Draft measurement of five tyne duck foot plough in clay soil

In the present study, the draft requirement of five tyne duck foot plough was studied on clay soil for different soil moisture content, depth of operation and forward speed of tractor using a specially designed three-point hitch dynamometer.  The designed dynamometer was matched with the tractors having category II or III hitch systems. The data acquisition system adopted for the dynamometer had NI WSN-3214 Strain Nodes, NI 9792 WSN real-time Gateway and NI LAB View 2013 software. A data logger program was developed for the three-point hitch dynamometer. The investigation was carried out at that three levels soil moisture content (10-13%, 14-16% and 17-20%), at three different depth of operation (15, 20 and 25 cm) and three levels of the forward speed of tractor (3, 5 and 7 km h-1). The designed dynamometer performed well in all the levels of the experiment. The results showed that draft force required for five tyne duck foot plough was increased (408 kg) with an increase in soil moisture content (17-20%), whereas it was increased (408 kg) with an increase in depth of operation (25 cm) and forward speed of tractor (7 km h-1). The suitable sweep, the forward speed of operation, depth of operation and soil moisture content that influenced the draft force and energy consumption for tillage operation of duck foot type plough were identified and developed duck foot plough was better coverage with better soil operation.