Technologies and Machinery For Tillage On Slopes
Technologies and Machinery For Tillage On Slopes
Technologies and Machinery For Tillage On Slopes
Abstract. With slope farming, land improvement operations shall be adapted to successfully
counteract both wind and water erosion, as well as their joint effects. Paraplowing and chisel
plowing are considered the most effective for controlling water erosion in the Western Siberia
region, where the steepness of slopes in most areas does not exceed 4-6 degrees. However,
even relatively small slopes have large areas where the required direction of machinery
movement is difficult to determine unambiguously, while incorrect tillage significantly
enhances erosion processes on the slopes. A number of disadvantages of existing tools can be
eliminated with the help of a rotary-type blade tiller developed by Omsk SAU. As the
machinery moves, the tool creates intermittent grooves of a complex configuration on the field
surface, which allow to restrain the flow of melt and storm water. With a working depth of
over 40 cm in the middle of the furrow, the tool operates partly as a paraplow keeping the crop
residue on the field surface. However, this tool needs further modernization. Therefore,
research aimed at creating and improving the tool pieces of tillage machinery capable of
working on slopes of complex configuration is currently relevant.
1. Introduction
The south of Western Siberia is one of the most vulnerable to erosion regions of the Russian
Federation. According to the classification of slope lands of the Omsk region, over 1.5 million
hectares (11.3%) are located on slopes vulnerable to erosion. Tools of mass-produced tillage
machinery for slope lands do not fundamentally differ in design and have certain disadvantages.
Passive tools have high traction resistance, are steerable, designed for intermittent tillage, require
significant force to be driven from the wheels or the tractor PTO shaft. It is extremely difficult for
existing machines to properly perform operations on slopes of complex configuration. Active tools,
auger and disc tillers are inefficient and high energy overheads. However, they are widely used both in
the Russian Federation and abroad. Rotary tillers can be used in regions vulnerable to erosion under
certain conditions. The development of procedures and equipment systems with the design aimed at
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soil protection for high-performance moisture-saving tillage, loosening of heavy soils, contour tillage
on slopes is still an urgent task.
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With all the positive effects, paraplowing can be used as seasonal tillage and cannot protect the soil
from washout throughout the year. Research by Ye.V. Poluektov confirms that during winter thaws,
grooves can be filled with water and not prevent soil washout on the slopes.
Paraplowing is a promising tillage technique. The positive effect of paraplowing is confirmed by
studies conducted by V.N. Slesarev in the conditions of the Omsk region and Kazakhstan. It is most
advisable when cultivating slope lands and overcompacted arable land when the soil is slightly frozen.
This tillage leaves up to 80% of crop residue, which is enough to protect soil from wind and water
erosion [4].
Research conducted by V.N. Slesarev, L.V. Yushkevich and V.Ye. Kovtunov in 1973-1983 in the
fields of the Omsk experimental production farm allowed to develop the following agrotechnical
requirements for paraplowing: optimal groove spacing — from 1 to 1.5 m, depth — 30-35 cm;
paraplowing shall be combined with high-quality, shallow sweep plow loosening to a depth of 10-12
cm, and a compacted tilted surface near the groove edges shall be created; paraplowing shall ensure
preservation of up to 80-85% of crop residues on the soil surface and low lumpiness at optimal soil
moisture.
GNU SibNIISH proposed a multi-purpose tool — a sweep blade of the mass-produced OПT-3-5
tool outfitted with a multi-shoulder tip (Fig. 1), the tip 1 is installed instead of the original chisel in the
front part of the share 5 using two screws 6 and a T-shaped spline key 2.
The screws pass through the holes in the share toe. A T-shaped spline key is welded to the frontal
surface of the stilt 3, and grooves of the same shape are made on the back side of the tip. This design
allows installing the tip in two positions: for sweep plowing with paraplowing — with the long end
down; and for sweep plowing when no paraplowing required — with the long end up. If only
paraplowing is needed, the tip is installed with the long end down, and the stilt of the tool is tilted back
using a stop screw. The tool is installed so that the tip goes to a depth of 30 cm, and the front part of
the plowshares — to 3-5 cm to form groove ridges preventing the runoff [5].
Calculation of the coefficients of precipitation utilization for the winter and early spring periods by
V.P. Sakhonchik 6 shows that these values are much lower for moldboard plowing than for arable
land tilled using additional techniques. Intermittent furrowing and microliming facilitate better
utilization of precipitation. The method of dibbing after winter tillage is known using ЛОД-10 dibber
and a mass-produced УПЛ-1-40 device, which can be combined with a plow.
In Germany, certain methods and technologies have been developed for decompaction of the
subsurface layers. Some scientists believe that the mechanical decompaction of soil and especially the
subsurface layers of sandy, humus-poor soils gives only short-term effect due to the instability of their
structure, while continuous loosening in the first years has a negative effect due to the penetration of
the subsoil into the seed layer. Therefore, the continuous deepening (loosening) was replaced by
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intermittent. In this case, the subsoil is periodically extracted and mixed with the subsoil at certain
intervals.
The resulting grooves are half-filled with soil from the arable layer, while dense regions remain at
the level of its base, thereby increasing the bearing capacity. The grooves improve water and air
permeability of the soil, as well as the root system development conditions with a partial deepening of
the subsoil layer.
В-204A-02 unit has paraplow tool pieces located behind the plow bodies and offset to the right.
This allows the main tool and paraplow tool pieces to be mounted on twin beams. The subsurface
layer of soil from grooves is moved to the left into an open plow furrow (Figure 2). Filling takes place
when the soil is overturned and loosened by the main tool. The groove made by this tillage tool has
dense walls.
