Technical Indices and Wheat Yield for Laser and Traditional Land Levelers

Most areas of Khuzestan province in Iran are extremely uneven and a traditional leveler is not adequate for precision leveling of provincial farms. Uneven soil surface in a field affects seed germination, yield, and water consumption. This experiment was conducted in 2010-2011. A t-test based on the unpaired-observations experimental method compared a laser leveler (LL) and conventional leveler (CL) by leveling index (LI), total operation time, water consumption, and yield. The two test fields of differing roughness were located north of the city of Ahvaz. Results showed a 1.4 cm LI for LL for both fields, while, for the CL method, LI was 3.5 cm for field one and 2.7 cm for field two. The time needed for leveling with LL (3.7 h/ha) was 2.2 times more than that for CL. There were significant differences between LL and CL for mean of seed germination and grain yield. LL produced the highest seed germination and grain yield. LL grain yield was 29% greater than CL and LL water use efficiency was 67% greater. LL water consumption was about 33% less than for CL. On the other hand, fields with low roughness could be efficiently leveled using CL without the need for laser technology.