Before sowing all kinds of crops, soil treatment is mandatory. Grain, vegetables, flowers, etc., can grow and develop actively only on loose, well-fertilized, weed-free soil. The first, deepest tillage after the previous crop is called the main. Most often, this procedure is performed in the fall.
Methods of basic tillage
Prepare the soil in the fields before sowing any crops in most cases, of course, by plowing. Also, sometimes peeling can be done to loosen the soil. In any case, the goal of the main tillage is to improve its air and moisture permeability. After loosening, the roots of plants planted on the field easily receive from the earth all the nutrients they need.
Plowing the soil, in turn, happens:
The technology of peeling is used in the fields often in combination with subsurface plowing.
Special techniques include:
milling processing;
multi-tiered;
layered.
The main methods of processing the soil for planting allow you to prepare as high quality as possible. However, farms can also perform procedures such as harrowing, rolling, cultivating, and cultivating to improve the properties of the land. All these methods are already related to additional tillage.
How to plow
This procedure is carried out, as already mentioned, in the fields usually in the fall after harvest. A set of measures aimed at improving the structure of the soil is called, therefore, the system of chaffinch primary tillage. After plowing, in this case, the land goes into the winter, or "chills."
Deep loosening is carried out on the fields of large agricultural enterprises by tractors. At the same time, the main and pre-sowing tillage is carried out by means of special attachments - plows. Tractors for plowing, milling, peeling are usually used wheeled. But in difficult areas, such a procedure can be carried out on tracked ones.
In small farms, the main tillage can be performed on mini-tractors, walk-behind tractors, and cultivators. This technique is simple to operate and can greatly facilitate the life of the farmer.
Varieties of plows by mounting method
Such a procedure in the fields is carried out using plows, which can be:
mounted;
semi-mounted;
trailed.
The first variety of tools is attached to the tractor from behind using a hitch mechanism. For the main tillage on a machine, such a plow is mounted in a raised position. When plowing, this equipment lowers down, and its working part is buried in the ground.
Semi-mounted plows additionally have a rear support wheel. It is necessary for raising and lowering the tool and adjusting the depth of plowing.
The trailed plow consists of a frame resting on three wheels, a trailer, working bodies and control mechanisms. Such equipment is used where mounted or semi-mounted quality tillage is not possible.
Types of plows by design
By the nature of the work performed, the main tillage tools can be special or general purpose. The first type includes, for example, forest plows, marsh, etc. By the appearance of the working body, such equipment can be plow or disk. Also, when plowing the land, single and multi-body plows are used.
Construction of a plow
General-purpose equipment of this type is used for cultivating old arable land. To prepare soddy soil, plows with half-screw housings are used. The design of such attachments includes:
rack;
dump - the vertical part intended for the dump of layers;
ploughshare - the lower part, cutting the soil in front of the dump.
Erosion-defeated lands in arid regions pass through plows without dumps. Hard soils and loams can be cultivated using this type of equipment with a retractable chisel. There are also plow models equipped with a trowel.
When plowing is very often used, among other things, and skimmers. They represent a small copy of the plow and are installed in front of it. With their use, the main tillage can be done more efficiently.
Plowing with a full turn and with a take-off of a layer
Different methods of presowing tillage on farms can be used. For example, plowing with a full turn of the reservoir is used in the virgin lands or strongly sod areas. In this case, work is often done with screw or semi-screw plows. The sod part of the formation during plowing in this way is flipped 180 degrees. Then it lies at the bottom of the furrow.
Reception of the main tillage with the take-up of the layer is used when plowing steam, winter fallows or seeding manure. A feature of this procedure is that it is performed without a skimmer by general-purpose plows.
Cultural plowing
The main tillage by this technology is carried out on old arable lands. It is this technique that is used in farms most often and most fully meets the requirements of agricultural technology. Cultural plowing is carried out by general-purpose plows with skimmers. Looks like tillage according to this technique as follows:
skimmer cuts a thin layer of soil at 2/3 of the width of the main layer and dumps it into the furrow;
the plow of the main plow cuts through the soil to the required depth, and the blade wraps the formation 130-150 degrees.
As a result, the cut out main layer covers a thin layer of soil laid earlier by a skimmer in a furrow.
What rules should be observed when cultivating plowing
Cultivate the soil before sowing, of course, with the exact observance of all the required technologies. Otherwise, a good crop of crops will not succeed. According to the regulations:
When plowing, it is necessary to observe the depth set for a particular crop or type of soil. The main tillage is carried out so that on a flat field the deviations are not less than 1 cm, and on difficult areas 2 cm.
The cross section of the strata should be the same, and their revolution should be complete.
Weeds, stubble and fertilizer should be planted in the soil with maximum quality.
The arable unit must move along the field in a straight line, without leaving flaws.
The surface of the arable land must be continuous. The exception in this regard is only chill. In this case, the surface is slightly ribbed.