The variety of paraplowing tools indicates that this method is in demand. Often, paraplowing is
carried out together with other tillage types to loosen and facilitate moisture accumulation in soil. For
this, various combinations of paraplowing tools with conventional or sweep plows are used.
Active tools are used in cases when soil tillage can be performed in one pass instead of several,
which is required when using machinery with passive tools. Active tools crumble the soil by impact
action, cutting, and pressure. Tillage machinery with active tools is most often advisable to be used for
clay soils in the summer and autumn periods when the soil dries out and becomes lumpy [7].
The best burying ability is observed for passive rotary tools. Simplicity of design, reliability, high
performance brings them to take a leading place among surface tillage tools [8].
Rotary tillage is an energy-intensive process. Energy costs for such soil tillage significantly exceed
the costs when using other machines. Therefore, it is advisable to used rotary tillage for heavy soils,
where soil monoliths shall be intensively ground. Rotary tillage is not recommended for light soils to
avoid excessive dusting.
Natural reserves of moisture in soils of steppe and forest-steppe zones of Western Siberia, as well
as in a number of other zones with insufficient and unstable moisture, are generally insufficient to
obtain high yields. Furthermore, about a quarter of the annual precipitation is carried aways off the
fields, runs off and evaporates. Data on the soils prone to water erosion in the Omsk Oblast are
presented in Table 1.
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Among the methods aimed at soil washout reduction are field leveling for slopes exceeding 100,
making water-holding reservoirs with dibbers, mulching the soil with crop residues, increasing the
moisture absorbing capacity of the soil by using of sweep plowing and paraplowing. Sweep plowing
with paraplowing on fallows and sloping lands does not prevent sheet erosion caused by runoff of melt
water during snow melting [9].
When agricultural machinery is operating on slopes, the gravity force components of the tool and
tractive resistance appear, directed down the slope and parallel to the field surface. Due to these
forces, the tool is moved downward. As a result, the tillage process is disrupted, the effective tool
width, tillage depth and traction resistance change, the performance of the unit decreases, and the
fatigue of the tractor driver increases [10].
A number of disadvantages of existing tools can be eliminated with the help of a rotary-type blade
tiller developed by Omsk SAU (Utility model certificate No. 12498. А 01 В 35/16, RF). The
considered tool performs moldboard-free loosening to a depth of 8...50 cm. Intermittent furrows are
created during machine operation. The tool consists of a stilt 3 with an axle 5 fixed to it in the lower
part (Figure 3.). The axle can be tilted at an angle ±α to the direction of travel. A support sleeve 4 is
rigidly fixed to the axle to compensate for longitudinal forces. The stilt is attached to the tillage tool
frame, which has support wheels and a mechanism for changing vertical position relative to the field
surface to change the tillage depth.
1
2 v v
3
4
5
a
a) b)
Figure 3. Tool stilt: a) side view; b) top view 1 — frame beam; 2 — stilt support plate; 3 — stilt body;
4 — support sleeve; 5 — axle.
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A hub with blades is installed on axle 5 (Figure 4). The blade is sharpened and faces towards the
travel direction. The tillage depth can be set by changing the position of the tool frame relative to the
field surface.
When the tool moves, at least two blades are always in the ground (Figure 5).
When the blade touches the field surface, the blade deepens since its plane is set at a certain angle
to the travel direction. In addition, a forward blade moving at depth creates a significant torque due to
the reactive forces of soil resistance. As the sleeve rotates, the blade changes its position to the
maximum depth of immersion and then is retracted. The blade cuts the soil layer. The blade plane is
set at an angle of attack to the direction of travel, therefore, when the soil layer slides along the blade
surface, it is partially deformed and shifted, and is loosened in the area of blade action.
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The pressure of the soil layer as it slides along the blade surface creates a force similar to the wing
lift. The soil layer pressure force is counteracted by the cutting force generated on the blade as it
moves through the soil. Their difference creates a torque around the axis of rotation. After the passage
of the machinery with a bladed tool, intermittent dimple-shaped grooves remain on the field surface,
located at a certain angle to the direction of movement (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Track on the field surface after the passage of the rotary tool.
Tracks formed in the soil contribute to the accumulation and retention of moisture. The rotary tool
creates ridges on both sides of the groove with a height of 7-9 cm at an angle of attack of 30-350. This
contributes to better retention of melt and storm water. Furthermore, tractor movement direction
accuracy relative to the slope is less significant, since the groove has a specific shape. The grooves are
located at a certain angle to the machinery travel direction and create closed loops at a certain
arrangement of the tool pieces. Agrotechnical assessment of the bladed tool operation involves
determining the groove length. The results are shown in Figure 7.
B, cm
m/s
m/s
m/s
deg
Figure 7. Dependence of the groove length on the blade attack angle at a working depth of B=22 cm.
The graphs show that the groove length increases with the machinery speed increase. At the same
value of the blade attack angle, the groove length values vary in the range of 20–30 cm, depending on
the machinery speed. With the blade attack angle increase, the groove length decreases, its openness in
the central part increases, while the preservation of crop residue on the field surface decreases.
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4. Conclusions
The study led to the following conclusions:
1. Soil washout on slopes with a steepness of up to 3-40 can be limited by reducing the intensity of
the flow of melt and storm water by creating intermittent grooves.
2. For tillage of complex slopes, grooves of complex shape located at a certain angle to the
machinery travel direction are most suitable, which simplifies the tillage technology and increase
performance.
3. Using paraplowing during tilling ensures loose structure of the arable layer, high water
permeability of soil and maximum preservation of crop residue on the field surface.
5. References
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