Soil & Tillage Research 96 (2007) 7382 www.elsevier.

com/locate/still

Combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine

Jia Honglei a, Ma Chenglin a,*, Li Guangyu b, Huang Dongyan b, Liu Zhaochen b
Key Laboratory of Terrain-Machine Bionics Engineering (Ministry of Education, China), Jilin University, 5988 Renmin Street, Changchun 130025, PR China b Jilin Province Academy of Agricultural Machinery, 8016 Renmin Street, Changchun 130022, PR China Received 15 December 2006; received in revised form 9 March 2007; accepted 19 March 2007
a

Abstract The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine suitable for use in the dry farming area in northern China was developed according to the farming mode of water storage and soil moisture conservation and the performance test and production examination were conducted. The machine uses separated structural design, which can conduct combined rototilling-stubblebreaking-planting operations, and can also be dismantled easily into an independent rototilling-stubble-breaking machine and a planter to conduct the rotilling-stubble-breaking operation or planting operation, or one machine for three purposes. The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking machine is connected with the planter via a compensation-type three-point hitch linkage, ensuring good following performance of the planter and high stability of the combined machine. The rototilling and stubble-breaking performances, the seeding stability, uniformity and evenness between rows of the planter and the performance of the fertilizing unit of the machine were measured. Tests showed that the broken stubble rate was 92%; qualied seed spacing rate: maize 85.80%, soybean 86.50%; multiples rate: maize 7.60%, soybean 7.85%; miss rate: maize 6.60%, soybean 5.63%; the coefcient of variation of the spray capacity of the spray nozzles was 5.94% and the coefcient of variation of the total spray capacity 6.00%. All indexes of the machine reached the requirements stipulated in the related national standards. # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine; Rototilling-stubble-breaking machine; Planter; Compensation-type three point hitch linkage; Pest control assembly

1. Introduction China is one of the main arid countries in the world. The arid, semi-arid and semi-humid drought-prone area accounts for 52.5% of the total area of the country. There are about 33 million hectares of cultivated area in the dry farming mode, distributed in 16 provinces, cities and autonomous regions of the country (Gao, 2000). The conventional mechanized farming system with the moldboard plow as the main in which frequent plowing is needed easily leads to bare eld surface, degraded

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 431 8929016. E-mail address: mcl@public.cc.jl.cn (M. Chenglin). 0167-1987/$ see front matter # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.still.2007.03.002

farmland, worsened ecological environment, serious soil moisture loss, intense wind and water erosion. In Shanxi Province, for example, the soil erosion area accounts for 70% of the total area of the province, the soil erosion thickness is 0.11.07 cm per year, and the area with the soil erosion thickness over 0.5 cm accounts for 80% of the total area in the province (Zhai, 2000). In the ridged cultivation area of northeastern China, the conventional mechanized farming system has resulted in a decrease in the soil organic matter year by year (an annual average decrease by 0.010.02%) (Jilin Province Agricultural Scientic Academy, 2003). The conventional mechanized farming system requires more frequent mechanized tillage, which leads to serious soil compaction and destruction of soil structure. The natural rainfall

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utilization rate of the farmland in the country is only 56%, in which 26% of the water is consumed in ineffective evaporation in the eld. The water productivity of the farmland in the arid region is 0.600.75 kg/m3, 0.80 kg/ m3 on the average in China, while 2.32 kg/m3 in Israel, nearly three times that in our country (E et al., 2005). In order to seek sustainable agricultural development, people have gradually realized the importance of conservation tillage. Much research work has been done in the eld both in China and other countries and rich results have been obtained. In the 1930s, the technology of stubble mulch tillage was developed in the United States and ridge-tillage introduced in 1951 as a proven method to save soil from erosion, improve surface drainage, provide aeration on soil and reduce soil and water loss (Morrison, 2000). Reduced-tillage, no-till, strip-tillage and mulch-tillage and other conservation tillage technologies have been widely used (Morrison and Sanabria, 2002). Through years of efforts, some technological achievements have been made in mechanized dry farming in the country. In recent years, conservation tillage technologies have been developed in China, including the mechanized eld water-storage technology, whose core is to replace moldboard plowing with subsoiling, replace plowing once a year with plowing every a few years, replace deep layer tillage with surface tillage, with part of stalks and stubbles left in the eld; and the mechanized soil moisture conservation technology, which involves mechanized mulch planting, mechanized stalk mulch and conservation tillage (Huang, 2000). In northeastern China, it is often drought with strong wind in spring, so the conventional tillage method will cause serious loss of soil moisture because of frequent soil disturbance, leading to difcult seed germination and emergence of seedlings. In spring sowing, the soil moisture is essential and foremost. It is necessary to sow seed when the soil moisture is good, which requires minimizing soil disturbance to retain the soil moisture for sowing. In order to keep the vegetation of the eld surface, which can help prevent the farmland from wind erosion and absorb and store more rain and snow, now mechanized plowing has been gradually decreased year by year and stubble breaking has taken its place in this region. It involves using the stubble-breaking machine to break stubbles after autumn harvest and then ridging for mechanized sowing in the next spring. And the tillage method in which the stubble is left in the eld after autumn harvest has also been adopted. The 33 rotation tillage method which involves deep tillage, sowing on the original ridge and surface tillage has been implemented in Heilongjiang province (He et al., 2000). We put forward the three-year mechanized rotation

