• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.510-518
• /
• 2013

Corn was mainly cultivated in slope land during summer season when heavy rain falls so that soil loss occurs severely. Especially, soil disturbance and exposure of topsoil by conventional tillage intensifies soil loss by heavy rain. The aim of this study was to develop surface covering and tillage methods for reducing soil loss in corn cultivation. The experiment was conducted in 17% sloped lysimeter with 8 treatments including strip tillage after surface covering with rye residue, strip tillage after residue covering of several crops and sod culture, black polyethylene film covering after conventional tillage and control. Amount of runoff water and eroded soil, and corn growth were investigated. Amounts of runoff water in all plots except black polyethylene plot ranged from 152 to 375 $m^3\;ha^{-1}$, accounting for 13~32% of 1,158 $m^3\;ha^{-1}$ in control. Amount of eroded soil decreased by 94 to 99% (3 to 89 kg $ha^{-1}$) in plots of strip tillage after covering with crop residues compared to control with 1,739 kg $ha^{-1}$. Corn yields in plots of strip tillage after covering with crop residues ranged from 6.0 to 6.9 Mg $ha^{-1}$, while that of control was 6.5 Mg $ha^{-1}$. The results suggest that strip tillage methods after surface covering with crop residues are very effective on soil conservation of slope land in corn cultivation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to develop a dry paddy seeder of strip tillage. The prototype is 8 rows drill seeder, which is composed of a strip tillage, sowing and fertilizing device, and pressing wheels to do the strip tillage, sowing, fertilizing, and draining ditch, simultaneously. The performances of prototype was evaluated through the investigation of fuel consumption, tillage torque, ratio of soil breaking, and economical efficiency and the results were compared with these of a dry paddy seeder that needs whole tillage. According to the USDA textural classification, the experiment field was composed of sandy loam which consisted of 56.8 of sand, 30.2 of silt and 13.0 % of clay, respectively. Its hardness ranged from 952 to 1,673 kPa depending on the soil depth, and its soil moisture content was 24.9%(d. b.) Fuel consumption of the prototype was 5,015g/hr at 2,000 rpm of engine, which was consequently 64% smaller than that of the conventional dry paddy seeder. For the tillage torque, it ranged from 132 to 206N$.$m depending on the tillage pitch, which was 10∼30% smaller than that of the conventional dry paddy seeder. The ratio of soil braking of the prototype was 87∼98%, whereas that of the conventional dry paddy seeder was 80∼97%. The working performance of the prototype was surveyed to be 3.8hours/ha, which was about 5 times higher than that of the conventional dry paddy seeder. The cost reduction of 26.3% was obtained by using the prototype.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.425-431
• /
• 2014

Most fields in highland areas are covered with rye or hairy vetch for conservation during a fallow. However, using cover crops needs an effort to sow, and this makes top soil more vulnerable to loss due to surface disturbances. The aims of this study were to develop an automatic seeding-regulator device using a low-price, extensive-use GPS sensors and a DC motors and to evaluate a working efficiency of it after adaptation to partial tillage machine for reducing seeding effort. The amount of runoff water and soil loss was evaluated with partial tillage and simultaneous-seeding after harvesting soybean, in 17% slope lysimeters. In results, the seeding amount with the machine speed was stable between $0.5{\sim}0.8m\;s^{-1}$ of working sections. The automatic control device of seeding-rate could be enough to solve the slip problems of power selecting supply system or five four-wheel drive device. In partial tillage and simultaneous seeding, runoff water was 11.6% ($1.8m^3ha^{-1}$) of the scatter-seeding control ($15.5m^3ha^{-1}$) and soil loss was 13.2% ($7kg\;ha^{-1}$) of the scatter-seeding control ($53kg\;ha^{-1}$). These results suggest that partial tillage and simultaneous-seeding methods are very effective in decreasing work effort and soil loss of sloped land.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.970-976
• /
• 2011

Strip tiller equipment was developed to reduce soil erosion in the slope land for highland agricultural area. The equipment consisted of 4 rows strip tillage device and fertilizer applicator. The field was tilled in 10 cm width and in 10 cm depth by the equipment, of which tilled surface was 16.7% of full-width tillage. The working time and fuel consumption of the equipment were $3.8hours\;ha^{-1}$ and $24.4L\;ha^{-1}$ respectively, which were 59% and 74% less than those of the conventional tillage. Fertilizer efficiency of the equipment in cultivation of Chinese cabbage was 1.7, 1.6 and 1.5 times higher in nitrate, phosphorous and potassium respectively, than conventional tillage. When the equipment was used after covering of rye residue, the quantity of runoff was 49~67% lower than the conventional tillage. And the quantity of soil loss were 1.3 and $0.2Mg\;ha^{-1}$ at right after and 30 days after planting of Chinese cabbage respectively, while 11.5 and $4.1Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in conventional tillage. In conclusion, the strip tillage equipment developed in this study can be applicable to slope land, so that soil loss of 90% can be reduced.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.318-322
• /
• 2014

The effects of cover crops on weed suppression were evaluated in this study. Weed suppressing effects of hairy vetch cover crops were evaluated in summer grain fields. Cover crops were sown at the sowing rate of $60kg\;ha^{-1}$ on Oct. 2012 and Feb. 2013 without basal fertilization. Three weeks old sorghum seedlings were transplanted after minimum tillage on June 2013. Hairy vetch cover crop treatment significantly reduced weed biomass in the transplanted sorghum. By smothering, the cover crops reduced weed biomass to economic level in sorghum. Besides the weed suppression, hairy vetch cover crop resulted in green manure effect on crop growth. Hairy vetch treatment showed beneficial effects on sorghum growth. Reduction of weeds caused by use of strip-tillage machine and polyethylene film mulching was 71% and 88%, respectively. At harvest, yield of sorghum was greater in order of polyethylene film mulching > hairy vetch cover crop > control in transplanted fields.