Tillage Quality and Draught Force of a Novel Plough Concept with Cambered Disc

A prototype of a novel plough system (“hybrid plough”), invented by Huber Solution GmbH was tested on a silty loam soil according tillage quality (in-soil mixing of residual plants, soil loosening, soil penetration resistance). Reference system was a mouldboard plough. The draught force was measured for light and heavy soil conditions additionally. Results show, that the working principle of the “hybrid plough” has a better in-soil mixing of the residual plants, where residual plants were also detected on the soil surface. Soil loosening efficiency was higher, indicated by a significant lower mean-weight diameter of soil aggregates than mouldboard ploughing. There were no significant differences of the soil penetration resistance between “hybrid plough” and mouldboard plough. At heavy soil conditions, the “hybrid plough” had more than 20% significant lower draught force requirement compared to mouldboard plough. This potential energy saving effect is explained by a lower pull-, push and shear forces for soil loosening.