The objective was to evaluate tractor operating performance regarding traction application, energy consumption and working efficiency in association of crop residue cutting implements and soil breakers as the travelling speed. Experiment was performed at a farm in Santa Maria (RS), Brazil. Local soil was classified as Red Ultisol with sandy loam texture. The experiment consisted of 24 treatment combinations in a 2x3x4 factorial scheme. The combinations were composed by interactions furrowers (furrow opener fixed and rotary), cutting disks (without disk, plain disk, and undulating disk) and travelling speeds (1.11, 1.67, 2.22 and 2.78 m s-1). Tractor performance data were acquired through electronic instrumentation. Furrower and cutting disk association had improved performance at speeds of 1.11 and 1.67 m s-1 for requiring less traction and fuel consumption. Furthermore, disks reduced required traction at speed range of 1.11 to 2.78 m s-1. On the other hand, furrow opener device demanded higher tractions than mismatched disks; and both of them combined with cutting disks had increased demand too. Likewise, soil mobilization soil was not influenced by speed.
Row crop planter; Machine-soil relationship; Agricultural machinery testing; Furrow opener drills; Mismatched double disks; Cutting mechanism
