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Mulching facilitates more retention of soil moisture and helps in control of temperature fluctuations, improves physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. As, it adds nutrients to the soil and ultimately enhances the growth and yield of crops. The desired outcomes from raised-bed (wide ridge) are to: drain, aerate, prevent water logging, increase root growth, thereby reinforce the loose structure, increase soil organic matter, increase plant water use, reduce deep drainage and increase production. Therefore, a mulching machine was designed and manufactured to suit different dimensions of chilli raised-beds in Egypt in agriculture. The traditional machine using to build the wide ridges (raised-beds) was developed to suitable for installing raised-bed, cover it with plastic films and laying the drip irrigation pipes (surface and subsurface) at the same time. The developed part consists of main frame, plastic roll carrier unit, drip irrigation pipes roll carrier unit, press wheel assembly, soil covering unit, bed former and three hitching points. The developed machine has overall dimensions 2600 x 2000 x 1250 mm (L x W x H). The weight of the developed plastic mulch-laying machine is 322 kg (without plastic mulch roll and drip pipes roll). The total fabrication cost of the mulch machine was 20000 LE with 2019 price level. The developed machine was evaluated in Ras-Sudr research station, south Sinai governorate on calcareous sandy loam soil at three different speeds of operation (2, 3 and 4 km/h), two different methods to use plastic mulch (with and without) and two different methods to lay the drip irrigation pipes (surface and subsurface). The effect of study treatments on actual field capacity, field efficiency, pulling force, fuel consumption rate, total water stored, water consumptive use, water application efficiency, width and thickness of soil cover, width and height of raised-bed, mulching efficiency, chilli yield, productivity of irrigation water, soil salinity, cost of developed machine and cost for manual process were studied. From this study, it was concluded that using developed machine for installing raised-bed and laying both plastic mulch and drip irrigation pipes (surface and subsurface) at the same time. Led to a 68% decrease in costs compared to the manual method of using the machine before development to install the raised-bed, then laying both plastic mulch and drip irrigation pipes (surface and subsurface) manually. The results of evaluation experiment for the developed machine showed that although at low speed 2 km/h, the actual field capacity decreased and costs increased by an average of 44% and 62%, respectively, compared to the speed of 4 km/h. However, at a speed of 2 km/h, the pulling force, fuel consumption rate and soil salinity decreased about 14%, 15% and 14% respectively and field efficiency, total water stored, water consumptive use, water application efficiency, chilli yield and productivity of irrigation water about 4%, 6%, 4%, 16% and 15% respectively compared to the speed of 4 km/h. The results also showed that at a speed of 2 km/h, the width and thickness of the soil cover of the plastic edges increased about 74% and 98%, respectively, and the width and height of the raised-bed increased about 23% and 20%, respectively, compared to the speed of 4 km/h. The highest mulching efficiency 97% was achieved at a speed of 2 km/h and when laying drip irrigation pipes sub-surface compared to 66% at speed of 4 km/h and laying drip irrigation pipes on soil surface. Therefore, the study recommends using the developed machine to install a raised-bed and laying both of plastic mulch on its surface and drip irrigation pipes sub-surface at a speed of 2 km/h achieved the highest efficiency in implementing this system at the lowest cost. Also, worked to increase the irrigation use efficiency, reduced soil salinity and increased yield of chilli crop.

Development the Wide Ridges Machine for Laying Drip Irrigation Tubes and Plastic Mulch in Ras Sudr-South of Sinai