The main objective of this research was to evaluate the soil cone index results as a function of tyre type (radial and bias tyres) and tyre load using a single wheel testing equipment and verifying the effect on the layers after tyre traffic. This equipment was projected for linking at the rear of a tractor and was activated by the power with the purpose of testing individual tyre under field conditions and constituted of a mechanical transmission box and electronic instruments of measurement. This study was conducted at the Agricultural Tyre Testing Center - NEMPA of Rural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, UNESP, Botucatu, SP. The data obtained were analyzed considering a random block experimental design in split plot with tyre in the main plot (radial and bias tyres) and tyre load (10.000 N, 13.000 N, 16.000 N and 19.000 N) in the split plots with five repetitions. The radial tyre showed advantage in relation to bias tyre showing small cone index values. The highest loads provoked largest cone index values and its increments in the layers of 0 to 10 cm and 10 to 20 cm.
cone index; soil compaction; agricultural tyre
