Disc plough

This implement cuts, invert partially or completely, a layer of soil to bury the surface material with the aid of the concave discs ranging from 30cm-91cm in diameter. The disc plough is significantly designed in an effort to reduce friction and prevent premature damage due to ride over obstructions by making the disc to roll instead of a rigid bottom of the mouldboard plough.

The disc plough requires lesser maintenance than mouldboard ploughs particularly on abrasive, stony and stumpy as well as rooty land. It is also adapted to work more effectively than the mouldboard plough on some other conditions like that of deep ploughing, sticky or non-scouring soil, soil having a hardpan or plough sole, peaty and leaf-mould soils. However, the disc plough cannot provide the complete coverage of trash, which may be either an advantage or disadvantage depending on the tillage objectives.

A disc plough, on like other implements, is divided into mounted, semi-mounted and trailed types. The basic components of a disc plough are beam, standard, cross-shaft, disc plough body, furrow wheel and scrapers and so on.

Beam: The standards are attached to the beam with the aid of the clamps and can also be shifted on the beam when adjusting for width. Also the width of cut and number of discs per plough can be varied.

Standard: This connects the disc bearing and beam. The standard is either a movable type which can then be shifted or a type with a pivoting bearing bracket at its lower end.

Cross-shaft: This is cranked and inclined at two ends to provide points of attachment to the tractor.

Plough body or bottom: This is attached to the end of the standard and consists of the concave disc, and a hub assembles to which the disc is fastened with the aid of the plough bolts. It is this part of the disc plough that engages the soil.

Furrow wheel: The furrow wheel may serve to counteract side pressures, hold the plough in alignment and act as a gauge wheel for ploughing depth in the case of a mounted disc plough. The trailed disc plough has two furrow wheels and one land wheel.