Draught requirements of enamel coated animal drawn

mouldboard plough
I. A. LOUKANOV1, J. UZIAK1, J. MICHLEK2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Department of Applied Mathematics and Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno,
Czech Republic
1
2

ABSTRACT: The power requirement of tillage implements is an important design consideration particularly for
animal-drawn implements where the power is limited. The paper presents the possibility of reduction in the draught
requirements of animal-drawn mouldboard plough by using enamel coating on the soil-engaged components such as the
mouldboard, share and the landside. Trials were conducted to compare enamel-coated Maun Series single mouldboard
plough (manufactured by Zimplow Limited, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) with similar uncoated plough, both animal-drawn,
under comparable working conditions. Experiments were done at 25% and 32% d.b. soil moisture content on a red clay
soil in Zimbabwe. The parameters measured in evaluating the draught performance of both ploughs were the tractive
eort (pull), speed of ploughing, depth and width of ploughing, and soil conditions (i.e. soil moisture content, soil bulk
density and soil penetration resistance). It was found that for similar working conditions the enamel coating reduced
the specic draught by 20 to 26% depending upon soil moisture content.
Keywords: enamel coating; uncoated plough; enamel-coated plough; actual draught and specic draught

The mouldboard plough has always been the

basic tillage implement on the farm. Although
historic, it is still useful and widely employed for
primary tillage. It cuts the soil slice, lifts it over the
surface of the mouldboard and inverts it, burying
the surface growth and crop residues to leave a clear
surface for subsequent cultivation (BRASSINGTON
1987). Animal traction is an appropriate, affordable and sustainable technology that is still important throughout Eastern and Southern Africa.
Therefore, animal traction technology in terms
of draught power requirements is a crucial area
of research and development. The animal-drawn
mouldboard plough is widely used for primary tillage in the developing counties of Africa. This is
due to its low cost and the availability of working
animals such as oxen, cows, donkeys, horses and
mules. Generally the mouldboard plough works
well as a low speed soil inverting implement and
improvements in the design can be obtained mainly
by reducing draught and wear. It was estimated
that the friction component of draught contributes
about 30% of the total draught for ploughs working at a speed of 3 km/h (OCALLAGHAN, MCCOY
1965). According to BETKER and KUTZBACH (1989)
draught forces in animal-drawn ploughs vary from
56

850 N to 2,000 N depending upon the type of the

soil and its moisture content. On the other hand the
continuous pull available from work oxen is usually taken to be 10% of animals body weight (INNS
1990). So that a pair of oxen with a combined body
mass of 800 kg would produce a pull of about 800 N.
Consequently continuous operation of an implement would be beyond the capacity of an ordinary
draught animal pair. In this regard an investigation
was undertaken to evaluate the draught requirement of enamel-coated animal-drawn mouldboard
plough and compare its performance with similar
uncoated plough under comparable working conditions.
LITERATURE REVIEW

The draught requirements of an animal drawn

mouldboard plough is affected by the following factors: the type of soil, soil moisture, speed of ploughing (which normally does not vary significantly),
depth and width of the furrow slice, type of the
mouldboard used, as well as soil-to-metal friction
characteristics of the soil-engaged components. By
reducing the soil-to-metal friction, the draught requirement of the plough can be reduced considerRES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

