Abstract:
The study was conducted at the experimental farm of the
department of crop production at the college of agricultural studies of the
Sudan university of sciences and technology. Three different methods of
land preparation have been tested (conventional tillage , minimum tillage
and zero tillage ) . Conventional tillage represented by a disc plough
followed by disc harrow and soil leveler(DPDH). Minimum tillage
represented by rotary plough followed by disc harrow and soil leveler
(RPDH) and zero tillage is practiced without implement .The main
purpose of the study was to determine the most appropriate method of
land preparation for Abu70 fodder crop . Randomized completed block
design have been used to conduct the experiment. The effect of different
tillage methods on soil moisture content , bulk density and infiltration
rate has been determined also, the generated data was subjected to
statistical analysis.
The effect of previously mentioned tillage groups upon some plant
parameters such as the germination , length of plants, number of leaves
per plant , leaf area index and average yield in tons per hectare have been
tested also. According to the obtained results it was not clear which of the
tested tillage methods was the most appropriate for forage production.
Evaluation of the different tillage methods according to those results was
rather difficult and we were obliged to test for the economical analysis to
identify which method is the most suitable for land preparation .
III
According to the economical analysis the least land preparation cost
was zero tillage which is 2SDG. The second lower cost obtained with
conventional tillage is 43.138SDG, where as the highest cost was
.obtained with minimum tillage 44.588SDG
IV