tillage method. Both tillage methods involve keeping the stubbles in the ridge after crops are harvested every three years and seeding in the original ridge in the next spring. How to sow seeds in the original ridge with stubbles is a recent research subject. If stubble breaking, sowing and rolling operations are not simultaneously completed, it might not ensure emergence of whole seedlings. The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine was developed to solve this problem. It can simultaneously complete stubble breaking (or rototilling), sowing, fertilizing, rolling and chemical spraying operations, reducing soil moisture loss, increasing the utilization rate of rainfall, improving soil fertility, decreasing production costs and improving working efciency. 2. Design of the combined rototilling-stubblebreaking-planting machine The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine (Fig. 1) consists of rototilling-stubble-breaking machine (1) and the precision planter (6), connected through a compensation-type three point hitch linkage consisting of the adjustable drawbar (3) and hinge plate (5). There are two types of the machine, or two-row and four-row types, used with 44.1 and 88.2 kW tractors, respectively. The machine can complete maize stubble breaking, fertilizing, sowing (maize or soybean), rolling and agricultural chemical spraying operations in the stubble eld at a time, minimizing soil moisture loss. In stubble breaking, the machine only disturbs the soil in the ridge with maize or sorghum stubbles without affecting any other soil, minimizing soil erosion and beneting water storage and soil moisture conservation. The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine adopts separated structure design, which either can conduct rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting operation or be divided into an independent rototillingstubble-breaking machine and a planter to conduct combined rototilling-stubble-breaking operation or planting operation, or one machine for three purposes. The compensation-type three point hitch linkage ensures contour following of the planter, keeping the land wheel of the planter always in contact with the surface to ensure the stable and reliable transmission during operation and the rigidity and longitudinal stability of the machine set in transportation. 2.1. Rototilling-stubble-breaking machine The rototilling-stubble-breaking machine (Fig. 2) comprises the universal joint (1), headstock (2),

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Fig. 1. Combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting combine. (1) Rototilling-tillage machine; (2) chemical box; (3) drawbar; (4) frame for pest control device; (5) hinging plate; (6) planter; (7) rear drawbar; (8) pipes of pest control device.

fertilizer hoe (3), fertilizing transmission (4), ridger (7), press roller (8), universal blade rotor (10), universal blade (11), transmission case (13), land wheel (15), subsoiler (16) and other parts. The machine is characterized by the design of a universal rotor, universal blade disc and universal blade, which can perform the full-width rototilling operation in the

paddy, wheat and vegetable elds, and break stubbles of ridged maize, sorghum and other crops. And it can also be equipped with the fertilizing, ridging, rolling, subsoiling and other working parts to complete stubble breaking in the ridge (or full-width rototilling), fertilizing, ridging, rolling and subsoiling operations at a time. It can complete 20 combined operations in

Fig. 2. Rototilling-stubble-breaking machine. (a) Stubble-breaking operation state. (b) Rototilling operation state. (1) Universal joint; (2) headstock; (3) fertilizer hoe; (4) fertilizing transmission; (5) frame; (6) soil shield; (7) ridger; (8) press roller; (9) fertilizer hopper; (10) universal blade rotor; (11) universal blade; (12) connecting sleeve; (13) transmission case; (14) trailing bar; (15) land wheel; (16) subsoiler; (17) skim coulter.

