Volume- 2
Issue- 6
Year- 2015
Eng. Tonui Wesley , Prof. Crispus Ndiema , Emmanuel Kinyor Mutai
Soil compaction is one of the major threats to soil quality. The increasing soil degradation due to soil compaction may be linked to the increase in weight of agricultural machinery, in the more intense use of machinery even under unfavorable soil conditions and in addition to poor crop rotation. Increased demand for food, with increasing population and limiting land has put a lot of pressure on land to increase output per unit area through mechanization. The objective of the research was to assess the level of soil compaction in cultivated fields. The research experiment was done in Elfam farm in Moiben Sub County of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The soils type is classified as Ferralsols with sandy loam texture. A four wheeled 70 kN tractor was used in the experiments. The experiment was conducted at three levels of normal loads of 26 kN, 30 kN and 34 k, and four levels of number of passes 1,5,10 and 15 all with three replications. The field bulk density was determined at varying levels of loading and number of passes using sand replacement method. The data was analyzed using statistical software for analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 95% confidence level and p < 0.05. From the results, the highest bulk density at 34 kN and 15 passes was 1513 kg/m3 on the top soil. The lowest bulk density was 1116 kg/m3 on the subsoil layer below 45cm at 26 kN and one pass. During the test period the moisture content average was 25%. The findings indicated that there was an increase in bulk density with the increase of loading and number of passes. The increased loading and number of passes was particularly found to affect the soil layer above 45cm. The relative compaction from the test results indicates that the soil was 95.5% compacted. Bulk density model was proposed with coefficient of determination (R2 ) of 0.8822.
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Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Eldoret, School of Engineering, Eldoret, Kenya, kichanaah@yahoo.com
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Abdul-Aleam Ahmed Al-Qadhi , Dr.M.R. Janardhana .
January 2016 - Vol 3, Issue 1
Pranjit Kumar Sarma, Khagendra Kumar Nath, Md. E.A Huda, Bankim Baruah, Kiranmay Sarmah, Kalyanjit Sarma, Bibhab Kr. Talukdar.
January 2016 - Vol 3, Issue 1
Dr. Pascoal José Gaspar Júnior, MsC. Camila de Melo Silva , Dr. Félix Gonçalves de Siqueira , Nilo Sobreira Silva, Dra. Fernanda Silva Torres Dr. Daniel Moreira dos Santos, MsC. Lucas Vieira de Faria , MsC. Géssyca Paula de Alvarenga Soares , Ana Paula Resende Pinto , Juraci Lourenço Teixeira , Dr. Sérgio Marangoni, Dra. Maria Elena de Lima .
November 2015 - Vol 2, Issue 6