PERFORMANCE OF TRACTOR CHISEL PLOW AT TWO LEVELS OF SOIL WATER CONTENT AND TWO DEPTHS OF SCARIFICATION

Abstract

The dimensioning of the agricultural tractor and implements is related to the operating performance. The energy demand of a particular agricultural operation is important for planning and estimating the costs of crop production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the operational performance of the tractor-chisel plow, 7 spindles, depending on soil water content and work depth, on Oxisol. The experimental design was completely randomized (2 x 2) with 5 replicates in the soil, where the water content defines the major treatment (26.2 and 21.9%) and scarification depth defines the secondary treatment (0.20 and 0.30 m). The floor area of each plot was 200 m2 (40 x 5 m). The data were submitted to ANOVA and mean comparison Tukey test at 5% probability. The variables analyzed were: work speed; hours and operational consumption of fuel; operating field capacity; force and power in the drawbar; and the skating the front and rear axles. The work speed was affected by the interaction between soil water content and work depth. The variables related to the fuel consumption and the slipping of front axles were influenced by soil water content and work depth. The force and power in drawbar increased with the depth, while the operating field capacity has increased in the lowest soil water content.