Econometric Analysis of Energy Consumption Pattern of Different Tillage Methods in Corn Cultivation

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

10.22103/bbr.2024.24168.1091

Abstract

In this study, 5 different treatments of tillage and planting with 3 replications for corn crop were considered in cultivation and industry of Naz Sari plain. The investigated tillage treatments were conventional planting of corn instead of conventional wheat planting (CT-CT), no-tillage without residues instead of no-tillage without residues (NT-NT), No-tillage is a substitute for low-tillage and planting with combine tillers (MTCO-NTR), no-tillage replacing low-tillage with no-tillage (MTNT-NTR) and no-tillage replacing no-tillage (NTR-NTR). The results of this study showed that the highest amount of net energy was in the NTR-NTR system, while the CT-CT system had the lowest amount of net energy. In fodder corn cultivation, the highest production yield belonged to the NTR-NTR system with a value of 85,756 kg/ha; which has the highest energy output with 686.04 GJ/ha. The NTR-NTR system has the best performance in energy indicators, including energy ratio, net energy, energy productivity and energy specific, due to its higher performance in fodder production than other systems, with values of 26.20, 659.86 GJ/ha, 0.075 kg/MJ and 13.27 MJ/kg, respectively. The NTR-NTR system has performed the best in the indicators of energy ratio, productivity, net and energy special, and in the economic indicators of gross profit and non-special profit. On the other hand, the NT-NT system has surpassed other systems in the energy index of the systems and the economic indicators of P and BCR.

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