Effect of agricultural tractor movement on penetration resistance index of agricultural soil.

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Research Station and Laboratories of the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tripoli, in order to study the effect of agricultural tractor movement on the surface of the soil and the changes that occur on some of the engineering properties of the soil. In this experiment, an agricultural tractor was used Trunk type 435 with a power of (53.7 kilowatts) weighs 2590 kg without accessories, at a speed of 5 km / h.  The field was divided into 10 parts according to the number of traffic times of the agricultural tractor, the first part was assigned for zero traffic (without traffic) as a control treatment, and the remaining parts for traffic times (1-9) represented the soil’s compression effect. Measurements of the penetration resistance index were taken in the field, at two depths (0-15), (15-30) cm. Results showed significant effect of traffic times on the penetration resistance index at 5% level, the average values of the penetration resistance index increased across the sector after the first pass, and the difference was highly significant between the transactions and the control.  The value of the average penetration resistance in the surface layer (0-15) cm increased from 997.29 kPa in the comparison treatment to 1483.86 kPa after the seventh pass, with an increase of 48.79%, and the largest effect was after the third pass by 90.70%, where the penetration resistance reached 1911.76.The value of the average penetration resistance at depth (15-30) cm increased from 1846.19 kPa in the comparison treatment to 3071.24 kPa after the seventh pass, with a rate of 66.36%, and the greatest effect was after the third pass by 82.15%. The resistance is 3362.83 kPa.

Keywords:Compaction, penetration resistance, agricultural tractor, the soil.