The height of the pile ridge should not exceed 70 cm. The depth of the collapse furrow should not exceed ½ the depth of the plowing itself.
- In fields with difficult terrain, plowing is supposed to be done across the slopes.
All these agrotechnical requirements for the main tillage make it possible to make it as loose and suitable for growing crops as possible.
Plowing depth
Loosening of the soil during the main processing is carried out, of course, in compliance with certain standards. The depth of plowing depends primarily on the type of land on the field. So:
on sod-golosol soils, it can be 18-28 cm;
on chernozems and other soils with an arable layer of high power, the depth of plowing is usually 28-30 cm.
Deep plowing allows you to make the soil as suitable for growing crops as possible. This technology provides the best aeration of the earth and reduces the number of weeds in the field. However, for deep plowing significant traction is necessary. And this, in turn, increases the cost of processing fields. Deep plowing in farms is usually done only when it is precisely known that in this way it is possible to increase the yield of a particular crop. Sometimes this technique can even degrade the quality of the soil. This happens on lands underlain by unfavorable horizons, where a subsurface layer can be turned up.
In any case, whatever the main tillage technology is used, loosening it in different years before planting agricultural plants relies on unequal depth. Otherwise, a plow sole may form under the arable layer. And this, in turn, will lead to stagnation in the fields of water after irrigation and rain, or, conversely, to its rapid runoff in areas with a slope.
Layered plowing: basic rules
So called layered cultivation of the soil with the movement of soil horizons at different levels. Use this method to create a powerful cultivated layer most often when planting forest belts. Of course, it can also be used when growing any crops, for example, cotton.
Such plowing can be two- or three-tier. In the first case, processing is carried out with the wrapping of the upper layer of the earth and simultaneous loosening of the lower. This allows you to improve the properties of the soil to a considerable depth. Sometimes such plowing is performed with the mutual movement of the upper and lower layers. With three-tier plowing, the upper layer with a thickness of 10-15 cm moves down, the lower (25-40 cm) - up, and the middle (15-25 cm) remains in place.
The main advantages of both of these technologies are good crumbling and deep seeding of plant residues. When using a multi-tiered technique, the same cotton significantly accelerates its development and increases productivity.
Landless cultivation: benefits
The main tillage using this technology is carried out generally without wrapping the arable layer. This method of plowing is used at most in the Trans-Urals. This technique was developed by T. S. Maltsev, and the cultivation itself is carried out in this case using a specially designed plow. The advantage of this method of plowing is primarily the reduction of crop losses as a result of diseases and damage by insects. Spores of fungi, larvae, etc. during subsurface processing remain on the surface of the earth. As a result, they simply die in the winter season.
Also, when using this technology, the soil loosens very well, and up to 50% stubble remains on its surface. In addition, the subsurface plowing technique has the following advantages:
Unmade stubble subsequently retains snow on the soil surface. The thickness of the cover in the fields with the lower parts of the stalks of the grains remaining on them is usually 2-3 meters more than on plowed plows. As a result, in the spring when snow melts, the soil in such areas is saturated with moisture as much as possible. Also, thanks to the thick cover, the land in the fields cultivated by this technique does not freeze too deep.
Another advantage of the presence of stubble in areas is the prevention of the formation and transfer of large amounts of dust in strong winds. This allows you to fully maintain the upper nutrient layer of the soil.
Technology of plowless plowing
Such a procedure is performed on the fields of agricultural enterprises once every 4-5 years. Using subsurface plows, the soil is loosened to a depth of 35-40 cm. In the period between deep plowing, annual surface peeling is performed.
This operation in this case can also be considered the main tillage. Surface treatment of the soil in this case is carried out by disk cultivators to a depth of 10-12 cm. Sometimes this procedure is performed twice in the fall:
Also, when applying subsurface main and pre-sowing tillage in early spring and early summer, field harrowing is done. This technology allows you to prevent moisture loss through the crust.
Subsurface plowing: a bit of history
This unique method of primary tillage was invented by T. S. Maltsev at a time when he was still an ordinary field crop of the collective farm “Testament of Ilyich” in the Kurgan region. Later, he polemicized on this subject with Lysenko, who believed that it was necessary to plow as deep as possible, turning the layer well. Each of the researchers considered his method to be the only correct one and gave a lot of arguments to this.
But the majority of academicians in those days, of course, nevertheless sided with “science” and supported Lysenko. However, no one began to forbid Maltsev to put practical experiments on the non-mold technology of the main tillage. And in 1955, when almost all the virgin lands burned out during the drought, the grain yield on the fields of this researcher, albeit not too big, but still the crop. As a result, the field operator proved his case, and he was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor. Later, Maltsev became a corresponding member of the Agricultural Academy.
In subsequent years, the struggle against his “pseudoscientific” method nevertheless continued. And again, during the drought and strong winds of 1963, its fields, unlike those processed in the traditional way, yielded a crop. After that, the correctness of Maltsev was recognized by most academics, and today his method of primary tillage is widely used.
