A COMPARISON OF THE PERFORMANCE OF A HIGH SPEED DISK PLOUGH AND A GENERAL PURPOSE MOULDBOARD PLOUGH

A comparative study of two primary tillage tools was carried out at Nafferton Farm, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. The experiments were conducted to investigate soil physical changes due to the effect of each implement in the soil. The primary tillage tools tested were, a general purpose mouldboard plough and a high speed disk plough developed at Newcastle University, which combines the use of tines and disks. The energy input was measured using a 3-point linkage dynamometer with an on board data acquisition system. Soil physical parameters including soil aggregate analysis, cone penetration resistance, bulk density, surface roughness, soil moisture content and soil mixing were compared. The aggregate analysis of the cultivated layer revealed that performance of the machines were broadly similar in terms of their physical effects on the soil, indicating no disadvantage from using the alternative to the mouldboard plough. The total power requirement for both ploughs were similar at forward speed of 3 km h^-1 but the high speed plough offers the potential of greater output through higher operating speeds.