No description available.

Thesis (M. Ag. Sci.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Agronomy and Farming Systems 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-79).

The methods currently used to evaluate cultivator weed control are imprecise and often biased. A new method was tested. An experiment was carried out at two sites in 1993 and again in 1994, using a split-plot design with four repetitions. Cultivation was carried out on weed populations simulated with rye grass (Lolium spp L.) and mustard (Sinapis alba L.) in 1993 and on both simulated and natural weed population in 1994 with Rabe Werk, Hiniker and Kongskilde cultivators. Weed control was assessed by the effective weed kill and the percentage of the area of the simulated weed population which was affected, and by counts and visual observations on the natural weed population. The new method provided an objective assessment of the cultivation treatments, especially by the effective weed kill index. The area affected approach was not suitable for all cultivation treatments. There was agreement between the proposed method and the conventional methods. This validated the proposed new method. Overall, the Hiniker with ridgers performed the best. The Hiniker without ridgers, and the Kongskilde with or without ridgers performed similarly. The Rabe Werk without goosefoot attachment resulted in the poorest weed control. The degree of weed displacement varied among the cultivators and was associated with weed density. The degree of weed displacement onto the crop row from the inter-row area was low ($<$1% in 1993 and up to 3.4 in 1994). The weed displacement distance was related to weed density and the degree of weed uprooting produced by cultivation.

No description available.

Unlike Sweden, Denmark is a major industry when it comes to christmas tree cultivation. More than ten million christmas trees are processed in Denmark annually. The primary purpose of this report is to investigate the technology, treatment and maintenance of christmas trees in Sweden and Denmark, and to find differences in the management between Swedish and Danish christmas tree cultivators. Since an opinion poll has been made, the investigation method mainly used for this report is quantitative. But a qualitative investigation method has also been used to some extent as a few unstructured interviews has occurred while visiting a couple of the cultivators.   63 % of the christmas tree cultivators consider themselves knowledgeable about christmas tree cultivation and 68 % wants to learn more. There is both similarities and differences along those cultivators that has been visited. Obvious similarities has mostly been found when visiting farms engaged in developing christmas trees to a bigger extent. Denmark conducts their maintenance methods with the aim to produce a large amount of high quality Christmas trees. This tendency does also occur in Sweden at, for example, Gunnars Granar located in Degeberga. Gunnar manages his cultivation almost identically to Denmark's management methods. However, the big christmas tree cultivators are still mainly located in Denmark.

Bibliography: leaves 77-79. Uses computer-aided design to improve the design of a partially parallel stump jump mechanism which was initially developed by Riley. Principle aim was to reduce the existing link dimensions of the mechanism so that it can be suitable for use on small tractors.

Mechanical weeders were tested on both mineral and organic soils in 1995 and in 1996, to measure their impact on soil physical properties. The weeders were tested in three crops, carrots in mineral and organic soil, beans in mineral soil, and lettuce in organic soil. Soil bulk density and water content were measured at regular intervals during the weeder trial period, and samples for soil structural analysis were collected in the mineral soil at the beginning and at the end of each season. / No significant results were found in differences in mean weight diameters of dry and water-stable aggregates. Soil moisture did not vary significantly due to treatment. There was significant compaction caused by the first pass in the field (i.e., seeder) in all the crops at both sites in the 0--10 cm layer, and in some cases, to a depth of 25 cm. Additional field passes with the weeders caused some compaction in the tractor wheel at the 0--10 cm depth, and sometimes in the 10--25 cm layer, in all trials in mineral soil, yet no significant effects of treatments were detected in the trials at the organic soil site. No conclusions could be drawn as to the benefits and/or negative impacts of mechanical versus chemical weeding in mineral soil, with respect to the relative compaction caused by the mechanical weeders. This is because in this experiment spraying of herbicides did not involve tractor traffic in the field.

No description available.

This diploma thesis deals with deep cultivators which are used in companies of agricultural production. Theoretical part is focused on the history of soil proccessing, soil treatement and loosening machines which are being used today. That includes disc cultivators, tine cultivators, chisel cultivators, rod cultivators and machines with driven work gears. Practical part of theses includes comparison of chisel cultivator and plough doing tillage. The quality of keeping the depth invariable is being evaluated, as well as time-consuming nature, consumption of fuel and drain on resources.

A study was undertaken from 1993 to 1994 to determine the effects of intercropping (with Glycine max L Merr., Lupinus sp., Trifolium pratense L.-Lolium multiflorum Lam., or Secale cereale L.) and mechanical weeding (with a rigid tines cultivator, Danish tines cultivator or ridge cultivator) on the population dynamics of insect pests (Diabrotica longicornis Say, Lygus lineolaris Palisot de Beauvois, Ostrinia nubilalis Hubner, and Pseudaletia unipuncta Haworth) on corn (Zea mays L.) in L'Assomption and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada. / D. longicornis or P. unipuncta populations did not increase. / In 1994, intercropping with T. pratense-L. multiflorum (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue) or weeding with the Danish tines cultivator (L'Assomption) increased L. lineolaris populations. / In 1994, intercropping with S. cereale (L'Assomption) ot T. pratense-L. multiflorum (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue) increased O. nubilalis populations.