Comparison of Some Technical Indexes on Conventional Tillage with Reduced Tillage Methods

Soil tillage management for various crops in different regions needs use available indices and information about condition, manual manner, defects and preferences of various tillage methods. Therefore, this experiment was conducted in summer 2003 on clay soil containing wheat residual in Shawoor agricultural research center, situated in northern Ahwaz. Experiment was conducted as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Treatments included: conventional tillage in one pass of moldboard plowing in 20cm depth + leveler (T1), two passes of disk harrow in 8-10cm depth + leveler (T2), two passes of disk harrow in 12-15cm depth + leveler (T3), one pass of cultivator in 10cm depth + leveler (T4), one pass of cultivator in 15cm depth + leveler (T5) and one pass of rotivator in 5cm depth (T6). The results showed that fuel consumption decreased for T2-T6 57, 51, 67, 54 and 69 % as compared to T1 (49 L/ha), respectively. Total operation time decrease in T2-T6 42, 46, 42, 54 and 44 % in comparison to T1 (4.41 h/ha) respectively. Field capacity increased for T2-T6 as much as 2.4, 2.2, 2.4, 1.8 and 2.3ha/h compared to T1, respectively. Mean weight diameter (MWD) index increased in T2-T5 29, 21, 10 and 5 % than T1 (1.92cm), respectively, but decreased 6% in T6. Mean tillage costs reduced in T2-T6 as much as 40, 32, 54, 50 and 60 % compared to T1 (500000 Rial/ha), respectively.