CHAPTER THREE

PLOUGHING/TILLER

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 TILLAGE

 Mechanical manipulation of soil to provide favorable condition for

proper crop growth is called tillage.

 Tillage equipment is used to plow or till the soil.

 It slices, breaks, or cuts the soil in order to prepare the ground,

control weeds, or create mulch.

 The tillage equipment used depends on the type of soil and the crop
that is to be grown.

 Tillage equipment includes plows, harrows, and cultivators.

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 TILLAGE

 A plow is an implement used to cut, lift, and turn over soil. It is

commonly used to prepare the soil for planting.

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 TILLAGE

 A harrow is an implement with spikes or disks that is used to cultivate

the soil by pulverizing and smoothing it.

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 TILLAGE

 A cultivator is an implement used to loosen the soil and control

weeds between rows of growing crops.

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 TILLAGE

Objectives of tillage

 to obtain deep seed bed, suitable for different type of crops.

 to add more humus and fertility to soil by covering the vegetation.

 to destroy and prevent weeds.

 to aerate the soil for proper growth of crops.

 to increase water absorbing capacity of the soil.

 to destroy the insects, pests and their breeding places and

 to reduce the soil erosion.

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 Classification of Tillage
 Tillage operations for seed bed preparations are classified as:

Primary Tillage Secondary Tillage

 More aggressive, deeper  Works the soil to shallow
operation and usually leaves depth
the surface rough
 Function :
 Function :  Break the soil clods
 Loosen the soil structure  Shatters the soil clods
 Bury the plant waste  Level the soil surface
 Erosion control  Harrow the soil and plant
 Preparation for secondary waste (stubbles)
tillage  Firm the soil
 Weed control  Kill weeds and helps conserve
 Kill pests moisture 7
 Tillage Implements

Primary Tillage Implements Secondary Tillage Implements

• Mould board ploughs • Harrows
• Disk ploughs – Disc
• Chisel ploughs – Spring tooth
• Sub-soilers – Spike tooth
• Rotary tillers • Cultivators
– Spring
– Rigid tined
• Rollers
• Weed Control Implements

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Primary tillage

 The initial major soil working operation designed to plough the soil
deeply to reduce soil strength, cover plant materials and rearrange
aggregates is called primary tillage.

The objectives of primary tillage are

 To reduce soil strength

 To rearrange aggregates

 To cover plant materials and burry weeds

 To kill insects and pests

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

 The implements used for primary tillage are called as primary tillage
implements.

 Animal drawn implements mostly include

o Indigenous ploughs and
o Mold-board ploughs

 Tractor drawn implements include

o Mold-board ploughs,
o Disc ploughs,
o Heavy duty disk harrows,
o Sub soil ploughs,
o Chisel ploughs and other similar implements.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Primary tillage

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Secondary tillage

 Lighter and finer tillage operations performed in the soil after

primary tillage to create proper soil tilt and. surface configuration for
seeding and planting are called secondary tillage operations.

 Secondary tillage operations are generally done on the surface soil.

 They do not cause much soil inversion and shifting of soil from one
place to other.

 They consume less power per unit area compared to primary tillage
operations.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

 The main objectives of secondary tillage are

o To break the big clods and make the soil surface uniform and
leveled as needed for a seed bed

o To destroy grasses and weeds in the field.

o To cut crop residues and mix them with top soil

 The implements used for secondary tillage operations are

called secondary tillage implements.

 They include different types of harrow, cultivators, sweeps,

clod crushers, levelers, bund formers, ridge ploughs etc.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Secondary tillage

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CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Mold Board Plough

 This type of plough leaves no un-ploughed land as the furrow
slices, cuts and inverted to one side resulting in better
pulverization.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Components of Mold Board Plough

