Machinery Requirements for Permanent Wide Beds with Controlled Traffic

Abstract

AN experimental no-tillage system uses permanent wide beds for cropping. In compactible soils, all field traffic must be kept off the beds and in the intervening furrows to avoid the need for restorative tillage. Effective use of wide bed systems requires the matching of both the working widths and wheel track spacing of all system machines with the bed furrow spacings and the crop row spacings. Various widths and combinations of permanent wide beds were analyzed with respect to dimensions of commerically-available farm machinery for visualized no-tillage cropping systems. It was found that controlled traffic with permanent wide beds requires uniform bed widths or a hybrid system using alternating bed widths to accommodate the restricted wheel spacing of farm implements. All machines operated in conjunction with conventional row crop tractors must have bed widths of 60 to 90 in. Wide axle 4WD tractors and large combines require up to 120-in. bed widths. Dual wheels must be eliminated and replaced with tandem wheel arrangements. Tire width must also be minimized to avoid compaction of cropping areas. Cropping systems using permanent wide beds and controlled traffic can be implemented with the current restrictions of commercially-available equipment by carefully planning and selecting bed widths and equipment dimensions.