Strip-till cultivator: options, functional characteristics and efficiency

The development of a cultivator used in the resource-saving strip-till technology is an urgent and promising direction for the development of agricultural machinery. The strip-till cultivator, according to the variants of execution, contains a supporting frame mounted on support wheels and working sections – a functionally built sequential series of working bodies, including a cutting working body; cleaners of the processed strip; a cultivator stand; a working body forming strips of the desired profile; a rolling working body, and combines a deep, conventional, shallow and surface tillage. The design of the cultivator provides for the dosed application of granular, liquid fertilizers, as well as anhydrous ammonia. To carry out sowing of agricultural crops in one pass of the strip-till, the cultivator is combined with a seeder, which carries out sowing in the treated strips. According to the design, cultivators can be mounted or trailed. The supporting frame consists of two transverse beams on which the working sections are fixed, longitudinal beams with pneumatic wheels are placed on the frame, each beam is equipped with a hydraulic cylinder to ensure the transfer of the cultivator from the transport position to the working position and back. The field surface treated by the unit along the strips is smooth without violating regulatory technical and agrotechnical requirements, the processing took place consistently, the working width of the grip was maintained, the soil remained uncultivated in the aisles, and the stubble on its surface was formed and laid in a horizontal position. The processing depth was 12...30 cm, the lumps up to 50 mm in size – 82.2 %, while lumps over 100 mm in size were not observed, the lumps with a size of 50...100 mm – 17.8 %. The use of strip-till cultivators will improve the quality of tillage, produce tillage on various types of soils, including waterlogged ones, including heavy clay ones. It has the possibility of targeted fertilization.