1 Leg
2 Frog
3 Share
4 Moldboard
5 Moldboard shin
6 Moldboard wing
7 Tailpiece
8 Landside
9 Landside heel
10 Trash board

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE
.Leg
• Part which connects the body to the plough frame.
• In some plough designs, a swan neck serves as a leg.
Frog
• It is the part to which share, land side and mold board are attached
which is an irregular piece of cast iron.
Share
• It is that part of the plough bottom which penetrates to the soil and
makes a horizontal cut below the surface.
Mold board
• It is the curved part which lifts, turns, and pulverizes the soil slice.
Part which turns and breaks a furrow slice.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE
.Moldboard shin
• Removable, leading edge of the mouldboard.
Moldboard wing
• Removable, trailing part of the mouldboard.
Tail piece
• It is an adjustable extension, which can be fastened to the rear of the
mold board to help in turning the furrow slice. Additional adjustable
part, attached to the wing of the mouldboard to improve turning of
the furrow slice.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE
.Land side
• It is the flat plate which presses against the furrow wall and prevents
the plough from lateral swinging.
• Part which applies the lateral load of the plough body to the furrow
wall.
Landside heel
• Part, attached to the rear of a landside, which applies the vertical load
of the plough body to the furrow bottom.
Trash board
• Auxiliary plough working element, mounted above the shin, which
deposits the upper edge of the furrow in the furrow bottom.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE
.Types of Mold Board

• One-way plow
 Design to turn the
furrow slices only to the
right
• Two-way plow(Reversible)
 Has two sets of opposed
bottoms that can be
used selectively

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE
.Disc Ploughs:

• The disc plough is designed to work in all types of soil for

basic functions such as soil breaking, soil raising, soil turning
and soil mixing.
• It is used open the new fields and to process the stony areas.
• It can be used easily at rocky areas.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Parts of Disc Plough

Disc blade:

 Disc type blades are mounted for cutting of soil. Number of blades and
diameter determine plough capacity.

 Depth of cut depends on diameter of discs. About 1/3rd of blade

diameter is the limit for depth.

 Width of cut depends on diameter of blade. Width of cut is normally 0.4

times of diameter of disc blade.

Standard:

 Connects disc bearing and plough frame.

 Sometimes beam is bent for disc attachment for reducing the cost.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Plough Frame:

 Standards are attached to the plough frame.

 It has provision for disc angle adjustment, adding or removing

standard and discs.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Rear Furrow Wheel

 To stabilize the plough and take side thrust, rear furrow wheel is
fixed at end.

Scraper

 Device to remove soil that tends to stick to working surface of a disc,

for great pulverization to furrow slice, invert the furrow slice and
cover the trash better.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Rotavator
 It is a rotary tiller used to turning, pulverization, puddling, leveling ,
mixing and aerate the soil to increase nutrients count, making it
perfect for seeding and harvesting.

 Rotavators use a set of blades or rotors which spin and break tough
soil.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Subsoiler
 The subsoilers are deep tillage implements specially designed for
breaking up hard pan layers and loosening the subsoil allowing
better drainage, root growth and mineral osmosis.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

• Most tools break up and turn over surface soil to a depth of 15–20 cm
(6–8 in), whereas a subsoiler will break up and loosen soil to twice
those depths.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Harrows
 Power harrow is used in tillage to break, turn, refine and
leveling of soil all over the farming area to turn it in the
perfect seedbed.

 It is capable to work in even the harshest most solid grounds

when it comes to preparing a perfect land for plantation.

 Used in open field workings for the superficial ploughing, for

the shattering of clods, preparation of soil for sowing, burial of
organic substances & remains.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

 Used to air the soil and to eliminate the weeds.

 For breaking the roots.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Ripper
 Ripper loosens and aerates soil while leaving organic matter
at the top of the soil.
 Reduces the effects of compaction.
 Ripper cuts weed roots below the surface.

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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Ridger
 It is mostly used for making ridges for plantation of
vegetable, sugarcane etc.
 Use to make seedbeds, ridges and furrows for planting a
crop.
 Double moldboard ridger or double disc ridger may be used
to form ridges or seedbed.
 It should be driven at higher speed so that the so it can be
thrown put enough to form the ridge.
 The ridging bodies can be adjusted to achieve different
spacing and bed width.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF TILLAGE

Ridgers

Tyne- ridger

Disc- ridger
Disc- ridger
with roller 33