Effects of Adding two Horizontal Disks to Double-Disk Furrow Opener Used in No-Tillage on Physical Properties of Seedbed

Due to important role of furrow opener to criticize properties of seed slot especially in no-tillage driller, a case study about double disk opener was conducted. The main objectives of the project were to improve performance of the opener to separate seed and fertilizer, to reduce hair-pinning and increase loosening of soil in the slot. In this way, a new double-disk opener developed which had two additional horizontal disks. To consider performance of novel opener an indoor comparison test between new and common opener was performed in soil bin. The experiment was conducted with three working speeds (3, 6 and 8 km h-1), two bulk densities of soil (1.1and 1.4 Mg/m) and two levels of residues (1 and 2 ton/ha). The experimental design consisted in a (3×2×2) complete randomized factorial with three replicates for each test. Results showed the separation of seed and fertilizer was done by new opener efficiently. Cone Index was lower in the slot created by new opener and Hair-pinning not observed. Although, amount of soil disturbance was higher by new opener, but it should be noted that this opener put two rows of seeds and enough amount of fertilizer simultaneously. The vertical and horizontal separation of seed and fertilizer were 5 and 4.5 cm, respectively.