Effect of Soil Pulverization Index and Forward Speed for Agricultural Machinery on Some Soil Properties for Compacted Soil Depths

Abstract

In one of Agriculture college fields – Basrah University in Garmit Ali campus an experimental filed conducted in silty clay loam soil to study the effect of soil pulverization index and forward speed for agricultural machinery on some soil properties for compacted soil depths. The soil was tilled by moldboard by different speeds to get on three soil block its pulverization index 53.52, 21.06 and 7.55mm (P.I₁,P.I₂ and P.I₃). Then the tractor passed on these pulverized soil blocks with three forward speeds of 0.49, 0.74 and 1.05m.s^-1 (S₁, S₂ and S₃). After that, measured soil penetration resistance (P.R.), dry bulk density (ρ_b­) and total porosity (f) on four soil depths 0-5, 5-10, 10-15 and 15-20cm (D₁, D₂, D₃ and D₄). The results indicated that the S₁, P.I₁ and D₁ gave a lower P.R (2.07, 1.96 and 0.66 Mpa respectively) and ρ_b (1.13, 1.11 and 1.00 Mg.m³ respectively) and a higher f (57.48, 58.10 and 62.35% respectively). The interaction between these factors gave different indicators. Where, the S₂P.I₁, S₁P.I₁ treatments had the lowest values for P.R (1.85 and 1.86 Mpa respectively) and  (1.09 and 1.10 Mg.m³ respectively) and the highest values for f (59.05 and 58.54 %respectively). Additional that, the S₂P.I₁D₁ and S₁P.I₁D₁ reached lower values for  (0.88 and 0.91 Mg.m³ respectively) and higher values for f (66.82 and 65.75 %respectively).