Effect of Tillage Depth and Lateral Distance of Shallow Plows on the Mean Weight Diameter and the Energy of Soil Fragmentation by Using Locally Manufactured Subsoiler Plow

Abstract

Abstract The field experiments were carried out in Basrah province, to study the effect of the distance between the shallow plows (0.40, 0.50, 0.60m), and adding wings on the foot of the subsoiler plow, at tillage depth (0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60m) on the Mean Weight Diameter (MWD) and equivalent energy of the soil fragmentation in clay soil. The results showed that the increase in the plowing depth to 0.60m by the subsoiler without wings on the foot and shallow plows gave largest of the MWD (102.28mm). While the increased the lateral distance of the shallow plows to 0.60 m gave MWD (67.13mm). The interaction effect of adding wings and tillage depth led to decrease MWD by 30% when adding wings compared to the no addition treatment. The MWD decreased by more than half with adding wings and shallow plows. The equivalent energy increased by 30.58% when increasing plowing depth from 0.30 to 0.60m compared to 9.09% for the no winged plow. Moreover, the equivalent energy of fragmentation decreased when increases lateral distance of the shallow plows. The equivalent energy increased by 36.29% when increasing the depth of tillage from 0.30 to 0.60m at lateral distance 0.60m compared to 9.09% for the plow without wings.