The Impact of Tractor Speed and Additional Weights on the Total Costs and Some Performance Indicators of the Gardener's Tractor

A field experiment was executed to assess the performance of the New Holland 1520 gardener tractor for plowing and smoothing operations by analyzing total costs, pulling force (kN), drawbar power and slippage percentage at varying operational speeds and added weights. The primary element, speed, was established at three levels (2.58, 4.50, 6.48 km/h) for the plowing process and (2.62, 4.67, 6.69 km/h) for the smoothing process, while the secondary factor comprised additional weights (60, 90, 120 kg). The plowing process findings indicated that a speed of 6.48 km/h yielded the lowest total costs of 10,937.6 ID/hectare, alongside the highest pulling force of 4.20 kN and the maximum drawbar power of 7.55 kW. Increasing the added weights from 60 kg to 90 kg and subsequently to 120 kg resulted in a reduction in overall expenditures from 20507.1 to 19652.2 to 18607.2 ID / hectare. A reduction in pulling force values from 4.13 to 3.93, subsequently to 3.69 kN; a decline in drawbar power from 5.16 to 5.04, then to 4.83 kW; and a fall in slippage percentage from 11.95 to 10.34, followed by 8.81%. The smoothing process yielded the lowest total costs of 9664.2 ID/hectare at a speed of 6.69 km/h. The maximum pulling force attained was 2.64 kN, while the peak drawbar power reached 4.90 kW.The increment of weights from 60 to 90 to 120 kg resulted in a reduction of total costs from 18757.9 to 17242.1 to 16472.1 ID/hectare, a decline in drawbar power values from 2.69 to 2.47 to 2.22 kN, a decrease in drawbar power from 3.48 to 3.26 to 3.02 kW, and a reduction in slippage percentage from 9.34 to 8.03 to 6.30%.