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Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the transmission system (four-row type). Z1Z2: duplicate gears; Z3: gear for stubble-breaking; Z4: gear for rototilling; Z5: bevel pinion; Z6: bevel gear; Z7: intermediate gear; Z8: idle gear; Z9: nal drive gear; Z10Z13: sprockets.

nearly 40 different combinations, which can be used with all types of tractors from 14.7 to 88.2 kW. The machine uses a bionic resistance-reducing subsoiler shank (Tong et al., 2004), based on bionic principles, with the curve of the working section of the shank that simulates the structural form of the digging feet of cave animals, reducing the tillage resistance by 38% compared to the conventional shank, and a bionic

exible press roller (Ren et al., 2003), which was designed by simulating the strong ability of some animals that crawl in the soil or on the ground to remove matters adhering to their body surface, signicantly reducing adhesion of soil to the press roller. The rototilling-stubble-breaking machine uses the frame-beam structure and intermediate transmission. The speed change mechanism was integrated with the

Fig. 4. Precision planter. (1) Fertilizer hopper; (2) headstock; (3) fertilizer feed; (4) land wheel holder; (5) parallelogram linkage; (6) land wheel; (7) fertilizer hoe; (8) tension device; (9) seed colter; (10) seed meter; (11) seed hopper; (12) press roller.

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transmission case. Operating the declutch shift shaft can make duplicate gears Z1Z2 engage with gear Z3 (for stubble-breaking) and gear Z4 (for rototilling), or put it in the neutral position to meet the requirement of stubble-breaking and rototilling operations for different rotating speeds. The power of the fertilizing device is obtained from the transmission case through the chain sprocket wheel for double reduction to the fertilizer feed shaft. The transmission system is shown in Fig. 3. 2.2. Precision planter There are two types of precision planters, or the tworow and four-row type. The precision planter (Fig. 4) mainly consists of the fertilizer feed (3), parallelogram linkage (5), fertilizer hoe (7), colter (9), seedmeter (10), press roller (12) and other parts. The improved cellwheel type seedmeter is used, which can ensure that each cell is fed with one maize seed and other seeds are scraped off with the cut-off tongue. The seed in each cell is fed to the seed tube through which it drops into the seed furrow, realizing single maize seed precision spot seeding. The improved design of the cell wheel is an addition of a two-row soybean-seeding unit or soybean seedmeter on both sides, which can sow tworow soybean seeds in a seed furrow while ensuring the

performance of the original seedmeter. It uses the double share colter, zero pressure rubber press roller or bionic exible press roller. When the planter operates, the two land wheels drive two seedmeters and two fertilizer feeds, respectively, through the chain. The parallelogram linkage can make each planting unit independently follow the surface, ensuring the evenness of planting depth. 2.3. Compensation-type three point hitch linkage The compensation-type three point hitch linkage (Fig. 5) mainly consists of the front hinged plate (5), rear hinged plate (7) symmetrically mounted and adjustable drawbar (2) with a slot-opening in the rear end. One end of the front hinged plate (5) is connected with the rear beam (4) of the rototilling-stubblebreaking machine and one end of the rear hinged plate (7) is connected with the front beam (10) of the machine. One end of the drawbar (2) is hinged to the upper headstock (1) of the machine and the pin spindle (11) of the headstock (8) can slide along the slotopening in the other end of the drawbar. When the pin spindle slides along the slot-opening, the planter will rotate around the pin spindle of the hinged plate relatively to the rototilling-stubble-breaking machine to

Fig. 5. Compensation-type three point hitch linkage. (1) Headstock of the rototilling-tillage machine; (2) adjustable drawbar; (3) clevis; (4) rear beam of the rototilling-stubble-breaking machine; (5) front hinged plate; (6) connecting pin spindle; (7) rear hinged plate; (8) headstock of the planter; (9) clevis; (10) front beam of the planter; (11) rear pin spindle of the drawbar; (12) front pin spindle of the drawbar.