ably. KEPNER et al. (1982) found that the values of

the specific draught vary from 1.4 to 2 N/cm2 (14
20 kPa) in sandy soils and from 10 to 14.4 N/cm2
(100144 kPa) in heavy clay soils. Various attempts
have been made to reduce friction and adhesion of
soil on tillage implements by using coatings, such
as glass, Teflon, special paints and other low friction materials. These efforts were usually unsuccessful due to poor wear resistance, complicated
coating techniques or cost limitations. According
to WISMER et al. (1968), friction on mouldboard
plough may represent as much as 30% of the total draught. They found that covering the plough
bottom with Teflon reduced the draught by 23%,
but Teflon showed low wearing resistance and the
technique was expensive. FOX and BOCKHOP (1969)
also found that Teflon wears much faster than steel.
SALOKHE and GEE-CLOUGH (1988) tried different
coating materials in investigating the soil adhesion on cage wheel lugs. They found that enamel
coating on a cage wheel lug reduced the soil adhesion considerably. Later SALOKHE et al. (1989)
employed enamel coating to mouldboard plough,
mainly to mouldboard and share, and conducted
laboratory experiments in a soil bin using Bangkok
clay soil under variety of working conditions. They
have investigated the draught variation at four different soil moisture levels 21%, 31%, 51% and 58%
(d.b.), and three speeds 1, 2 and 3 km/h. It was
found that enamel coating was the best material to
reduce friction and plough draught requirements.
The results obtained show a draught reduction
by up to 26% depending upon soil moisture content and speed. SALOKHE and SHIRIN (1992) employed similar technique to a disc plough. They
found that the overall percentage reduction in
the specific draught was in the range of 4 to 21%,
depending upon the soil moisture content, disc
angle, tilt angle and ploughing speed. They also
concluded that this was due to both low adhesion
property of soil to enamel, and low soil-enamel
friction coefficient.
Considering that the enamel coating technique is
cheap and readily available in the industry, and with
the promising results obtained so far, it was decided
to carry out similar tests of enamel coating for an
ox-drawn moulboard plough in field conditions.

tion is USKALF with average contents of sand, silt

and clay 35, 10 and 55 percent respectively.
A single furrow mouldboard plough Maun
Series and a similar enamel-coated plough, both oxdrawn, were used to plough three test plots of 20 m
by 10 m. The uncoated-Maun plough is a standard plough manufactured by Zimplow Limited at
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and is designed to operate
with oxen or donkeys. The plough does not have
a coulter but is fitted with depth and cross clevis attachment, as well as a 150 mm wheel with a
supporting arm. It is light, robust easy to handle
walk behind plough intended for normal width
and depth of the furrow. The Maun Plough has
been tested and approved in design and performance by the Institute of Agricultural Engineering
in Harare, Zimbabwe, Agritex Zimbabwe and
Silsoe Research Institute U.K. Fig. 1 shows the
Maun Plough used in the trials.
The modification of the standard mouldboard
plough by means of enamel coating was based on
the baked on technique intended for kitchenware.
The process first involved pre-treatment by sandblasting of the soil engaged components, such as
the mouldboard, share and landside. This is to
roughen and therefore to increase the surface area
to which the enamel coating is to be applied. First
a primer-coat was applied on the metal surfaces by
spraying, and after being dried for 20 minutes, a
second coat was laid on by dipping the components
into a pool with enamel paint. Then the components were baked in an electric furnace at 820C
for about 30 minutes in order to achieve a strong
bond and improved wear resistance.
For the experiments both ploughs were set to
operate at a nominal depth of 150 mm and width of
250 mm. The trials for each test were replicated five
times maintaining approximately the same working
conditions. Before any tests were carried out, the
average soil moisture content was determined by

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experiments were conducted at the Institute of

Agricultural Engineering, Borrowdale, Harare,
Zimbabwe, on a red clay soil. The soil classifica-

RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

Fig. 1. Maun Plough

57

Table 1. Soil moisture content (% d.b.) on dry weight basis

Trials 7. 4. 2000

Trials 27. 4. 2000

Average

31.8

24.8

St. dev.

3.6

3.6

using an electronic moisture meter. It was designed

to measure organic moisture content and mineral
moisture content as well as to provide a voltage output proportional to the respective moisture content.
The mineral moisture content, which approximates
the gravimetric moisture content, was measured and
the corresponding voltage output recorded.
The procedure of taking readings for the soil bulk
density involved taking soil samples up to 300 mm
profile depth by means of plastic rings, each having a depth of 50 mm. This enabled undisturbed
samples of soil to be obtained from the soil profile, which were accurately weighed later. The samples were taken at three different stations located
diagonally along the plots. Finally the data were
processed using software developed by the Silsoe
Research Institute U.K., to determine the bulk density and moisture content on dry bases (d.b.). The
approach employed avoids taking samples to the
laboratory and hence shortens the processing time.
Results obtained are listed in Tables 1 and 2.
An Eijelkamp cone Penetrometer with 12.7 mm
() cone diameter was employed for measuring
the soil penetration resistance. The readings were
taken at three independent stations on each plot
and the results are listed in Table 2.
During each trial the actual draught was measured by recording the tractive effort (pull) employing a load cell and portable electronic amplifier
fitted with a processor and giving average readings
at preset intervals of 2 seconds. This provided approximately 10 readings per run. The actual draught
was calculated in accordance with the equation

Actual Draught = Pull cos

(1)

where: the angle of inclination of the chain to the horizontal ( = 19.5).

