Soil bin studies on the selection of furrow opener for conservation agriculture

Abstract

Conservation agriculture is a set of soil management practices include conservation tillage, residue management and crop rotation. Conservation tillage deals with tillage practices that retain at least thirty per cent of previous crop residues. Present study is aimed to assess the effect of furrow openers and their forward speed on soil physical properties, soil disturbance and maize stalk residue cutting under soil bin condition. Four types of furrow openers were tested viz., Inverted T-type furrow opener with plain rolling coulter, single disk furrow opener, double disk furrow opener and double disk furrow opener with plain rolling coulter operated at three forward speeds (1.5 km h-1, 2 km h-1 and 2.5 km h-1). Results showed that forward speed was inversely proportional to soil moisture retention, soil bulk density and soil penetration resistance. It was also observed that double disk furrow opener with plain rolling coulter resulted in maximum soil moisture retention (11.2%), higher bulk density (11.2 gm cc-1), higher penetration resistance (1.37 MPa), minimum soil disturbance profile at forward speed of 1.5 km h-1. The maize stalk residue cutting was effective at all forward speeds with double disk furrow opener with plain rolling coulter. Hence, the double disk furrow opener with plain rolling coulter was best suited for conservation agriculture.