tillage and land preparation

1. TILLAGE & LAND
PREPARATION
En Mohd Fauzie Jusoh
Lecturer
Agriculture Technology Programme
Faculty of Agro-Based Industry
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (Jeli Campus)
Locked Bag No.100, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan.
014-2903025/fauzie.j@umk.edu.my/

2. INTRODUCTION
 Farm mechanization involves the use of equipment
mounted to the tractor to accomplish tasks previously
done by man or animals.
 Plowing equipment attached to tractors and used
for land preparation.
 Proper soil preparation is required for the growth of
seeds.

3. INTRODUCTION
Task can be done including :
 Land clearing
 Tillage and seedbed preparation
 Fertilizer application
 Broadcasting or drilling of seeds
 Transplanting
 Pest and disease control
 Weed control
 Harvesting
 In-field transport of the harvested crop

4. INTRODUCTION
Advantage of using tillage equipment :
 Various types of farm work can be done
 Better quality of job can be obtained
 Various type of farm soil can be cultivated
 Working time can be reduced
 Working schedule at farm can be arranged and smoothly
done

5. TILLAGE
 Defined as mechanical modification of soil structure
resulting in a soil tilth that is suitable for seed
germination and plant growth.
 Objective :
 Provide a suitable environment for seed germination
 Root growth, soil aeration, soil compaction
 Weed control / Destroy Weed
 Control Insect & Pest
 Bury Stubbles (remain of previous harvest)
 Moisture control
 Soil erosion control

6. TILLAGE
Tillage machinery : Tools or implements used to do a
tillage job

7. SEEDBED
 place where seeds germinate & nourish young
plants
 must be firm to allow seed to come in contact with
soil particles to absorb moisture
 must be pourous to allow air to move, root
development, water movement
 water will not easily penetrate hard soil to get to
roots

8. SEEDBED CHARACTERISTICS
 if soil is too loose, rain will wash away young plants
 some soils have excess water
 oxygen is needed by roots
 plant residue on surface insulates, warms up
slower, also provides buffer against wind

9. CULTIVATION
 Defined as an operation that requires some kind of
tool that will stir surface of the soil to a shallow depth
in such a manner that young weeds will be destroyed
and crop growth is promoted.
 Usually begins soon after the emergence of young
seedlings as weeds generally emerge about the same
time as the crop

10. TILLAGE CLASSIFICATION
Primary Tillage
 Tillage applied to break
the compaction soil into soil
clods.
Secondary Tillage
 Tillage applied to reduce the size of
soil aggregates and to level
the soil surface after done with
primary tillage

11. PRIMARY TILLAGE
 More aggressive, deeper operation and usually leaves
the surface rough
 Function :
 Loosen the soil structure
 Bury the plant waste
 Erosion control
 Preparation for secondary tillage
 Weed control
 Kill pests

12. PRIMARY TILLAGE
Example of primary implements :
Moldboard Disc plough Rotary Tiller
Chisel plough Subsoiler or cultivator

13. SECONDARY TILLAGE
 Works the soil to shallow depth
 Function :
 Break the soil clods
 Shatters the soil clods
 Level the soil surface
 Harrow the soil and plant waste (stubbles)
 Firm the soil
 Kill weeds and helps conserve moisture

14. SECONDARY TILLAGE
 Example of secondary implements :
 Disc, spring tooth and spike tooth harrow

15. SECONDARY TILLAGE
 Example of secondary implements :
 Spring and rigid tined cultivators

16. SECONDARY TILLAGE
 Example of secondary implements :
 Roller pocket and roller harrows

17. SECONDARY TILLAGE
 Example of secondary implements :
 Weed control implement

18. CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS
 Mounted implements
 Attached to the tractor by 3 point hitch linkages
 Implements can be raised or lowered by the
hydraulic system
 Example : A mounted 3 disc plough

19. CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS
 Semi-mounted implements
 Attached to the tractor 2 point or 3 point linkage
and these implements are normally provided
with wheels to help in better performance of the
machine
 Example : A seed drill – implement can be raised
or lowered

20. CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS
 Trailed implements
 Attached to the tractor’s drawbar and this cannot
be raised or lowered
 Implement trailed the tractor as it moves
 Implement are heavy and usually provided with
wheels for easy hitching to the back of tractor
and better stability
 Example : Trailed moldboard plough and trailer

21. DISC PLOW, ROTOVATOR, HARROW AND
RIDGERS.

22. PLOW
 One of the oldest agriculture equipment and is
generally considered to be the most important
tillage tool
 It is used to cut, turn up and break up soil while
turning over weeds

