Tropicultura (Jan 2005)
Etude comparative de quatre niveaux de puissance de traction en travail du sol des petites exploitations maraîchères
Abstract
Comparative Study of Four Traction Power Levels for Seed Bed Preparation in Small-scale Vegetable Production. The effects of four different traction power categories on soil structure was measured in the field during seed bed preparation experiments in a sandy clay soil and a clayish sand soil used for vegetable production. The power categories investigated corresponded to a standard tractor of 59 kW, a medium power tractor of 33 kW, a low power tractor of 22 kW and a two-wheeled tractor of 6 kW. In each experiment, seed bed preparation was carried out using a mouldboard plough and a rotary cultivator, respectively. Soil structure was characterised by measuring the resistance against vertical penetration of a cone by means of a penetrometer and the apparent dry density by means of a cylindrical densimeter. For both soils, the results showed a porous soil state without any significant difference among the four power levels. All different methods of tillage used were giving the same structure in the top layer. The soil crumbling was done using a PTO driven cultivator. Also, the measured parameters did not differ significantly over the depth of the worked area. Also the differences in work speed and equipment used don't have any influences on the measured parameters. The complexity asks for a detailed technical-economical investigation in order to define the advantages and disadvantages of the use of small power mechanisation for seed bed preparation.
