M. R. GoeInternational Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA)
PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Crop-land soils in the vicinity of Debre Birhan in the Ethiopian highlands have a clay content of more than 50%. Land preparation using the traditional ard (maresha) in this area requires several ploughings in order to prepare an adequate seedbed. Three to four ploughings are usually needed for short-term fallow plots, those which have been cropped at least once within a 2-year period. Long-term (guie) fallow plots, those cropped only once within an 8-15-year period, may require up to seven or eight ploughings.
The force output of paired indigenous Zebu oxen was measured using a loadcell attached between the yoke and the maresha beam by a nylon rope and connected to a hand-held digital liquid crystal display indicator. Data collected from 24 smallholder farms showed that a team, with each animal having an average bodyweight of 280 kg, is capable of developing a mean force output of 0.963 kN over a 5-6-hour working day when ploughing short-term fallow plots. No significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in force output or tillage depth across the first three ploughing operations. Force output for the fourth or fifth ploughing, which is used as a covering operation, was significantly lower than for the three previous ploughings. Mean force output for initial ploughings of guie plots was high-1.69 kN for the first and 1.26 kN for the second. Significant differences in force output (P<0.05) were observed across the first four ploughings.
These findings demonstrate that the draught of the Ethiopian ard can be highly variable depending on the tillage frequency and the length of the previous fallow period.