Disc plow design
Such equipment is usually used for peeling. In addition, such plows can be used on difficult soils - virgin soil, on the site of uprooted forests, on stony heavy lands, swamps, etc. The forestry equipment on such fields, having encountered an obstacle, can simply break. The disk plow will roll through it without any damage to itself.
The main elements of such equipment are:
spherical disks with a diameter of 0.6-0.8 m;
front frame with attachment for attachment to the tractor;
rear frame
two front and two rear disk enclosures;
stabilizing knives;
support wheel with plowing depth adjustment.
Flat cutting technology
It is also one of the main types of tillage. This technique is common in areas with strong wind erosion. Very often plane-cutting technology is used in Siberia, the Urals, and the North Caucasus. In this case, the soil layers also do not turn around. Moreover, most of the crop residues are stored on the field. That is, in fact, flat-cutting soil cultivation is a kind of subsurface.
Loosening using this technique is carried out by cultivators for basic tillage or ploskorezami. In the first case, the soil is processed to a depth of 20-30 cm, in the second - 10-15 cm.
Rules for flat cutting
Applying such a plowing technique, among other things, observe the following standards:
stubble on the field should remain at least 80-85%;
when loosening cultivators, deviations from the desired depth should not exceed 5 cm, plane cutters - 2-3 cm;
rollers at the junction of aisles and paws in height should not exceed 5 cm;
the roots of the weeds along the working body used to process the equipment must be completely trimmed;
gaps between adjacent passages are not allowed.
Special Techniques: Milling
According to this technology, primary plowing is most often done on peat soils after draining the swamps. Also, such a technique is used on highly grained meadow soils. Milling provides crumbling and thorough mixing of the processed layer. Such processing, in fact, includes both plowing, cultivation and harrowing.
The soil is loosened using this technology on tractors using special milling machines with mounted or trailed drums. The technique of such plowing looks as follows:
in one pass of the milling machine (with the raised grill of the drum) the soil is loosened to a depth of 16 cm;
leave the field for 3-5 weeks for sedimentation and compaction of the treated layer;
again milling the earth to a depth of 18-20 cm with the grate lowered so that the plant debris and large pieces of turf are covered with a loose layer of soil.
When processing swampy areas, a slightly different milling technology can sometimes be used. In this case, after the first pass, the soil immediately rolls in. Then the earth is milled a second time to the greatest possible depth.
In long and narrow sections, soil cultivation using this technology is carried out with pens, starting in the middle. In large fields, the procedure is performed according to a circular or figured technique with the mandatory observance of the turning radii in the corners.
Milling machine design
The main working part of such equipment is a drum with interchangeable working bodies. Very often used in swamp areas for the main tillage machine FB-1.9. The frame of the cutter is installed on two wheels with cranked axles. The drum of this machine consists of 15 sections and spins from the tractor engine power take-off shaft through the driveshaft and gearbox.
Sections rotate during plowing and, upon encountering an obstacle, can rotate and slide around their axis. This prevents knives from breaking. The last in each section can be 2, 4 or 8. Also, a special opener with dumpers is included in the design of the drum. It is needed for processing, under the bevel gear housing, strips of soil (where the knives do not reach).
A grid of steel rods is suspended on the back of the frame of such an aggregate for basic tillage to delay large pieces of turf and plant debris. To deepen the working bodies in the machine, a special lifting mechanism is provided.
Knives in the drum can be installed in several types:
Soil rolling
The main task of tillage is, of course, loosening. However, quite often pre-sowing preparation of fields includes such an operation as soil rolling. This procedure is used to ensure that the arable layer is better moistened by capillary rise of water from the underlying horizons. Also, rolling allows you to make the soil surface more even, which facilitates the planting procedure.
On virgin soils and shrubs cleared from shrubs, intensive rolling is usually carried out, on waterlogged soils - light. In the latter case, such a procedure is sometimes not provided at all. Normally drained peat soils can be rolled both before sowing various crops and after planting.
Rolling Equipment
Perform this operation using special rollers. Most often, KVG-2.5 water-filled two-link smooth equipment is used. Such an ice rink consists of two hollow cylinders with holes in the bottoms for pouring water. A frame welded from channels is installed in front of this equipment. The weight of such a roller can be adjusted and can reach up to 4.5 tons.
Sometimes lighter sober rollers ZKVG-1.4 can also be used for rolling. When fully filled with water, such equipment weighs about 0.97 tons.
Cultivation
Such types of work before planting crops are carried out quite often. During cultivation, the topsoil after plowing loosened to a depth of 12 cm without a turnover of the formation. The main goal of this operation is weed control and additional cultivation.
Loosening can be carried out in this case using different types of cultivators:
paw;
knife;
spring;
barbell;
wire, etc.
Cultivators are also classified as row-crop, universal and designed for special processing.