Technical Systems for Digital Soil Quality Control

Abstract

The production of tillage equipment is focused on the growing use of soil-protective and resource-saving farming and the use of the precision agriculture in tillage principles. The differentiated tillage concept arose, and occupied an intermediate position between traditional and anti-erosion (shallow) types of tillage. The authors conducted an analysis of technical systems for tillage quality digital control taking into account the indicated trends. They indicated that there was a certain inconsistency in the soil cultivation systems names in the scientific literature. (Research purpose) To provide an analytical overview of the tillage digital quality control technical systems. (Materials and methods) The authors used manufacturers’ brochures of tillage equipment, patents and scientific works. (Results and discussion) The authors examined the commercial offers existing in the world market in the differentiated tillage and digital quality control systems spheres. They presented an analysis of similar solutions available in the world scientific literature. They studied the issues of controlling the angle of disks’ attack, the depth of tillage, the soil surface ridging, the average size of the soil lumps, the amount of crop residues, determining the soil properties in a non-contact way. They identified the fragmentation of scientific and industrial developments in the sphere of tillage quality control. They suggested combining them into one system to automate the process of differentiated tillage. (Conclusions) It was shown that tillage equipment is becoming more adaptable in terms of meeting the specific requirements of the farmer for tillage. The authors identified promising areas for the future development of tillage machines: the inclusion of different subsystems of tillage quality digital control in the same system and the automation of differentiated tillage.