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Family and small-scale farming systems are increasingly important in achieving food sovereignty and sustainability. This makes necessary to characterize them and develop systems to evaluate their sustainability, which allow the monitoring of the management of various resources with a participatory approach. In this work, the application of the MESMIS methodological framework is presented for the design of a system of indicators related to the management of soil resources in the Organoponic Garden of the farm El Guayabal, which respond to the premises of simplicity, sensitivity and easy application. The methodological scheme used in the construction of the system of indicators and the results obtained in its evaluation are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the Agroindustrial Company "Victoria de Girón", the softening work is carried out with the Belarus tractor aggregate model 1523 and the "La Sidero" harrow, recently acquired, of which there is very little information on their behavior. that it is necessary to carry out its technological and operation evaluation, in order to know the behavior of the main indicators and establish criteria for their more efficient use, which is the objective of this work. Five days of tests were studied, for which a photochronometry was made, determining the behavior of the times that make up the working day, the productivity indices according to the different times and the operation coefficients and quality indicators of the work. The results obtained showed a favorable behavior of the shift time, which ranged between 83.8 and 86.3% of the total time of the day; operating time, productive time and clean work time remained very stable during the five days; however, a marked difference was found between clean work time and the total time of the day, greater than 3 hours. The coefficients of technical safety (0.95) and of use of productive time (0.84) showed a good performance of the aggregate and a high technical reliability; on the contrary, the exploitation safety coefficient (0.61) and productivity per hour of operation time (0.62 ha) were low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Opuntia Brava is the property of Universidad de Ciencias Pedagogicas de Las Tunas, Centro de Documentacion e Informacion Pedagogica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present work was carried out in the UBPC Antonio Maceo Grajales (El Palmar), located in the Agricultural and Livestock Company "Paquito Rosales" in the province of Granma, Cuba. It was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effect of two minimized farming systems on a Fluvisol soil for the cultivation of beans, taking into account the behavior of humidity of the soil and the cultivation's agricultural yields. The treatments under study were: T1 for minimized farming and T2 for reduced farming. T1 consisted of the plowing of the soil with multi-plowing device followed by one pass of disc harrow. T2 is considered a variant of the previous treatment followed by two perpendicular passes of disc harrow. As results T1 obtained the best behavior in maintaining a better conservation of the soil in the profile of 0-30 cm depth. The highest humidity content (29,21 %) was obtained at the fourth observation date, which facilitated better root penetration and cultivation development, reaching an agricultural yield of 0,97 t ha-1, 28 % higher than the one obtained by T2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work was carried out in the UBPC Antonio Maceo Grajales (El Palmar), located in the Agricultural and Livestock Company "Paquito Rosales" in the province of Granma, Cuba. It was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effect of two minimized farming systems on a Fluvisol soil for the cultivation of beans, taking into account the behavior of humidity of the soil and the cultivation's agricultural yields. The treatments under study were: T1 for minimized farming and T2 for reduced farming. T1 consisted of the plowing of the soil with multi-plowing device followed by one pass of disc harrow. T2 is considered a variant of the previous treatment followed by two perpendicular passes of disc harrow. As results T1 obtained the best behavior in maintaining a better conservation of the soil in the profile of 0-30 cm depth. The highest humidity content (29,21 %) was obtained at the fourth observation date, which facilitated better root penetration and cultivation development, reaching an agricultural yield of 0,97 t ha-1, 28 % higher than the one obtained by T2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general structure of the service for the technical assistance in the sugar cane soil tillage was based on three offers directed to the planning, the organization, the control and training: Technical attendance in the processes of soil tillage, Technical attendance in machinery management and Evaluation and trial of agricultural machines. This service is projected to reach the total area of the sugar cane crop in Cuba and to cover up the whole of the year. The attendance in soil tillage processes was applied to deforestation, land-leveling, fertilization and post-harvest field management, plantation and