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.