The load cell was attached between the plough

and the chain and connected to the amplifier by
means of a shielded cable. At the other end the
chain was attached to the yoke of the oxen. During
each trial time taken for ploughing 20 m length was
measured in order to estimate the average speed.
On each day of the trials both enamel-coated and
uncoated ploughs were tested, maintaining approximately the same working conditions such as soil
moisture content and the preset depth and width of
cut. The depth of cut was measured at various points
along the furrow, while the width of cut was taken
as the distance between successive furrow edges.
Experiments were conducted at two levels of 25%
and 32% d.b. soil moisture content and at average
working speed of 0.8 m/s. The plough was modied
on the eld by using two sets of interchangeable
plough bottom components, which included enamelcoated and uncoated components namely the share,
mouldboard and landside. The specic draught was
calculated in accordance with the equation
Specific Draught = (Actual Draught)/(Cross
Sectional Area of the Furrow)
(2)
RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS

In general the variation of the ploughing speed

was found to be within the range 0.70.9 m/s giving
an average of 0.8 m/s or 2.88 km/h.
Specic draught results

The results of specific draught obtained for

enamel-coated and uncoated plough at 25% d.b.
soil moisture content (experiments conducted on

Table 2. Soil bulk density and soil penetration resistance

Trials 7. 4. 2000
Depth (mm)

Bulk density
(g/cm3)

(a)

Trials 27. 4. 2000

Penetration resistance

(MPa)

(a)

Bulk density(a)
(g/cm3)

Penetration resistance(a)

(MPa)

050
50100
100150
150200
200250
250300

1.20
1.25
1.18
1.16
1.07
1.07

0.2
0.3
0.9
1.7
2.0
2.3

1.03
1.17
1.18
1.38
0.98
1.13

0.0
0.8
1.5
1.7
1.6
1.5

Mean (0300)

1.154

1.22

1.147

1.19

(a)

Each value is the mean of three replications

58

RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

27. 4. 2000) and at 32% d.b. soil moisture content

(experiments conducted on 7. 4. 2000) are shown
in Table 3.These include also the mean values and
standard deviations of the pull, actual draught,
depth and width of cut, and the furrow cross-sectional area. From Table 3 it is evident that at 25%
d.b. soil moisture content the values of the specific
draught for the coated plough are lesser than that
for uncoated plough. The mean values of specific
draught for the enamel-coated and uncoated plough
were found to be 11.0 kPa and 14.8 kPa respectively.
Similar trend is observed at 32% d.b. soil moisture content. The difference is only in the higher
values of the specific draught obtained. The mean
values of the specific draught for enamel-coated
and uncoated plough are 38.8 kPa and 48.7 kPa
respectively.
Comparison between the specic draughts

Based on the results listed in Table 3 a comparison is made between enamel-coated plough and
uncoated plough in terms of their specic draughts
and the results are shown in Fig. 2. It was noted that
the specic draughts at both moisture levels were
smaller for enamel-coated plough compared to uncoated plough. The decrease in specic draught for
enamel-coated plough was estimated to be 25.7%
at 25% d.b. soil moisture content and 20.3% at 32%.
This can be attributed to the greater dierence in
soil-to-metal friction on the ploughs. In addition to
that it was noticed that there was a signicant dierence in the mean values of the specic draught at
both levels of soil moisture content, the latter being
attributed to the increased soil-to-metal adhesion
at higher levels of moisture content. As found by
FOX and BOCKHOP (1969) the apparent coecient

of friction between the soil and the tillage tool depends upon the type of the soil, the tool material,
and soil moisture content. Furthermore an increase
in soil moisture content up to a certain level leads to
a signicant increase in friction due to an increased
soil-to-metal adhesion. Presumably similar situation
occurred in reported experiments, where the specic draught was measured at 25% and 32% d.b. soil
moisture contents, and its values for both ploughs
at 32% d.b. soil moisture content has increased considerably. However, the percentage reduction of the
specific draught agreed closely to those reported
by SOLOKHE et al. (1989).
As seen from Table 3 it is evident that the values
of the specific draught for enamel-coated plough
are always lesser than the respective values of the
specific draught for uncoated plough regardless of
the soil moisture content. This indicates that the
enamel coating when employed on mouldboard
plough provides lower draught requirements.
Statistical analysis

