SURFACE TRASH CONSERVATION WITH TILLAGE MACHINES

Abstract

The conservation or reduction of surface trash resulting from the use of some common tillage implements for cultivating fallow land has been studied in a series of 32 field trials. The weight of the surface trash cover was determined before the first tillage stroke was conducted and again after each operation. The data for each trial were collected over a fallow period of about 2 months and were expressed as a percentage of the original weight of the spring wheat stubble cover.The wide-blade cultivator reduced the original surface cover by generalized values of 15, 10, and 5 per cent or less after the first, second, and third and subsequent operations, respectively. Results with the rod weeder, when used for secondary tillage, were similar to those given above for the wide-blade cultivator. These machines, if used for two operations on fields initially tilled with the one-way disk, lifted an average of 14 and 11 per cent of the original cover back to the surface.The heavy-duty cultivator reduced the original surface cover by average values of 30 to 50 per cent during primary tillage and 5 to 20 per cent during the second operation. These results were strongly influenced by factors involved in machine operation.Generally, the one-way disk and the one-way flexible-disk-harrow (discer) reduced surface cover by 50 per cent during each operation at a depth of 3 to 4 inches. Trash reduction during primary tillage with the one-way disk increased with an increased depth of tillage and decreased with increased weights of surface cover. The tandem disk provided about the same results as the other disk machines.The use of one or more machines in a tillage sequence provides a means of regulating surface trash on a quantitative basis.