the Department of Rural Engineering, UNESP/FCAV, Jaboticabal-SP-Brazil. The area was divided according to a randomized block design with a factorial scheme of 3 × 2 × 2 with four replications. The tractor used was a BH125i-model Valtra-AGCO with 91.9 kW of rated engine power and a pantograph planter with four rows. The treatments were three hoe-type furrow openers, two soil water content profiles (WCS1 and WCS2), and two working depths. The WCS2 profile consisted of a water content of 23.1% in the layer from 0.0 to 0.10 m deep and 23.8% in the layer from 0.11 to 0.20 m deep. The WCS1 profile consisted of a water content of 15.6% in the layer from 0.0 to 0.10 m deep and 21.3% in the layer from 0.10 to 0.20 m deep. The working depths were 0.10 and 0.15 m. Increasing the working depth provides greater tillage. The greater the working depth is and the lower the soil water content is, the better the operational fuel consumption. The combination of the rake angle and the thickness of the FO3 opener resulted in the lowest operational and hourly fuel consumption levels. Key words: Soil mobilization, consumption, direct seeding, tractor performance.