Mechanization of seedbed preparation for seame crop production

This study was conducted to study four seedbed preparation systems and three planting methods for sesame crop production. The experiment was performed in the experimental ,station Faculty of agriculture, Cairo University in clay loam soil. To achieve the goal of the work four seedbed preparation systems were tested to study the effect of these systems on some of these physical properties, performance of different systems (actual field capacity, total time consumed, fuel consumption), on length of fruiting zone and on yield production. The seedbed preparation systems were: (1) chisel plow (one pass) followed by disc harrow, land leveler and ridger, :\{2) chisel plow (2passes) followed by disc harrow, land leveler and ridger, (3) disc plow followed by disc harrow, Land leveler and ridger,(4) rotary plow followed by ridger. The results obtained from this study could be summarized as follows: disc plow produced the highest mean weight diameter (MWD), highest bulk density and lowest penetration resistance at the optimum working speed. The sequence of the different systems according to the total time consumed was found to be in the descending order: system 3 system 2 system1 system 4. The sequence of the different systems according to the consumed energy k.W.h /fed was found to be in the descending order: system2 system 3 system 1 system4. The sequence of the different systems according to the length of fruiting zone was found to be in the descending order: system2 system 3 system 4 system1. System 4(rotary plough followed by ridger) gave the highest value of yield production. The sequence of the different systems according to the costs L.E/fed was found to be in the ascending order: system 4 system 1 system 2 system 3.It is recommended to perform seedbed preparation for sesame crop by applying the system 4 is the optimum system for seedbed preparation for sesame crop production followed by raw planting method.