MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF DRAUGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED ANIMAL-DRAWN IMPLEMENTS ON THE UPLAND SOILS OF SAMARU, NIGERIA
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF DRAUGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED ANIMAL-DRAWN IMPLEMENTS ON THE UPLAND SOILS OF SAMARU, NIGERIA
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Date
2011-06
Authors
ADAMU., KAWUYO UMARU
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
A study on the mathematical development of draft model for two animal-drawn
tillage implements was conducted on the upland soils of Samaru, Zaria for three years
(2008 – 2010). The draft characteristics considered include soil moisture content, bulk
density, speed of operation, tillage depth and mass of the implement. Two white Fulani
bulls were used to pull Emcot ridger and mould board implements and a spring type
dynamometer was used to measure the pull exerted by the animals on the implements. A
2 x 3 x 3 factorial experimental design was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block
Design. The experimental design comprised of eighteen treatments replicated three
times. Results show that draft increased with increase in tillage depth and all the other
parameters considered in the study. The highest draft value of 432.1 N was obtained in
treatment T18 [the combination of Mould board plough (I2), speed of 1.25 m/s (S3) and
tillage depth of 16 – 20 cm (d3)] and the lowest value of 243.4 N was obtained in
treatment T1 [the combination of Emcot ridger (I1), speed of 0.69 m/s (S1) and tillage
depth of 5 – 10 cm (d1)]. In terms of grain yield, treatments T8 (I1S3d2) and T15 (I2S2d3)
resulted in the highest grain yield (4.71 t/ha and 4.89 t/ha) for the Emcot ridger and
mould board plough respectively. Analysis of variance showed that, the speed of
operation and tillage depth significantly affected the draft of the implements considered
in this study. Also, the interactions of implement x speed of operation x tillage depth
significantly affected the draft. The combined analysis of variance showed that tillage
depth significantly affected the maize grain yield. The interactions of implement x
speed of operation x tillage depth x year also showed significant effect on the maize
grain yield. Mathematical models for predicting the draft of the animal – drawn Emcot
ridger and mould board plough with regards to the effects of speed of operation, tillage
depth, implement mass, soil moisture content and soil bulk density were developed. The
developed models predicted experimental data reasonably well with close agreement
between the predicted values and the measured results (r2 = 0.967 for Emcot ridger and
0.924 for the mould board plough). The slopes of the regression equation were 0.904
and 0.945 for the Emcot ridger and the mould board plough respectively. The paired t –
test revealed that the calculated t – values 0.982 and 1.015 for the Emcot ridger and
mould board plough respectively are less than the table value (2.898) at 0.01 significant
levels. This showed that there is no significance different between the predicted and the
measured values for the two implements considered in this study. This study showed
that, the models can be used by animal – draught farmers in selecting the appropriate
animal implement combination for any farm operations.
Description
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA
Keywords
MATHEMATICAL,, MODELLING,, DRAUGHT,, CHARACTERISTICS,, SELECTED,, ANIMAL-DRAWN,, IMPLEMENTS,, UPLAND SOILS,, SAMARU,, NIGERIA