Abstract

Aim: The main aim of this study was to develop a "tilth index" to quantify soil tillage operation by determining a set of appropriate soil property indicators (attributes), via scoping, screening, and scoring process, by integrating polynomial function for each indicator and developing a combined tillage implement-soil attribute weight using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to arrive for an overall soil quality index for each tillage operation, Secondly to validate the developed model in comparison to published tilth indices estimated from field studies.

Materials and Methods: The developed decision–support model, to determine the overall tilth index for each tillage implement, was based on a five-step procedure of Scooping potential soil physical properties; Screening of these soil property attributes to select the most responsive set to modeling. The third step was defining the polynomial functional relation for each soil attribute. The fourth step is to employ the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) pair-wise weighting and additive integration to develop a combined attribute – alternative tillage implements weight. The fifth step was the development of an overall adjusted tilth indicator, rating of the alternatives, and selection of the most efficient alternative.

Results: A statistical analysis was made to validate the developed adjusted tilth index with crop yields. The trend of the newly estimated soil tilth index was found to compare well with obtained crop yields, and thereby helps the decision-maker in selecting the most effective tillage operation.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the indexing approach used in this study provides a practical and effective tool for quantitative evaluation of the quality of soil tilth for the fulfillment of contracts, and under different environments and types of soils.

Statistics