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follow the surface; when the pin spindle is still in either end of the slot-opening, the relative position between the rototilling-stubble-breaking machine and the planter is xed and the acting force of the drawbar on the pin spindle compensates for some force changes in the balance force system, ensuring the depth stability of the fertilizer hoe. During transportation, the middle link mechanism of the drawbar is screwed tightly, forming a rigid spatial triangular pyramid between the rototillingstubble-breaking machine and the planter, ensuring the rigidity and stability of the entire machine during transportation. The amount of land surface following is determined by the length of the slot-opening of the drawbar. Adjusting the length of the drawbar can control the limiting position of the following device to make the machine adaptable to operations in different elds. 2.4. Pest control assembly The pest control assembly is used for spraying herbicide and pesticide. It consists of the main chemical box, lter of the auxiliary agrochemicals box, pipe tting, liquid pump, exible pipe, spray head and others. Fig. 6 shows its conguration and working

principle. The chemical box is made of polyethylene using the one-shot moulding technique, with excellent acid, alkali, corrosion and aging resistant properties. The suitable liquid pump, chemical box, spray head and other parts were selected based on design calculation. The agitating device for backwater was designed to increase the spraying uniformity of agrochemical solution. A diaphragm pump (MB40/2.5 piston type) was selected, with bigger ow capacity (about 40 L/ min) and higher pressure (1.52.5 MPa), which can operate without water for a short time. The pump not only can ensure enough working pressure of each spray nozzle, but also can provide 20 l of return ow per minute. The anti-drift sector spray nozzle that uses the diaphragm antidrip valve (LECHLER Company in Germany) was selected, with the opening pressure of 0.07 MPa, closing pressure of 0.05 MPa, closing time of 12 s, drip rate of 0, characterized by wider adaptability to weather conditions and stable spraying. The built-in diaphragm antidrip valve in the spray nozzle can effectively prevent leakage of the chemical solution. The agitating device is used to agitate the chemical solution in the box, preventing precipitation of less soluble or completely insoluble chemical and making emulsion not suspend onto the liquid surface to ensure

Fig. 6. Principle and conguration of the pest control assembly. (1) Auxiliary agrochemical box; (2) diaphragm pump; (3) spray nozzle; (4) lter; (5) main chemical box.

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the same concentration of the chemical solution that enters the spraying system. It uses a hydraulic agitation system in which part of the ow back to the chemical box from the spray pump is used to produce liquid disturbance through the agitator installed at the bottom of the box, agitating the solution to uniformity. The ow for agitation is increased in the machine to improve the agitating uniformity. The tractor driver can easily operate the machine and freely close the spray nozzles according to specic operating conditions, without dripping, so the working condition of the driver is signicantly improved. 3. Test method The performance tests of the combined rototillingstubble-breaking-planting machine were conducted according to Rotary Tillertesting method (National Standards of PR China, GB/T5668.3, 1995) and Single Seed (Precision) Plantertest method (National Standards of PR China, GB6973-86), Combined Implement for Subsoiling and Cultivating (Standards of Ministry of Machine Building Industry of PR China JB/T 102952001, 2001), Smashed Straw Machine (Standards of Ministry of Machine Building Industry of PR China JB/ T 6678-2001, 2001) Smashed Root-Stubble Machine (Standards of Ministry of Machine Building Industry of PR China JB/T8401.3-2001, 2001) and Spray Nozzle test method (Standards of Ministry of Machine Building Industry of PR China JB5116-91, 1991). The perfor-

mance tests involved the degree of variation of fertilizing stability, evenness of fertilizing rate between rows, seeding performance, evenness of furrowing depth between seed and fertilizer colters, performance of spray nozzles and comparison of labour cost and fuel consumption per ha between single-purpose machine and combined machine. Performance tests and large-area production verication tests of the combined machine were conducted from 2002 to spring of 2004 at Xinlicheng Town and Xinglongshan Town, Changchun City and on the farm of Jilin Agricultural University, with the test area of more than 240 ha. Evaluation tests of the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine and the rototilling-stubble-breaking machine were conducted by Jilin Province Agricultural Machinery Test Station on the farm of Jilin Agricultural University in spring (early May) and autumn (October 711) of 2004, and judgments on the performances of the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine and rototilling-stubble-breaking machine were given according to the test results. The Fendt 611LS tractor was used for the four-row combined machine in the test and the Taishan-30 tractor for the two-row machine. 4. Results and discussions The degree of variation of fertilizing stability between rows is shown in Table 1, the degree of variation of fertilizing evenness between rows in Table 2, the seeding

