ASSESSMENT OF OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS AFFECTING TRACTOR EFFICIENCY IN MECHANIZED TILLAGE

This study evaluated the effects of operational parameters on tractor efficiency during mechanized tillage using a Massey Ferguson 375 tractor and a three-disc plough at the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi farm. Mechanised tillage is a core operation in modern agriculture, primarily performed using tractors coupled with tillage implements such as disc ploughs, mouldboard ploughs. Tractor inefficiency during tillage operations often arises from poor parameters settings and lack of performance manufacturing as a result many operators experience: higher than necessary fuel consumption, reduced field efficacy and parameters wear of machinery, A completely randomized block design was used with three levels of ploughing depth (10,20,30. Cm). the type of soil and moisture contents of the experimental plot was determined before the experiment set sieves, sensitive weighing balance, core penetrometer, core samplers spring dynanometer, stop watch, measuring tape and measuring cylinder were used to measure data on the pulling force (draft), time, distance, wheel slip and fuel consumption. ANOVA was used to analysed significant and non-significant treatmenteffects; LSD was used to determine the significance between the means (P< 0.005) using statistical analysis system (SAS) Software. Results ANOVA showed result from ANOVA showed that ploughing depth significantly effected draft and result from ANOVA showed that speed and fuel consumption was not statistically significant, and result from ANOVA showed that the model slip was not statistically significant