Improving the Design of the Disc Harrow for Berry Plantations

Introduction. Reducing the distance of throwing soil into the zone around bushes and maintaining a leveled surface between rows of berry crops are urgent scientific problems. Aim of the Article. To identify the basic parameters for the interaction of a spherical disk with waterlogged soil and on this basis to develop the technical solution for reducing the distance of soil throwing away in space between rows of berry crops. Materials and Methods. The object of research is an orchard disc harrow equipped with a protective shield mounted in front of the outermost disc of the tool front panel. The subject of the research is the process of interaction of the end disc of the front harrow plate with the waterlogged soil in berry plantations. The length of the protective shield and its spatial orientation were chosen as optimization parameters for field experiments. The quality evaluation of intertillage of the berry plantations was carried out by profiling their surfaces. Results. Based on the results of theoretical studies, it was found that the angle of inclination of the protective shield in the horizontal plane should be within 53–54°, and with respect to the movement of the harrow – 50–58°. The results of field experiments have confirmed the theoretical conclusions. It has been established that only a protective shield, the length of which is 450 mm and the installation angle of 50°, allows completely eliminating the side throw of the soil beyond the width of the tool. In addition, these parameters ensure the stable operation of the disc tool in almost any soil moisture and weed infestation of space between berry bushes. Discussion and Conclusion. The use of a modernized tillage tool made it possible to exclude the soil throwing into the bush zone to increase the speed of the unit by 25%.