land preparation technological processes. For the planning of the farm works, the maintenance management and the machinery exploitation control a computer tools were programed. The recommendations given to the grower were technically based according to technological, energetical, economical and environmental approaches; taking in to account the results of more than 40 years of investigations of the INICA and other national institutions. To strengthen the material and human infrastructure of the INICA and to create a methodology for farm processes diagnostic on the service implementation was recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the design of a new implement for conservation tillage of agricultural soils, so it is necessary to calculate and design the dimensional - geometric parameters of the organs of work by using the new CAD tools as computation engineering support. Besides the design parameters of the new proposal were determined. The final results allow to have the necessary technical documentation for the manufacture of the implement, and also show that the concept of design meets the requirements of reliability, quality and technical requirements for crop development because it combines the best qualities of Paratill -- type organs of work, with the winged scarifies of multiplow type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to determine the effect of tillage systems and seeding densities in sweet potato (Ipomoea batata (L) Lamb.). The study was held on the Central University of Venezuela, in the year of 2014. The degrees of severity of soil degradation and its correspondence with the scales of preference based on unit weight and dimensions of the tuberous root were determined. An arrangement of slots was used, where the tillage systems (TS) were assigned to the parcels and the seeding densities (SD) were assigned to slots. The TS consisted on vertical farming with a chisel (LC), with disc plowing (LA), conventional with three passes of the disc harrow (LCo) and a minimum with a pass of disc harrow (LM). The Ds were of 0,25 cm (D1) and 0,15 cm (D2) in the line. The physical quality of the soil was superior in the LA treatments. In these, the combination with the longest planting distances (LA-D1) favored the highest postharvest quality. On the contrary, the chisel treatments promoted the least acceptances among consumers. The light to moderate severity of soil degradation did not explain the postharvest quality variation. It is inferred on the lower rate in water movement in LD, that promoted and excess in humidity and a lower quality in the tuberous root. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In agricultural production the appropriate soil physical quality is essential to achieve good crop yields with minor environmental effect. Since no tillage (NT) use broadly expanded in southwestern Buenos Aires, a more detailed knowledge of the physical soil condition under this system is needed. With the aim of analyzing the present physical quality, pore size distribution was determined in Ustolls of southwestern Buenos Aires province under NT (AG) and in quasi pristine environments (AN). Also, the influence of the different granulometric fractions on physical properties was evaluated. Analyzed soils showed a poor subsurface aeration porosity tendency demonstrated by the low macroporosity of the AN (16.6%). In agricultural soils these limitations increased due to lower macroporosity (11.8%). Near 88% of AG presented subsurface physical characteristics that would limit wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) development, even after 12 years under NT. The main limitation was associated with a low macroporosity (pores> 30 µm) that could affect soil aeration and root growth. Although it is not possible to attribute the macroporosity loss to NT management, the way it has been implemented in the region has not been able to reverse the soil physical quality problems. It is necessary to develop land management practices that contribute to the biotic soil structure regeneration (e.g. rotations with pastures, inclusion of crops with deep roots) to ensure adequate physical fertility in subsurface layers of Ustolls under NT in southwestern Buenos Aires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensive use of agricultural machinery has been one of the reasons that caused degradation soil, that's why this investigation was conducted in order to evaluate the responses caused by different tillage systems on some hydro soil properties and in the extraction of nutrients for growing wheat (Triticum durum L.) in experimental plots of the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology fromSeville, Spain. For the study, a sample design was used. The treatments were: conventional tillage (CT) and conservation (LC) in experimental plots and long-term notill (NT) and new traditional tillage (NTT) in short duration, on plots of 240 m2 and 140 m2, respectively, in Fluvisol soil. The pilot phase bulk density and water content in the soil were evaluated. Besides the extraction of nutrients by the crop foliage, grain and yield were determined. The results showed significant differences among treatments in the extraction of N, P and K in different parts of plant