Aujla, Dilpreet Singh (2017) To Quantify the Effect of Soil Compaction on Cotton Production. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The objective of this project is to quantify the effect of soil compaction, due to trafficking of cotton picker John Deere 7760, on the cotton yield. Two different types of agricultural fields were selected and controlled trafficking farming and random trafficking farming were practiced in both the fields. The soil samples were taken from both the fields and were investigated to determine the trend of soil moisture content and soil bulk density over the 80cm depth of soil profile with the aim to determine the difference in soil compaction in both the experimental fields. A significant difference was observed in the values of soil moisture content and soil bulk density, before and after cotton picker trafficking, in the field with random trafficking farming whereas no or minimal difference was observed in the values of soil moisture content and soil bulk density, before and after cotton picker trafficking, in the field with controlled trafficking farming. Thereby, indicating a significant increase in soil compaction after cotton picker trafficking, in the field with random trafficking farming. Moreover, the cotton lint yield was observed to be more in the field with controlled trafficking farming as compared with that in the field with random trafficking farming. Thereby, stating that the controlled trafficking farming can be promoted to attain a better crop yield at optimum soil compaction and soil moisture content.
The importance of conducting this project is majorly to quantify the effect of trafficking on the crop yield with the objective to study the benefits of controlled trafficking farming. As, with random trafficking farming, there are high chances of loss of crop yield due to soil compaction, which restricts the root growth in the soil profile and aids lesser availability of water in the root zone. Therefore, controlled trafficking farming can be opted as a beneficial option to increase the crop yield and economic benefits.
Finally, in this project, it was concluded that, with higher cotton lint yield and lesser soil compaction, controlled trafficking farming proved to be an essential precision farming tool which can be opted to increase the crop yield and economic farming benefits.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences (1 Jul 2013 - 5 Sep 2019) |
| Supervisors: | Chen, Guangnan |
| Qualification: | Master of Engineering Sciences (Agricultural) |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2026 05:35 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Mar 2026 05:35 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Controlled Trafficking Farming; Random Trafficking Farming; and Soil Moisture content; Soil Bulk Density; Cotton Lint Yield and Cotton Picker |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53195 |
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