Farm Equipment for Soil Preparation Management

Soil preparation is a complex task for farmers that need to be done before sowing seeds into the ground. It includes step by step tillage practices, divided as primary tillage, secondary tillage, and seedbed preparation. In the final step in seedbed preparation, soil finishing is very shallow cultivation that occurs at a depth of 6 cm into the ground. Various farm equipment are used for soil preparation from primary tillage to seedbed finishing that includes cultivator, harrow, rotavator, plough etc. Some farmers also use a combination of several types of equipment to achieve the desired soil conditions.

Disc Plough

A Disc Plough is used to loosen and aerate the top layer of soil to facilitate the planting of the
next crop. It mixes the residue from the harvest, organic matter and other natural nutrients into the soil evenly. It is also used for destroying weeds which makes it an integral part of the process of making seedbed in farming practices.

India being the agriculture-based country where the majority of people depends on agriculture for a living, agricultural machinery like disc plough, rotavator, harrow and cultivators help them making the untilled land fertile and increase its productivity.

Mould Board Plough

The moldboard plough performs several significant tillage operations and soil-conditioning functions such as cutting, lifting, breaking up, and loosening the compacted soil due to machinery traffic or natural causes. It usually digs up the soil to a depth of 100–200 mm below the soil surface. It makes the soil ideal to turn it into a loose seedbed where water drains better and the soil also warms up much quicker after winter. It inverts vegetation, buries it under the upper layer, and exposes topsoil.

A mould-board plough is also very useful when new fields in grasslands need to be developed, to bury crop residues and weeds, and kills insect pests. The flat bottom or mould-board covers the entire width of the ploughing area until all the soil is cut, lifted, and loosened down to the depth of tillage.

Rotary Tiller or Rotavator

A rotavator is also suitable agricultural machinery for preparing the seedbed for sowing seeds. The rotavator needs fewer passes than a plough to prepare a perfect seedbed. It also buries the weeds and crop residue quickly.

It takes power from the tractor PTO to break up the hardpan layers of the soil all over the field and makes it levelled for sowing. It works as the best agricultural implement for soil pulverization.

Disc Harrow

Disc harrows are used as tractor implements to prepare the final layer of topsoil for planting or sowing. It breaks up the clods and surface crusts, improving soil granulation and killing the weeds.

A disc harrow is generally used as secondary tillage equipment and consists of a set of concave cutting discs mounted on a common shaft that cut through the soil.