Table 1 Degree of variation of fertilizing stability between rows Name of fertilizer Diamine Name of fertilizer feed External force fertilizer feed Measurement no. 1 2 3 4 5 Average Average (g) 996.10 1008.00 997.90 1004.00 1010.00 1003.20 Standard deviation (g) 19.28 21.73 22.86 18.34 25.66 21.57 Degree of variation (%) 1.94 2.16 2.29 1.82 2.54 2.15 Fertilizer sowing rate (kg/ha) 540.60 547.05 541.50 544.95 548.25 544.50

Table 2 Evenness of fertilizing rate between rows Name of fertilizer Diamine Name of fertilizer feed External force fertilizer feed Row no. 1 2 3 4 Average Average (g) 1007.80 1000.80 1006.10 998.52 1003.30 Standard deviation (g) 18.83 25.08 26.05 13.82 20.95 Degree of variation (%) 1.87 2.51 2.59 1.38 2.09

80 Table 3 Seeding performance Name of seed Name of seed meter New cell wheel feed (precision) Combined inner cell wheel feed New cell wheel feed (double-row cell) Speed of machine (km/h) 4.72

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Slip rate (%) 1.60

Measuring position

Seeding performance Qualied rate (%) 85.80 Multiples rate (%) 7.60 Miss rate (%) 6.60

Seeding accuracy Average (cm) 18.70 Standard deviation (cm) 6.14 Coefcient of variation (%) 32.83

Maize

Maize

4.81

1.93

88.00

5.66

6.46

20.60

5.15

25.16

Soy

4.70

1.85

Left Right Row spacing

85.70 87.30

8.45 7.24 \

5.83 5.43

11.5 11.8 8.70

4.47 4.56 1.82

38.81 38.54 23.32

Table 4 Evenness of furrowing depth between seed and fertilizer colters Item of measurement Evenness of furrowing depth Between seed colters Evenness of furrowing depth between fertilizer colters Table 5 Performance of spray nozzles Item of measurement Spraying width (m) Anti-drip performance of spray nozzle (number of drip) Coefcient variation of total spray capacity (%) Coefcient of variation of the evenness between spray nozzles (%) Test results 3.18 3.40 6.00 5.94 Remark Working speed (km/h) 4.00 3.95 4.00 3.95 Average (cm) 5.57 4.7 11.36 11.65 Standard deviation (cm) 1.09 0.797 0.563 0.67 Coefcient of variation (%) 19.43 16.87 5.00 5.78

performance in Table 3, the evenness of the furrowing depth of seed and fertilizer colters in Table 4, the performance of spray nozzles in Table 5, the judgment on the performance of the rototilling-stubble-breaking
Table 6 Judgment on performance of the rototilling-stubble-breaking machine Items Technical requirements

machine in Table 6 and the judgment on the performance of the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine in Table 7 (Jilin Province Agricultural Machinery Test Station, 2005).

Measured value Two-row type Four-row type 124 150 92% 92% 91% 93% 18% 0.8 1.2 5.2% 5.2% 0.75 1.12

Judgment

Stubble-breaking depth (mm) Rototilling depth (mm) Rototilling depth stability (%) Broken stubble rate (%) Broken soil rate (%) Vegetation cover (%) Soil heaving (%) Rototilling unit speed (m/s) Stubble-breaking unit speed (m/s) Slip rate of rototilling unit (%) Slip rate of stubble-breaking unit (%) Rototilling productivity (ha/h) Stubble-breaking productivity ha/h)

70 120 85% 86% 60% 55% 40% 0.51.4 0.51.4 20% 20% 0.21.2 0.41.2

114 133 92% 92% 91% 93% 18% 0.8 0.8 5.8% 5.0% 0.37 0.37

Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied

J. Honglei et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 96 (2007) 7382 Table 7 Judgment on performance of combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine Items Stubble-breaking depth (cm) Broken stubble rate (%) Broken seed rate, corn (soybean) (%) Qualied seed spacing rate, corn (soybean) (%) Seed multiples rate, corn (soybean) (%) Seed miss rate, corn (soybean) (%) Coefcient of variation of qualied seed spacing, corn (soybean) (%) Soybean double-row spacing (cm) Coefcient of variation of evenness of total fertilizing capacity (%) Number of leakage liquid drop Coefcient of variation of spray capacity of nozzles (%) Coefcient of variation of total spray capacity (%) Speed of machine (m/s) Slip rate of machine (%) Productivity Technical requirements 7 86% 1.5% 75% 20% 10% 35% 812 7.8% 10 15% 20% 1.111.67 2.0% 0.41.2 Measured value 12 92% 0.5% (0.2%) 86% (87%) 7.6 (7.9%) 6.6% (5.6%) 33% (23%) 8.8 2.2% 3 6.0% 5.9% 1.31 1.6% 1.1

