Influence of Cutting Width on the Performance of Mould Board plot

Abstract

As a result of low cutting width, existing 2-wheel tractor mould board ploughs have reduced field capacities. In addition, supplied tractive power from the 2-wheel tractors may be wasted. The end result is the wastage of time and money. In order to introduce an efficient, wider plow, the influence of cutting width on the performance of mould board plow was studied using five mould board plow bottoms having cutting widths ranging from 175 mm to 275 mm. After attaching each mould board to the 2-wheel tractor, the setup was pulled by a 4-wheel tractor with a dynamometer in between. Cutting width, draft force, ploughing depth, forward speed, soil moisture content, arid bulk density were measured. According to the results and field observations, cutting width greatly influences the performance of the mould board plow. By considering the pullirig force requirement and quality of the work, the blade having cutting width of 250 mm'was selected the best one. Also, the field observations indicated that the newly designed mould boards with knife-edges perform better.