EFFECT OF SETTING THE PARAMETERS OF FLAME WEEDER ON WEED CONTROL EFFECTIVENESS

Unconventional ways of growing plants, when we return to non-chemical methods of controlling weeds, require new weed control methods. One of the few physical methods, which found wider application in practice, is a flame weeder with heat burners based on the use of gas (LPG). However, the process of practical use of this flame weeder has a number of factors that positively or negatively affect the effectiveness of weed control. A precise setting of flame weeders is influenced, for example by weed species, weed growth stage, weather, type of crop grown, but also heat transmission and heat absorption by plant. Many variables that enter into the process must be eliminated for their negative impacts on achieving the best results in fighting against weeds. In this paper, we have focused on naming these parameters, on field trials that confirm the justification of the precise setting of parameters, and recommendations for practice to achieve a higher efficiency of thermal weed control

EFFECT OF DRIVING WHEEL TYPE ON DRAWBAR PULL OF TRACTOR

This paper is focused on the possibility of increasing the drawbar pull of agricultural tractor on the soil and grass-covered surface. From our perspective, we have chosen one available and the cheapest way, i.e. steel boots for tyres of small tractors, and this was compared with a newly developed system of auto-extensible blades next to the wheel. The tractor with steel boots and auto-extensible blades reached a higher drawbar pull on average by 70 % in comparison with tyres

Data Acquisition System for On-the-Go Soil Resistance Force Sensor Using Soil Cutting Blades

Worldwide, agricultural land is a dominant part of the environment. It is very important to understand the physical properties of soil because they directly or indirectly affect the entire human population. This paper proposes a data acquisition system for an original design of the soil resistance force sensor (SRFS). It serves to evaluate the properties of soil affected and unaffected by tractor passages through the field. The SRSF uses two cutting blades to measure soil mechanical resistance within the tire track and outside the tire track. The proposed system consists of two load cells, datalogger, power supply and software for personal computers. The system was practically tested under field operation. The results showed significant differences between the soil resistance force measured outside the tire track and within the tire track after one, two and three tractor passages. The data were compared with penetrometer resistance and soil bulk density, standardly characterizing soil mechanical resistance. An increase of soil resistance force after one, two and three tractor passages corresponded with an increase in reference parameters. The results showed that the proposed system is suitable for practical applications to evaluate soil mechanical resistance using SRFS