• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.367-375
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• 2003

The aim of this study was to investigate the soil physical properties and the traction characteristics of paddy field before tillage by a computer simulation. Soil physical properties, such as soil moisture content, bulk density, soil hardness, and soil texture were measured in the twelve rice production area. Mathematical model based on dimensional analysis which include soil physical properties and vehicle factors was used for the computer simulation. Most of the soil texture of the investigated area was silty loam, loam and silty clay loam. Soil moisture content ranged between 20 and 40% mostly. Soil bulk density was in the range of 1,500 to $1,700kg\;m^{-3}$. Soil hardness ranged between 2 to $12kg\;cm^{-2}$ mostly. Soil hardness incorporates the effects of many soil physical properties such as moisture content, texture and bulk density, and so the range of soil hardness was greater than that of any other physical properties. The predicted net traction was in the range of 70 to 1,500 kgf depending on the area, but it was above 1,000 kgf for most of the investigated area. Thus it was concluded that 50 HP tractor can pull the four row moldboard plow considering the conventional tillage depth and width. But for the soft soil area such as Andong and Namyang, tractor itself may have mobility problem and show high slip during plowing operation.