assessed, highlighting the CT with higher extraction of nutrients for growing and higher performance, the most appropriate, considering the environmental benefits of the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the research was to compare the energy cost of the main mechanized farming operations, making emphasis in the tillage/sowing and to quantify its possible yield and savings using the system of no-till sow with covering, related to the conventional system, assuming that it is possible to reduce the energy costs in more than 10 %, in the operation of the agricultural machinery, in the cultivation of the bay bean Tuy, of the Company Riecitos of the Municipality Freites, Anzoátegui, Venezuela. It was used in the experimental design, a variance analysis for the determination of the existence of significant differences between the arithmetic population means of each variable and the applied treatments. For the determination of the energy and exploitation costs was used the program “Energy and Exploitation Costs (EEC)." In each experimental unit were studied apparent density, humidity and resistance of the soil, fuel consumption and energy cost. Te study concludes that there are no significant differences in the apparent density, humidity, resistance of the soil. In the studied depths, the physical-mechanical characteristics of the soils of the parcels don't interfere in the application of the treatments. The system with less energy cost, expenses of exploitation and consumption of fuel, was that of conservation. The technology used in the conservation system show a manpower saving, being invested less time (4 h•ha-1) of use of the machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work was conducted in "La Hampa" experimental farm, belonging to the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville (CSIC), Spain, in order to evaluate the physiological responses elicited by traditional (LT) and conservation tillage (LC) on the nutritional status of wheat crop (Triticum durum L.) in long-term experiments on a sandy clay loam Xerofluvent soil. The experimental area has an agrometeorological station to record the minimum, average and maximum values of different variables, considering temperatures and rainfall in this work. A randomized block design with three replicates per treatment was used for the study; each block had a surface area of 240 m2. At the experimental stage, crop nutrient extraction was assessed on the grains and leaf mass of 10 randomly selected plants per treatment. Nitrogen was determined by Kjeldahl method whereas the other elements by plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP). From the physiological point of view, there are significant differences on the extraction of nutrients absorbed by the crop, ensuring that plants had no nutritional problems at the conservation tillage, with an increased total dry mass production. No significant differences were detected between both treatments with respect to yield, so that conservation tillage is more appropriate when taking into account its environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work has as objective to validate two technologies (T1 and T2) with animal traction in soil preparation in the Experimental Unit of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering Research (IAgric) located in the farm “Pulido", Alquízar municipality, Artemisa province, Cuba, starting from the physical properties of the soil and its hardness. For this study and validation were determined the physical properties of the soil: humidity, hardness and apparent density among other, before and after the plolwing of the soil in the experimental area of study. Under conditions of exploitation were determined the following indicators: depth, width and work speed in the soil farming with the two technologies. When comparing the technologies it was obtained a decrease in the percent of the apparent density of T2 with regard to the T1 for the layers of the soil. In the layer 0-10 cm it diminishes in 3.5 %; in the layer 10-20 cm the T2 diminishes almost 5 % with regard to the T1. In the case of the hardness, the behavior is similar to that of the density, being observed a decrease when comparing the two technologies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to 71.23% of the soil in Cuba presents affectations due to degradation, of there the importance of looking for new alternatives to attenuate these processes. The present work evaluates the behavior of some physical and chemical properties of the soil under the action of two tillage systems (conventional and conservationist), the first based on disks implements and the second in implements with horizontal-vertical cutting. For that were took five sampling points throughout a diagonal, carrying out measurements to three different depths 0-10, 11-20, 21-30 cm. The results indicate favorable changes in favor of the conservation tillage with a small decrease of the apparent density and the compaction and a little increase of the content of organic matter. Also, when carrying out a timing in order to determine the productivities and the consumption of fuel, was obtained a saving of fuel of 7.75 L·ha-1 and an increment of the productivity of 223.83 