SYNOPSIS

Name: Venue: Room No. 114 Roll No. : 13AG61R07 Date: 23/01/2014

Title: Draft prediction of combination tillage implements. INTRODUCTION

Combination tillage implements combines multiple tillage operations in a single pass, and thus reduces the number of field passes as compared to conventional tillage practices resulting in a reduction of labor and fuel cost and saves time. Several combination tillage implements comprising of rotary and passive elements and passive-passive elements were developed and found to be more energy efficient than a similar single passive tillage implement when tested in actual field conditions. Therefore, prediction of draft requirements of a combination tillage implement is necessary for the design and selection of machinery and the matching of tractors with implements for its efficient operation

OBJECTIVE
To develop a draft prediction equation for passivepassive combination tillage implements.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This methodology required the draft requirements of individual tillage implements in undisturbed soil condition and draft utilization ratio of the rear passive set of combination tillage implement, which is defined as the ratio of the drafts of the rear passive set operating in combination and individually. Laboratory experiments were conducted to measure the draft requirements of a reference tillage tool (single disk), three scale-model individual (mouldboard plow, cultivator and disk gang) and two combination (moldboard plow with disk gang and cultivator with disk gang) tillage implements at different depths (5, 7.5 and 10 cm), speeds (1.2, 2.2, 3.2 and 4.2 km/h), wet bulk densities (in the range of 1.27 1.85 g/cm3) and cone index penetration resistance values (in the range of 4451450 kPa) in soil bin filled with sandy clay loam soil. The average draft utilization ratio of the reference tillage tool obtained were analyzed by both orthogonal and multiple regression techniques to develop the regression equation considering soil properties, operating and tool parameters. The developed draft equation based on the above mentioned methodology was verified with the data obtained for the draft of scale-model and prototype combination tillage implements in the laboratory and field conditions, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The developed draft equation estimated the draft requirements of combination tillage implements within an average absolute variation of 18.0 and 13.5%, respectively, in both laboratory and field conditions. Hence, the concept of reference tillage tool and reference soil condition could be used successfully to predict the drafts of various combination tillage implements and draft utilization ratio for rear passive set of the combination tillage implement in field conditions with scale factors related to soil properties and implement geometry. This concept could save time, energy and cost by reducing the number of field experiments.

REFRENCES
1. Bernacki, H., Haman, J., Kanafojski, Cz., 1972. Agricultural Machines, Theory and Construction, vol. I. Scientific Publications Foreign Co-operation Centre of the CISTEI, Warsaw, Poland. 2. Sahu, R.K., Raheman, H., 2004. Possibility of using passivepassive combination tillage implements for Indian farming system. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Technologies in Agricultural and Food Engineering (Etae-2004), vol. (1), IIT, Kharagpur, 1417 December, pp. 100106.