A decision support system on matching and field performance prediction of tractor-implement system

A decision support system (DSS) was developed in Visual Basic 6.0 programming language for matching tillage implements with 2WD tractors and for predicting the field performance of the tractor-implement system. The DSS provides the intuitive user interfaces by linking databases such as tractor, tire and implement specifications, draft and traction models constants, soil and operating conditions to support the decision on matching and to predict the performance of a selected tractor-implement system. The DSS was validated with the data collected from the field experiments conducted with a 31 kW PTO power 2WD tractor and three tillage implements (2–30 cm moldboard plow, 7-7 disks (1.6 m) offset-disk harrow and 9–23 cm field cultivator) under different soil and operating conditions. It was found that the DSS on an average under-predicted the draft and slip values by 10.2 and 15.6%, respectively, while it over-predicted the actual field capacity by 2.5% from the observed values. It was found that a 20 kW tractor was properly loaded with 2–30 cm moldboard plow but was overloaded with 9–23 cm field cultivator for the normal operating conditions in medium soil. However, a 31 kW tractor was found to be underloaded while working with these implements in medium soil.