kg·ha-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensity of use and management of soil usually alters the behavior of its physical properties and accelerates its degradation. In order to measure the impact of such intensity, a sampling was conducted at the experimental station of the CIAT-Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Six lots with different histories, were chosen from very intensive six-month use to use reduced with rest for more than 10 years, and soil samples were taken at five depths of profile to evaluate the following properties: hydraulic conductivity, permeability to air, total porosity, drainable porosity, compactness, residual porosity, organic matter and mechanical resistance to penetration. It was found that the use of machinery and work of muddy improved physical properties only in 15 cm superficial, but they have caused serious problems of compaction in the lower depths. The trampling of livestock has also compressed profile, limiting the physical conditions to be explored by the grass roots. Rest periods have encouraged structural stability of soil and thus the quality of the same. It is recommended to implement practices to reduce risks due to compaction, to help curb the degradation and to restore the productive capacity of these soils [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the development that has reached the computational means in the last decades, the application of the numeric methods in the simulation of the interaction soil tillage-tool, has won in acceptance. As previous step, to the simulation of this phenomenon becomes necessary the definition of the models that predict with more accuracy the soil mechanical behavior. Taking into account these aspects the objective of present work is, to simulate the soil mechanical behavior in the soil-tillage tool interface by means of the finite element method. Starting from the employment of a model that is based on frictional approaches, with the inclusion of the adherence and the establishment of a tension of slip limit, as penalty to restrict the relative displacement between both surfaces. The models were implemented in the computational tool ABAQUS 6.4, starting from that which the soil-metal relative displacement was simulated. The results evidenced the validity of the model implemented to simulate the soil mechanical response in the soil-tool interface. The errors in the prediction of the soil stress oscillated from 1,45 to 5,45%, for the case of the soil vertical deformations it varied among 2,22 to 3,57%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico is among most densely populated state zones and most food consumed comes from the "milpa", a production system based on the exploitation of small extensions of up to 1,88 ha and the use of animal traction as a primary energy source for soil tillage. Given the importance of this problem it is developed this work for analyzing critically the current status of the use of animal traction in the Oaxaca Central Valleys. For completing this objective it was initially characterized the situation of crop production in this zone and analyzed tillage technology used in it. Finally it becomes clear the current employment situation of animal traction in the cultivation of these areas, specifying the problems of using wooden ards and metal ploughs. The results show the milpa production system, as a system of low-input based on crop association and in the employment of animal traction as a viable alternative to soil tillage, from the standpoint of technological and economic. It evidenced the need of replace the wooden plows by metal plows to fit the conditions and requirements of the milpa crop, which also enables the exchange of tools and keep the good features of traditional Mexican ard in terms of manageability, weight and versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work was carried out in the basic unit of rural production, “El Palmar”, belonging to the Company of Mixed Cultivations “Pacquito Rosales Benítez” in the municipality of Yara (Granma. Cuba) during the months of April (2007) to January (2008). The method used was the investigative-analytic one with the photometric technique. There were evaluated the farm groups (tractor-agricultural implements) that employed in four farm technologies (T1, T2, T3 and T4) for the cultivation of the yucca, Rosy Dwarf variety. They were done five observations of the Labor Day for each one of the farm groups aimed to evaluate the fuel consumption and their productivity. The best results in the evaluated indicators corresponded to the technology of minimum ploughing, T2, with a Modified Subsoiler Bayamo and with a disk harrow. In T2 the productivity per hour of net time was 1,34 ha h-1 and the operational-time productivity was 1,27 ha h-1. T2 technology showed other significant differences regarding the rest of the evaluated technologies: it registered the smallest consumption of fuel (32,4 L h-1); that is, 72; 52 and 71 % less than T1, T3 and T4 farm technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal traction as an energy source has a wide use in agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico. For this reason we developed a new animal-drawn plough to perform various operations