81

Judgment Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied Qualied

The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine can complete stubble breaking and mulching, strip tillage, subsoiling, precision planting, layer fertilizing, narrow furrowing, heavy rolling and pest control operations, through different combinations of working parts, capable of improving water storage and soil moisture conservation and soil fertility. With the machine and other related machines, eld operations are needed only about thrice in each crop year except the harvest operation and only 810 times in a threeyear rotational farming cycle, greatly reducing the number of eld operations and compaction of soil, lowering the operating cost, obtaining the results of combined operation and less tillage. Tests showed that all the indexes of the combined machine reached the requirements stipulated in the related national standards of China, such as the broken

soil rate, broken stubble rate, qualied seed spacing rate, multiples rate, miss rate, coefcient of variation between spray nozzles, and coefcient of variation of the total spray capacity. In the planting operation, only the soil in the crop row is disturbed without affecting any other part of soil, minimizing soil moisture loss. In the plot tested with the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine, seedlings emerged much better than those in the control plot treated with existing conventional plowing and sowing machines, because it minimized soil disturbance, which is benecial to water storage and soil moisture conservation, providing enough water for germination of seeds and emergence of seedlings. It can be seen from Table 4 that the average depth of the seed colters was 5.1 cm and the average evenness of furrowing depth between seed colters was 18.15%; the

Table 8 Comparison of labour cost and fuel consumption per ha between single-purpose machine and combined machine Name of machine Stubble-breaking and ridging machine (four rows) Precision planter (four rows) Combined rototilling-stubblebreaking-planting machine (four rows) Type of tractor Tianjin-Deer -702 Worker needed (person) 1 Productivity (ha/h) 0.93 Man-hour per ha (man-hour/ha) 8.56 Labour cost per ha (yuan/ha) 10.70 Fuel consumption per ha (kg/ha) 10.80

Changchun-40 Total Fendt-611LS

1.19

13.44 22.00

12.60 23.30 13.20

4.18 14.98 12.10

1.14

14.08

Decrease (%)

36.0

43.3

19.2

Note: Workers include one tractor driver. The labour cost per day (8 h) for the tractor driver is 80 yuan and that for one rear operator is 40 yuan.

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average furrowing depth of the fertilizer colters was 11.5 cm, and the average evenness of furrowing depth between fertilizer colters was 5.39%. It shows that the penetrating depths of the seed and fertilizer colters are more stable and that the design of the compensationtype three point hitch linkage guarantees a good following performance of the planter. The production verication tests of the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine were mainly conducted in Jilin Province of northeastern China. Further production verication tests at more sites and on a larger scale are still needed to investigate the reliability and adaptability of the machine to the dry farming area in northern China. 5. Conclusions 1. The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine can complete stubble-breaking, fertilizing, planting, rolling, herbicide spraying and other operations simultaneously, minimizing soil disturbance and soil moisture loss and increasing the utilization rate of soil moisture. 2. The stubble-breaking depth of the combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine reaches 12 cm, broken stubble rate 92%, qualied seed spacing rate: maize 86%, soybean 87%, multiples rate: maize 7.6%, soybean 7.9%, miss rate: maize 6.6%, soybean 5.6%, coefcient of variation of the evenness between spraying nozzles 6% and the coefcient variation of total spraying capacity 5.9%. All the indexes meet the requirements stipulated in the related national standards of China. 3. Compared to the single-purpose machine of same kind in China, the combined rototilling-stubblebreaking-planting machine can economize fuel 19.2%, reduce the labour cost by 43.3% and improve the working efciency by 46.3% (Table 8). 4. The combined rototilling-stubble-breaking-planting machine achieves the goal of combined operation and less tillage, high efciency, low consumption and multiple purposes. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Hi-tech Research and Development Program of PR China (863 Program), project nos. 2002AA2Z4121 and 2004AAZ4120.

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