Effect of Soil Type on Power and Energy Requirements of Some Selected Agricultural Field Machinery in South – East Nigeria

Abstract

The effect of soil type on power and energy requirements of some selected agricultural field machinery (plough, harrow, ridger, rotovator and planter) in south – east Nigeria were studied to enable farmers and users of the equipment select and match appropriately the size of implements and speed of operation to machine (tractor) size to improve the field capacitive performance of the machines based on soil types (clay – loam, loamy – sandy, and sandy – clay soil) in the study area. Results showed that plough recorded the highest fuel (energy) consumption rate of 21.60 l/ha to24.67 l/ha, followed by harrow with fuel consumption rate of 17.21 to 21.66 l/ha, rotovator (15.22 to 19.72 l/ha) and least was planter with fuel consumption rate range from 14.42 to 15.62 l/ha. The highest fuel consumption was recorded on clay-loam soil, followed by sandy-clay and least was on loamy-sandy soil. The plough also had the highest draft force (10.8 kN/m), followed by the harrow and ridger with equal draft force of 10.5 kN/m, planter (8.4 kN/m) and the least was the rotovator with draft force of 5.1 kN/m. Furthermore, the plough gave the highest wheel slippage (15.7 %) followed by harrow (13.3 %), rotovator and planter with equal value of wheel slippage (12.8 %) and least was ridger with wheel slippage of 12.4 %. Sandy-clay soil recorded the highest tyre slippage for all the implements, followed by loamy-sandy and the least tyre slippage was recorded on clay-loam soil. However, all the implements in different soils corded average wheel slippage below the top limit of wheel slippage (20 %), showing that the soils were trafficability.

Proučavan je uticaj tipa zemljišta na energetske potrebe nekih odabranih poljoprivrednih mašina (plug, drljača, rotofreza i sejalica) u jugoistočnoj Nigeriji, kako bi se poljoprivrednicima i korisnicima opreme omogućilo da odaberu i na odgovarajući način odgovore veličini opreme i brzini rada za poboljšanje kapaciteta polja na mašinama na osnovu tipova zemljišta (glina - ilovača, ilovasto - peskovito i peskovito – glinoviti tip) na istraživanom području. Rezultati pokazuju da je plug imao najveću potrošnju goriva (energije) od 21,60 l /ha do 24,67 l/ha, zatim drljača sa potrošnjom goriva od 17,21 do 21,66 l/ha, rotofreza od 15,22 do 19,72 l/ha. Najmanja potrošnja je bila kod sadilica sa opsegom potrošnje goriva od 14,42 do 15,62 l/ha. Najveća potrošnja goriva zabeležena je na glinovito-ilovastim tipovima zemljišta, a zatim na peskovito-glinovitom i najmanje na glinovito-peskovitim tipovima zemljišta. Plug ima najveću silu vuče od 10.8 kN/ m, zatim drljača od 10.5 kN/m, pa sadilica od 8.4 kN / m. Najmanja sila vuče je kod rotofreze od 5.1 kN/m. Osim toga, plug je prouzrokovao najveće proklizavanje točkova (15,7%), zatim drljača (13,3%). Rotofreza i sadilica imaju jednake vrednosti proklizavanja točkova (pneumatika) (12,8%). Najmanja vrednost klizanja točkova je kod kultivatora od 12,4%. Peskovito-glinoviti tip zemljišta je imao najveće klizanje pneumatika za sva oruđa, a najmanje klizanje točkova je zabeleženo na zemljištu tipa ilovača. Međutim, svi priključci na različitim zemljištima imaju prosečno proklizavanje točkova ispod gornje granice klizavanja točkova od 20%, što pokazuje da su ovakva zemljišta pogodna za kretanje mašina.