Farm Power & Machinery

Disc Plough

• It is a plough which cuts, turns and in some cases breaks furrow slices by means of separately mounted large steel discs.
• A disc plough is designed with a view of reduce friction by making a rolling plough bottom instead of sliding plough bottom.
• A disc plough is shown in Plate 13.1.
• A disc plough works well in the conditions where mould board plough does not work satisfactorily.


Plate : 13.1 Disc plough

Advantages of disc plough

• A disc plough can be forced to penetrate into the soil which is too hard and dry for working with a mould board plough.
• It works well in sticky soil in which a mould board plough does not scour.
• It is more useful for deep ploughing.
• It can be used safely in stony and stumpy soil without much danger of breakage.
• A disc plough works well even after a considerable part of the disc is worn off in abrasive soil.
• It works in loose soil also (such as peat) without much clogging.
Disadvantages of disc plough

• It is not suitable for covering surface trash and weeds as effectively as mould board plough does.
• Comparatively, the disc plough leaves the soil in rough and more clody condition than that of mould board plough.
• Disc plough is much heavier than mould board plough for equal capacities because penetration of this plough is affected largely by its weight rather than suction. There is one significant difference between mould board plough and disc plough i.e. mould board plough is forced into the ground by the suction of the plough, while the disc plough is forced into the ground by its own weight.