In 2012 the field trial was carried out on the Laboratory Field of Biotechnical Faculty, where a rotary harrow was used for soil preparation just before maize planting. The soil cultivation depth was adjusted to 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm. We wanted to establish the influence of the soil cultivation on the fuel consumption, on the physical-mechanical soil properties of the seed bed and at the end on the field emergence. The trial was designed as random blocks. A tractor with stepless transmission and nominal power of 73 kW and a rotary harrow with working width of 2.5 m were used. The speed of soil cultivation was 5.0 km/h on the tractometer and the engine rotational frequency was 1900 rpm. Both the fuel consumption per hour and the fuel consumption per hectare increased by increasing the adjusted soil depth cultivation from 5 cm to 15 cm using the rotary harrow. At the adjusted soil cultivation depth of 5 cm, the vertical soil resistance at depths between 8 and 13 cm was greater than at the adjusted soil depths of 10 cm and 15 cm. No significant differences were found regarding the soil physical properties in the seed bed and the field emergence of maize among three adjusted soil cultivation depths. The soil cultivation depth of 10 cm proved to be the most appropriate in view of the fuel consumption per hour and the fuel consumption per hectare as well as the physical-mechanical soil properties of the seed bed.
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