Study of fuel consumption in three tillage methods

Fuel consumption per hectare of tilled land for the conventional or maximum tillage, reduced tillage using a multi-task machine, and no-tillage using a direct drill planter has been studied and compared. Time taken and number of tractor trips needed for performing tillage operations were used for comparison. Yield of crop per hectare was also used for the study. Duncan's multiple range test was used to compare and analyse the data. Results of fuel consumption were 59.33, 29.67 and 14.33 l/ha for the max. tillage, reduced tillage, and no-tillage cases, respectively. The corresponding yield of crop for these methods were 8.07, 7.90, and 6.33 t/ha, respectively. Therefore, the reduced and no-tillage methods provide enough energy saving per ton of yield to justify their use as good replacements for the max. tillage method in Iran. Also, considering land conditions in Iran, use of direct drill planters is recommended for dry cultivated or traditionally irrigated farms, and multi-task machinery for all types of irrigation systems and land conditions.