http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/51763327

Energy-related inventions program invention 637. Final technical report

The final technical report for the Pegasus plow, a stalk and root embedding apparatus, describes progress from the development stage to the product support stage. The US Department of Agriculture - Agriculture Research Service (ARS) is now in the second year of a three year study comparing the Pegasus to conventional tillage. So far, no downside has been with the Pegasus and the following benefits have been documented: (1) Energy savings of 65.0 kilowatt hours per hectare over conventional tillage. This is when the Pegasus plow is used to bury whole stalks, and represents a 70% savings over conventional tillage (92.5 kilowatt hours per hectare). (2) Four to seven fewer passes of tillage, depending on the particular situation. This represents a substantial time savings to farmers. (3) So far, no differences in cotton yields. Recent cotton boll counts in one study indicate a higher yield potential with the Pegasus. (4) No disease problems. (5) Significantly higher levels of organic matter in the soil. A hypothesis of the study is that whole stalk burial may reduce plant disease problems. This hypothesis has not yet been proven. (6) Significantly higher levels of nitrate nitrogen. Total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen trended higher but were not significantly different. This shows that whole stalk burial does not adversely affect the nitrogen cycle in the soil and may actually improve it. The marketing support stage of the project is also described in the report.

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