Studying some of machinery and soil properties under Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) System using two soil textures

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of random and controlled traffic of farming machinery during the agricultural operations on some mechanical and soil properties. The indicators that related to agricultural tractor (mechanization indicators) were draught capacity, fuel consumption, depth stability ratio; and Soil Bulk Density (SBD) was also measured before and after the experiment. The experiment was conducted during the spring agricultural season of 2022 in one of the farms that located about 30 km Northwest Mosul city - Nineveh Governorate - Iraq. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used for data analyses with four replications (n=4). The experimental site was divided into two main blocks based on the investigated factors (1) tire pressure (8 psi) and (15 psi); and (2) number of traffic (no pass, one pass, two passes, three passes). These factors were studied at two different soil textures (clay soil, silty loam soil). Duncan's multiple range test was utilized to compare between the means at a 5% probability level. The results showed that Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) system represented by zero-traffic has achieved the best values (P< 0.05) for all studied indicators. Soil bulk Density was significantly better with no-pass system compared to the one-pass, two-passes and three-passes, at approximately 16%, 19% and 20%, respectively. Energy requirements when using CTF system (no-pass) were also reduced by 29%, 33%, 41% compared to the one-pass, two-pass and three-pass system, respectively