required for tillage. For optimization purposes it was necessary to analyze the strength of the structural elements of this plough through the finite element method. As a first step the geometric model was developed with the software Cosmos DesingStar 2008, and the definition of the mechanical properties of materials used in the construction of the plough and the definition of boundary conditions and loads. The results showed that the structure resists the loads applied during operation with a safety factor of 2,46, the magnitude of the resulting deformations was limited to 0,0005 m. Showing that the materials used in the construction of the plow ensure the strength and stiffness required to work without fault of its elements and working bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Innovación Tecnológica is the property of Instituto de Informacion Cientifica y Tecnologica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research study was developed at the experimental area from INIVIT, Santo Domingo, Villa Clara. Two tillage variants on a carbonated Brown soil were analyzed in an efficiently AMF-mycorrhized cropping sequence. A randomized complete trifactorial experimental design was used, and the factors were first: tillage (minimum and conventional); second: organic matter (with and without); third: mycorrhizae (inoculating every crop, every two crops, every three crops, without inoculating with 25 % mineral fertilization for yucca, 50 % for sweet potato and 50 % for taro), the check with 100 % mineral fertilization and the absolute check with four repetitions. Data for all statistical analyses were performed through SPSS 11. 5 for Windows statistical package. The following variables were analyzed: percentage of mycorrhizal colonization (%) and agricultural yield (t.ha-1). Results proved there is a permanent inoculum effect on the next crop to the inoculated one; also it is possible to reduce the pattern for applying mycorrhizal inoculum by means of using coating technique, obtaining the same yields and saving one inoculant application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research was carried out in a Gley Vertic nodular soil of the north coast of Villa Clara province aimed to evaluate the effect of different technologies of soil preparation over weeds germination in the first period of sugar cane development. The results indicate, that the best control of total weed germination was found in stripe tillage. The no burning and the presence of trash residues in the soil surface after soil preparation allowed a better control of annual and liliatae weed, stripe tillage made a better control of perennial weed reproduce by seeds, meanwhile the use of technology that turned up the soil layer stimulate the germinations of magnoliatae weed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work is evaluated the increase of the abrasive wear resistance in the work surfaces of the implement after applying the superficial recharge with submerged arch welding method (SAW). Were used two variants of ceramic flux, obtained from the slag welding rebuilding. The micro-hard tests, macro-hard test, metallographic structure and abrasive wear test are carry out, to study the behavior with the different deposits. The wear coefficient is determined in field conditions, using a real implement in a highly abrasive soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out in 2001 to determine the effects of the plowed farm methods more two trails; multiplow more two trails; crossed multiplow more a trail and two trails, in population's of 53 571 densities; 62 500 and 75 000 plants for hectare, using the varieties: Hawk, Sparrow hawk, AS-820 and AS-721. In the experiment an arrangement of parcels was used divided at random in complete blocks. The three factors were assigned to the big, medium and small parcels, in that same order. The small parcel was constituted by three furrows distanced to 80 cm and the separation among undergrowths it was of 50; 60 and 70 cm. The yield and other five variables were evaluated with the variance analysis, the comparison of stockings of treatments (Tukey, p < 0,01) and with the correlation analysis. The main conclusions were: to) a still when among farm methods significant differences didn't exist, with multiplow more two trails a bigger yield was obtained (8,31 t/ha), b) in 75 000 plants the biggest grain yield was observed (9,22 t/ha). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the required draft of an integral, reversible three-disks plow was studied on a loam clay soil. The experimental design was a random, three complete block design with three repetitions. The factors under study were three levels of gravimetric humidity in soil, 10,02, 19,74, and 22,39 %, and three speeds, 4,55, 5,27, and 7,34 km · h-1. The response variables were work depth, cross-section area, sliding, required specific draft, draft efficiency, and specific draught resistance to ploughin. The results show that when the gravimetric humidity of the soil was at 19,74 %, variables FTHER and REA showed the lowest values, but EFTHER showed the tallest value at same level humidity. Models that adequately estimate FTHER and REA were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]