Reduction of aftereffect of machine units on the soil

Abstract

Cultivation of crops is associated with multiple passes of machine units through the fields. The cumulative effect of soil compaction caused by repeated impacts of movers of machine units is considered as especially dangerous. The most intensive compaction process occurres in spring. The repeated passes of heavy machines and the compaction of surface and subsurface soil horizons lead to the decrease in yield potential of fields. The solving of compaction problem depends on the soil and climatic conditions, zonal cultivation technologies and crop harvesting, and on the machine system in operation. When forming the machine and tractor fleet of enterprises, the selection of general-purpose tractors serves as a basis. The least negative impact on the soil occurs when crawler tractors are used. The advantage of wheeled tractors is the possibility of their use for both field works and transport operations. But today the wheeled tractors are hardly used for transport operations because of their increased weight and power, which shows the necessity of use of such heavy crawler tractors as Ruslan and Challenger. Their use in combination with wheeled tractors of middle class allows to improve significantly the structure of machine and tractor fleet. The main power unit for farm enterprises with 1000 hectares of arable land is a general-purpose tractor of the 3rd traction class. The use of the HTZ-150K-09 tractor with 23.1R26 low-pressure tires with the air pressure of 80 kPa provides a permissible impact on the soil. The soil density in the surface layer reduces to 0.06 grams per cubic centimetre as compared to the use of 21.3R24 single wheels. This allows to put such tractor in operation for spring field works.