EFFECT OF PLOUGHING AND PLANTING DEPTHS ON DRAFT OF DUAL-PURPOSE MOULDBOARD PLOUGH CUM PLANTER

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Introduction
According to McLaughlin et al. (2008), Olatunji et al. (2009), andKhanghah (2009), one criterion used to determine if a tool is suitable for manipulating soil is the amount of force needed to drag the tool through the dirt.Tong and Moayad (2006) state that the primary factor influencing agricultural implement performance is the soil's dynamic response to the tools.Moeenifar et al. (2014) state that the design and application of tillage tools for soil manipulation are primarily concerned with the interaction between the tools and the soil.On farms, tillage is the operation that uses the most energy and electricity.Therefore, in order to evaluate the size of tractor that could be employed for a certain implement, draft and power requirements are crucial.The geometry of the tillage implements and the soil conditions will also have an impact on the draft needed for a particular implement (Naderloo et al., 2009;Olatunji et al., 2009).It is critical to understand the draught requirements for various implements in order to minimize tillage.The soil conditions and the design of the tools had a significant impact on the draft force and power needed for tillage.Rahman and Chen (2001) found that the working depth of a tillage implement was more important than the working speed in terms of its impacts on draft force and soil disturbance.Tillage is one area where a lot of power is utilized, and agricultural mechanization is thought to be the primary element contributing to the total energy inputs in agricultural systems.According to Olatunji and Davies (2009) there are three components to tillage: the soil, the tool, and the power source.Before choosing and matching equipment for a given work, it is important to fully understand the conditions of the soil at tillage time as well as the capacities of the tractors and implements (Okoko and Akpankpuk, 2023).Kheiralla et al. (2004) formulated a draft force model for ploughs based on traveling speed and tillage depth.Abo-Elnor et al. (2004) concluded that the blade cutting width had a significant effect on cutting forces so that the cutting forces increased but not in linear proportion as the cutting width increased.Alele et al. (2018) investigated the effects of depth and speed on power requirements for disc and mouldboard ploughs in silt loam soils and observed that tillage depth and forward speed both led to increase in power requirement for the implements.They reported that the mouldboard plough had highest values of power requirement at all levels of the parameters investigated while the increase in power requirement per unit increase in speed was slightly higher for disc plough.While little to no research has been done on the impact of planting depth and plowing on the draft requirements for an animal-drawn plough/planter, several studies have focused on the effects of depth, rake angles, and speed.This study reports on the impact of the planting depth (P) and plowing depth (D) of a dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter on the moldboard plough's draft force.

Materials and Methods
A pair of bulls, a specially designed dualpurpose mouldboard plough/planter, a spring dynamometer, a stop watch, wooden pegs, survey tape, steel rule, an auger, and a sensitive weighing balance were utilized in the research.

Experimental site
The field trials were held in Bauchi State, Nigeria, at Sabon Garin Gwallameji, which is across from Federal Polytechnic Bauchi (10° 27′N/ 09° 77′E).The mean temperature of 43°C in the hot season and 29°C in the wet season are used to categorize the climate.The range of the average yearly rainfall is 1200-1300 mm.High humidity is a defining characteristic of the season in the North Guinea Savannah region (Kareem and Sven, 2019).Table 1 displays the features of the soil test and the instrument that were determined.

Draft animal and dual-purpose mouldboard plough cum planter
Two average-sized bulls were purchased from the public market, and they were capable of drawing the moldboard plough/planter combination.The spring dynamometer they were using indicated that they generated an average pulling force of 1.4 KN.Small-scale farmers can implement this technique by employing animal power instead of expensive technology and by using livestock that is readily available in their area.The dualpurpose mouldboard plough/planter was designed with consideration for the forces operating on the tool, including the pulling force of the draft animal, the implement's weight, the operator's force, the soil's gravitational force, and the soil resistance.Before the field trial, the following values were obtained: the maximum stress created by share, the total draft of the implement, the maximum shear strength, the torque, the volume of the hopper, the weight of the hopper material, and the shaft diameter.These results are displayed in Table 2 below.

Experimental design
In order to determine how the range of plowing depth affected the dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter's draft when planting maize, experiments were carried out.Two parameters were used for this analysis: planting depths P1 and P2 at two range levels (0 -5 and 6 -10 cm) and plowing depths D1 and D2 at two ranges (6 -10 and 11-15 cm), resulting in a total of four treatments.Using the interquartile range, outliers were removed from the draft dataset derived from the field testing.Statistical metrics of fit, specifically the coefficient of determination (R 2 ), were used to compare the datasets.It was thought of as a factorial idea that was included into a fully randomized block design (CRBD).There were three replications of each test, for a total of twelve experimental plots.Two bulls of a moderate size were employed in the trials to pull the dualpurpose mouldboard plough/planter.Plot dimensions were 10.45 m2 and the running length was 19 m.Statistical analysis system (SAS) software was utilized to discover significant differences among treatment means, and ANOVA was employed to investigate the significant and nonsignificant treatment effects.The LSD means separation method (α ˂ 0.05) was also employed.

Field Experimental Procedure
The chosen effective working width of 55 cm, the range of plowing depths of 6-10 and 11-15 cm, and the range of planting depths of 0-5 and 6-10 cm was all used during the operation.As indicated in Plate I, the range of planting and plowing depths was accomplished by varying the heights of the furrow opener and wheel, respectively.The instrument was pulled across the distance using the draft animals, and the dynamometer was used to record the pulling force and the stop watch Plate II was used to record the time.
Plate I: Adjusting of planting depth of the cum planter using the adjustable furrow opener

Determination of Draft Force
The draft force of the implement was evaluated from the Equation 1 as reported by Omer et al. (2021).