The statistical analysis performed in this paper

was based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA)
(SEARLE 1971, 1987; SCHABENBERGER, PIERCE
2002). The main attention was given to the specific draught as a response variable depending on
the experimental conditions expressed by two factors. The factors were: Plough (with two categories;
Uncoated Plough coded by P = 1 and Enamel Coated
Plough coded by P = 1), and Moisture Content
(with two categories; 32% and 25%, coded by
MC = 1 and MC = 1, respectively). The categories
for the second factor were associated with two different trial dates (7. 4. and 27. 4.) corresponding to
the values of the above soil moisture content.

Table 3. Pull, actual and specic draughts, depth and width of cut, and cross-sectional area of furrow
Moisture content (% d.b.)
25
uncoated plough

32

enamel-coated plough

uncoated plough

enamel-coated plough

mean

standard
deviation

mean

standard
deviation

mean

standard
deviation

mean

standard
deviation

Pull (N)

659

24.7

575

18.5

1,382

52.7

1,132

30.0

Actual draught (N)

621

23.3

542

17.4

1,303

49.7

1,067

28.2

0.150

0.020

0.170

0.009

0.112

0.010

0.114

0.008

0.283

0.004

0.291

0.006

0.241

0.008

0.243

0.008

Cross-sectional area (m )

0.043

0.006

0.050

0.003

0.027

0.003

0.028

0.001

Specic draught (kPa)

14.8

1.83

11.0

0.51

48.7

3.06

38.8

2.39

Depth of cut (m)

Width of cut (m)
2

RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

59

Uncoated plough

50

Enamel coated plough

40
30

14.8

20

48.7

Moisture Content 32%

38.8

Specific draught (kPa)

Specific draft (kPa)

60

11.0

10
0

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Moisture Content 25%

Uncoated

25
32
Soil moisture content (% d.b.)

Plough type

Coated

Fig. 2. Specic draught (kPa)

Fig. 3. Comparison of Plough and Moisture Content Eects

(error bars show one standard deviation)

The ANOVA model for the response SD (the specic draught) with sigma-restricted parametrization
was assumed (SEARLE 1987) in the following form

Information provided in Table 4 makes possible to

draw the following conclusions about the main eects
of factors Plough (P) and Moisture Content (MC).
The effect of plough (factor P) is statistically
significant at the level 1% (p = 0.000002) and it
can be concluded that the difference in measurements of the specific draught obtained for uncoated
plough and enamel coated plough is statistically
significant at 1% significance level. The values of
specific draught for enamel-coated plough are statistically significantly lower then the values of specific draught for uncoated plough at 1% significance
level. The results are presented in Fig. 3.
Similar results were obtained for the other factor, Moisture Content (factor MC), which has statistically significant influence on specific draught
(p = 0.00000). Also interaction term (factor P MC)
is statistically significant (p = 0.06602). Thus, it is
possible to conclude that the interaction between
Plough and Moisture Content is highly significant
as well. It means that the combination of high soil
moisture content with the type of plough leads to
the non-linear effects on specific draught. Higher
moisture content leads to lower values of specific
draught for enamel coated plough (the lines connecting the means in the Fig. 5 are not parallel to
each other).

SD = + P + MC + P MC +

(3)

where:
P

the average eect,

the main eect of the factor P (Plough)
equal to for P = 1 and equal to for
P = 1,
MC
the main eect of the factor MC (Moisture Content) equal to for MC = 1
and equal to for MC = 1,
P MC the interaction term of P and MC and
it is equal to or when the P MC
product is equal to 1 or 1,

the error term.

From the ANOVA results (obtained by using a

standard software package STATISTICA), it could
be seen that ANOVA model fitted the data very
well. The multiple correlation coefficient is equal to
0.988171 and it is highly statistically significant at
significance level 1%. Its second power is 0.976481
which means that about 97.65% of variability of
specific draught can be explained by the variability of factors Plough and Moisture Content and by
their interactions.

