IMPACT OF PRIMARY TILLAGE SYSTEM ON FUEL CONSUMPTION, MANAGEMENT AND TOTAL TRACTOR COSTS

Abstract

The main aims of this study for all agricultural researchers are reduce the costs of agricultural production. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of primary tillage system on practical productivity, fuel consumption and department and total tractor costs. The experiment includes the effect of two seasons and three plowing including primary tillage system (Mold board , Chisel and Disk plows).Randomized complete block design with three replications and LSD (0.05) was used to compare the means of treatments at 0.05.The experiment results showed the following: Chisel plow indicated significant superiority upon Moldboard, Disk plows in achieving higher practical productivity with mean (0.719 h/hr), lower fuel consumption combined with mean (10.652 l/h), lower administrating cost with mean (1533.274 di/h) and lower tractor cost with mean (16866.020 di/h). On the other hand spring season recorded lower fuel consumption with mean (10.631 l/h), lower tractor cost with mean (27272.749 di/h) and lower total cost with mean (2479.346 di/h) compared with autumn season. It seems to be that chisel plow was the most suitable plow which can be used in the middle of Iraq with low operating costs comparing with the conventional plows such as moldboard plow and disk plow.