23. MOLDBOARD PLOW
 Mostly used for primary tillage in seedbed
preparation
 One way plow
 Design to turn the furrow slices only to the right

24. MOLDBOARD PLOW
 Two way plow
 Has two sets of opposed bottoms that can be used
selectively

25. MOLDBOARD PLOW
 All furrows can be turned toward the same side
of the field by using right hand bottoms for one
direction of travel and the left hand bottom on
the return
 Used for plowing irrigated lands since it
eliminated back furrows and dead furrows and
leaves the field nearly level

26. DISC PLOW
 Disc plow was brought out in an effort to reduce
friction by making a rolling bottom instead of a
bottom that would slide along the furrow
 Consists of a series of individually mounted,
inclined disc blades on a frame supported by
wheels

27. DISC PLOW
 Used when moldboard plow does not work
satisfactorily :
 Hard disc soils
 Stony fields
 Soils containing heavy roots
 Loose, push type soils and abrasive soil
 Built with heavy frame and wheels; in a hard dry soil, a
disc plow can be forced into ground by its weight

28. ROTOVATOR
 A semi mounted implement that rests on its own
land skids when at work
 PTO drives a horizontal rotor in the same
direction as the drive wheels
 Knives mounted to flanges spaced regularly
along the rotor will cut away soil slices which are
then thrown backward and upward against a
rear hood
 The impact will cause the soil slices to
disintegrate into fine aggregates

29. ROTOVATOR
 The rotovator does not require the tractor to pull
it forward when it is at work
 The action of the rotovator is very severe and it
should not be used indiscriminately especially in
sand soil – it may lead to the loss of soil structure

30. ROTOVATOR

31. DISC HARROW
 Function :
 Controlling weeds, cutting up and mixing stubble
or heavy crops with soil
 For primary tillage in orchards and vineyards as
well as in open fields
 Lighter units used in seedbed preparation
subsequent to plowing

32. DISC HARROW
 Single Acting Disc Harrow
 Has two opposed gangs of disc blades, both
throwing dirt outward from the center of tilled
strip

33. DISC HARROW
 Tandem Disk Harrow
 Has two additional gangs that throw the dirt
back toward the center as second operation, thus
tilling the soil twice and leaving the field more
level

34. DISC HARROW
 Offset Disc Harrow
 Has one right hand gang (i.e: a gang that moves
the soil to the right) and one left hang gang,
operating in tandem

35. CULTIVATOR
 There are many different combinations of frames
and tines (shovels)
 The common types are the standard rigid
cultivators (with or without spring), light or
heavy spring teeth and heavy coil spring
 Cultivator with tooth equipment is used for weed
controls, seedbed preparation and other
secondary tillage operations

36. CULTIVATOR

37. CULTIVATOR
 Spike Tooth Harrow
 Used for finishing the seedbed by smoothing it
and breaking surface clods, particularly in
mellow, friable soil
 Effective in killing small weeds
 Covering broadcasted seeds
 Breaking crusts that have formed over newly
planted crops

38. SPIKE TOOTH HARROW

39. CULTIVATOR
 Spring Tooth Harrow
 Has long curved teeth made from spring steel 6 -
8 mm thick and usually 19 – 25 mm wide
 Used in rough or stony ground
 Useful for loosening and bringing roots of certain
obnoxious grasses and weeds to surface
 For bringing clods to surface for pulverization

40. SPRING TOOTH HARROW

41. CULTIVATOR
 Ridgers
 Comes under field cultivators
 Use to make seedbeds, ridges and furrows for
planting a crop
 Double moldboard ridger or double disc ridger
may be used to form ridges or seedbed
 It should be driven at higher speed so that the
soil can be thrown put enough to form the ridge
 The ridging bodies can be adjusted to achieve
different spacing and bed width

42. RIDGERS
Moldboard Ridger Disc Ridger

43. RIDGERS
 Ridgers may also be mounted to a rotovator so
that ridging occurs immediately after rotovation
 Combining operations will save time, labour
wages and fuel consumption

44. TRANSPLANTER

45. CONSERVATION TILLAGE
 The conventional tillage system is generally
discredited for increasing erosion risk,
accelerating organic matter decomposition, and
deteriorating soil structure. Therefore,
conventional tillage is now giving place to newer
concepts of conservation tillage in some regions of
the world.
 conservation tillage as any tillage and planting
system in which at least 30 per cent of the soil
surface is covered by residue after planting in
order to reduce soil erosion by water. Crop
residues left on the soil surface reduce soil
erosion and conserve soil moisture.