Evaluating Physical Properties of Potato by a Combined Tillage Machine

Potato is a complete and cheap food and can be considered as a source of starch. It medical, industrial and other usages have increased its importance. One the most important things about potato from customer's point of view is it appearance. Because its improper shapes raise problems for re-planting and other uses. One of the most important factors that affect shape and other properties of potato is soil preparation practices prior to seeding. Thus through experiments at educational farm located in Khurasegan Islamic Azad University, in form of complete random tests, four treatments of plows, moldboard, chisel, disk, and a new one made by Iran Plow Tools (a combination of chisel and disk plows), in three repetitions were compared. Parts of harvested products from each device's farm were divided and then tested. Through several experiments, skin area averages, tubers weight, tubers size, tubers quantity, and product performance (output) were measured and by a statistical analysis method were compared. In comparing products from moldboard plow and Iran Plow Tools' plow no significant differences were observed in tubers size and product performance, but for tubers quantity and tubers weight averages, the differences were significant. In comparing the new plow with other tested plows for above mentioned factors, mostly the differences were significant. Briefly, the results show that by means of the new combined plow, more uniform products can be obtained and it is a proper choice to replace moldboard plow nationwide. (Nature and Science 2010;8(11):66-70). (ISSN: 1545-0740).