Table 4. Univariate tests of signicance for specic draught using ANOVA analysis
MS
Mean sum of squares

SS
Sum of squares

D
Degree of freedom

160.40

160.40

2.38

2.38

50.81

0.000002

47.69

47.68

1,017.58

0.000000

P MC

0.46

0.46

9.73

0.006602

Error

0.75

16

0.05

Eect
Intercept
P
MC

60

F
Test Statistics
3,423.4

p
p-value
0.000000

RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

Table 5. Means, standard errors of the means, 95% condence intervals for specic draught
Plough

Specic draught
Soil moisture content
(% d.b.)
mean (kPa) standard error (kPa)

95% condence intervals

lower limit (kPa)

upper limit (kPa)

Uncoated

32

48.72

1.376

44.89

52.54

Uncoated

25

14.82

0.818

12.54

17.09

Enamel coated

32

38.80

1.064

35.84

41.75

Enamel coated

25

10.94

0.224

10.31

11.56

The detail results of ANOVA analysis with means

in the categories, standard errors of means and 95%
confidence intervals for specific draught in each
category can be found in Table 5.
DISCUSSION

The enamel-coated plough is cheap and aordable innovation in the tillage practice. Observations
were also made for any scratches or damages on the
coated surfaces of the plough, but none were found.
Since these were preliminary observations based
on short-term applications we could not conclude
about the strength and durability of the enamel
coating. Further investigations are needed to find
out its wear resistance, reliability and applicability
in practice.
Apart from the improved draught characteristics the enamel-coated plough showed improved
scouring abilities as compared to uncoated plough.
These were observed particularly at 32% d.b. soil
moisture content, where the soil-engaged surfaces
were always free of stuck soil clods. Therefore, the
application of the enamel coating contributed not
only to improved plough draught requirements but
also to better scouring properties.
CONCLUSIONS

Results show that enamel coating has a significant influence on the working performance of
animal-drawn mouldboard plough. It was found
that enamel coating reduced considerably both
the specific draught and the actual draught. As
compared to uncoated plough the specific draught
was reduced by as much as 25.7% at 25% d.b. soil
moisture content and by 20.3% at 32% d.b. soil
moisture content. Based on the considerable specific draught reduction as well as lower values
of the actual draught it may be concluded that
the draught requirements of the enamel-coated
plough are compatible with the draught capacity
of an ordinary pair of oxen.
RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662

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Received for publication March 3, 2005
Accepted after corrections May 10, 2005

61

Poteba sly vynaloen tanmi zvaty k orb svrchn vrstvy ornice pomoc
pluh se smaltovanou radlic
ABSTRAKT: Poteba tan sly pi orb je dleitm faktorem pi konstrukci pluh pro orbu ornice pedevm pi orb
tanmi zvaty, jejich tan sla je omezen. lnek shrnuje monosti snen energetick nronosti orby tanmi zvaty povrchovou pravou radlice smaltovnm v zvislosti na vlastnostech pdy, jako je struktura ornice, sklon a poloha
brzdy. V polnch pokusech byly porovnvny pluhy se smaltovanou radlic srie Moun, vyrbn rmou Zimplow Ltd.
(Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) s obdobnmi nesmaltovanmi pluhy, taenmi zvaty ve srovnatelnch pracovnch podmnkch.
erven jlov pda v Zimbabwe mla v dob orby 25% a 32% vlhkost. Pi hodnocen pokusu byly uplatnny nsledujc
men parametry: tan vkon obou pluh a trakn sil (pull), rychlost orby, hloubka a ka brzdy, pdn podmnky
jako vlhkost pdy, hustota pdnch agregt i odolnost proti pronikn. Bylo zjitno, e pi podobnch pracovnch podmnkch me smaltovan radlice uetit 2026 % prce, potebn k orb ornice v zvislosti na vlhkosti pdy.
Klov slova: smaltovn; nepotaen radlice; smaltem potaen radlice; aktuln a specick tah

Corresponding author:

Doc. RNDr. JAROSLAV MICHLEK, CSc., Ekonomicko-sprvn fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, katedra aplikovan
matematiky a informatiky, Lipov 41a, 602 00 Brno, esk republika
tel.: + 420 549 496 075, fax: + 420 549 491 710, e-mail: [email protected]

62

RES. AGR. ENG., 51, 2005 (2): 5662