𝐷 = 𝑃 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ (1)
Where; D is draft force (N), P is pulling force in (N), θ is angle between the line of pull and horizontal.
According to Abebe and Yonas ( 2018) and as shown in Plate III, the pulling power from the draft animal was determined by reading the spring dynamometer that was fastened to the implement's hitch assembly.
It was determined what angle the line of pull was from the horizontal.

Plate II: Pulling force measurement using spring dynamometer
Plate III: Measurement of pulling force during Ploughing and planting with dual purpose cum planter

Results and Discussion
The draft force test was carried out by altering the operation speed as well as the planting and plowing depths, the values of which were noted and utilized in the parametric analysis.The study's findings showed that the draft force of a moldboard plow was considerably (P = 0.01) impacted by the plowing depth (DI and D2), planting depth (P1 and P2), and operating speed (OS) of the implement.

Effect of Ploughing and planting depths on draft of cum planter
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using statistical methods to determine if the relationship between planting depths and plowing had any significant impact on draft while using the dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter, as shown in Table 2. From the results of ANOVA, it revealed that the model is statistically significant (F=6, P = 0.0249 (P-value) ˂ 0.05) on the draft.It reveals that there was highly significant effect of ploughing depth (F=24.30,P=0.0026 (Pvalue) < 0.05) on the draft.It clearly showed that the variation of ploughing depth had significant effect on draft, meaning draft were not the same amongst ploughing depths while ploughing operation.Planting depth levels while ploughing and planting showed no significant effects on draft with (F=2.70,P=0.1515 (P-value) < 0.05).This implies that ploughing and planting can be done at all level of planting depth without showing changes in the draft.The interaction between ploughing and planting depths showed significant effect (F=1.20, P=0.3154 (P-value) < 0.05) on the draft.It can be translated that the interaction effect did indicate good relationship between ploughing and planting depths in influencing change in draft.Further analysis using comparison of mean was carried to validate where the difference falls in terms of level and significance.

Effect of ploughing depths on draft of moldboard dual-purpose cum planter
Figure 3 displays the average comparison for the effects of plowing depths on draft using the LSD mean separation method.Significant differences were seen between the average drafts of 1.5 kN and 1.2 kN at ploughing depths of D2 and D1, respectively.This suggests that as the depth of the ploughing grows, so does the implement's draft force.The outcome concurs with Abebe and Yonas's (2018) report, which indicated that the draft increases as the plowing depth increased.

Effect of planting depth on draft of moldboard dual-purpose cum planter
Figure 4 illustrates how planting depth variations during plowing and planting operations significantly impacted draft.There were differences in the averages between the planting levels.The mean values of 1.3 and 1.4 kN of draft for planting depths P1 and P2 showed a significant difference from the norm.The field evaluation's findings indicated that when planting depth was increased from 0 to 10 cm, draft rose by 0.095 KN.This is comparable to the Van Muysen, et al. (2000).wheel slip and draft on a planter were similar.

Linear regression on the effect of implement parameters on draft of cum planter
The mean values of the draft were analyzed using linear regression to see if planting and plowing depths were significantly predicting the draft.The influence of the independent variables or functional operational implement parameters (planting and plowing depths) on draft force was predicted using the linear regression model, as Table 3 illustrates.The linear regression's p-value is 0.0020, meaning that it is statistically significant and suggests that one of the implement parameter indicators or factors has a substantial impact on the draft force of the implement.This is below the α-level of 0.05.The planting depth, for which the selected α-level of 0.05 is exceeded by the p-value of 0.1348.Therefore, compared to planting depth, plowing depth has a greater impact on the dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter's draft force.R 2 , the coefficient of determination, has a value of 0.750.This suggests that a linear regression with a high determination coefficient is the best-fit regression equation.There was a significant association found by the linear regression model between the implement and draft's parameters.As a result of the model's extremely high R 2 (determination coefficient) value, precise predictions can be made using it.Equation ( 2) below shows the linear model that was developed to forecast the draft force in relation to the independent variables or functional operating parameters (planting and plowing depths): = 760.84417+ 285.31833 + 95.10500… (2) Where: Df is draft force, (N); D is ploughing depth, (cm); P is planting depth, (cm)

Table 3: Linear regression on the effects of implement parameters on draft
Model F R 2 Adj R 2 Draft Linear 13.50 0.7500 0.6944

Conclusion
According to this study, it is technically possible to create an integrated tool that may be used for small-scale maize farming by adding planting and plowing units to an already-existing mouldboard plough beam.The results of a study on the impact of planting and plowing depth on draft force in a dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter prototype show that as planting and plowing depth grew, so did the draft level.It is determined that the draft needs of a dual-purpose mouldboard plough/planter are consistent with the draft capacity of an average pair of oxen currently utilized by small-scale maize farmers based on the significant specific draft decrease as well as lower values of the actual draft.
The authors sincerely the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria, for the support toward the success of this research work.This work was supported by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Nigeria under the Institutional Based Research (IBR) grant of Abubakr Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi (TETF/DR&D/CE/UNIV/BAUCHI/IBR/2 023).

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Effect of ploughing depths on draft of moldboard dual-purpose cum planter

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Effect of planting depth on draft of moldboard dual-purpose cum planter

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Effect of ploughing and planting depths on draft of moldboard dual-purpose cum planter