Hoque Muhammad Arshadul, Gathala Mahesh K, Hossain Md Mosharraf, Ziauddin A T M, Krupnik Timothy J
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, 1701, Bangladesh.
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Sustainable Intensification Program, House 10/B, Road 53, Gulshan-2, Dhaka, 1213, Bangladesh.
Dev Eng. 2021;6:100061. doi: 10.1016/j.deveng.2021.100061.
Two-wheel tractors (2WTs) are widely used by resource-poor farmers to prepare land in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP). This paper demonstrates that improved tillage blade design can enhance maize crop establishment under strip tillage, which falls under the rubric of conservation agriculture (CA). In order to achieve this aim, it is necessary to identify appropriate blade design and rotational speed for power tiller operated seeders, or PTOS, which can be attached to 2WTs and that are increasingly popular in the EIGP. We conducted experiments over two years in two locations in the EIGP within Bangladesh with loam and clay loam soils, respectively. Four blades designed with varying tip angles and five levels of rotational speed were compared with commercially available C-shaped blades sold with 2WTs. Torque and power requirements for strip tillage decreased with decreasing blade tip angle and rotational speed. The best combination of blade design and rotational speed was found with a 15° blade tip angle at 320 RPM. This combination resulted in higher furrow cross sectional area, more soil backfill with appropriately sized soil aggregates, and better seeding depth than C-shaped and 45° tip angle blades. These characteristics also facilitated improved crop establishment on both soil types. Our results indicate that strip-till maize establishment can be improved in Bangladesh by substituting commercially-available C-shaped blades with a 15° blade tip angle at appropriate 320 RPM, though machinery operators will require educational efforts to learn how to fine-tune RPM to improve crop establishment and achieve more sustainable crop establishment systems.
两轮拖拉机（2WTs）在印度恒河平原东部（EIGP）被资源匮乏的农民广泛用于土地整地。本文表明，改进的耕作刀片设计可以在带状耕作下提高玉米作物的定植率，带状耕作属于保护性农业（CA）范畴。为了实现这一目标，有必要为动力耕耘机播种机（PTOS）确定合适的刀片设计和转速，这种播种机可以连接到两轮拖拉机上，并且在EIGP越来越受欢迎。我们在孟加拉国EIGP的两个地点分别用壤土和粘壤土进行了为期两年的试验。将四种设计有不同刀尖角度的刀片和五个转速水平与随两轮拖拉机出售的市售C形刀片进行了比较。带状耕作的扭矩和功率需求随着刀片刀尖角度和转速的降低而降低。在320转/分钟的转速下，15°刀尖角度的刀片设计与转速的最佳组合被发现。与C形刀片和45°刀尖角度的刀片相比，这种组合导致更大的犁沟横截面积、更多带有适当大小土壤团聚体的土壤回填以及更好的播种深度。这些特性也有助于在两种土壤类型上改善作物定植。我们的结果表明，在孟加拉国，通过用15°刀尖角度的刀片在适当的320转/分钟转速下替代市售C形刀片，可以改善带状耕作玉米的定植，不过机械操作员需要接受教育，学习如何微调转速以改善作物定植并实现更可持续的作物定植系统。
