A tyre option for sugarcane haulout trucks to minimise soil compaction

Change in soil cone resistance was used as an indicator of soil compaction after the passage of haulout trucks running dual tyres or super single tyres. Cone resistance was measured to a depth of 0.6 m in the inter-row and in transects from the middle of one crop row to the middle of the adjacent row. Treatments consisted of one, two, three and four passes by both dual tyres and super single tyres and one and two passes of reduced pressure and standard pressure super single tyres aligned down the inter-row. Soil cone resistance increased with an increasing number of passes under the dual tyres. There was less change in soil cone resistance after the passage of super single tyres. A small reduction in soil cone resistance resulted when low tyre pressure was used compared with the standard tyre pressure in the super single tyres. Soil cone resistance was greater in the row after passage of the dual tyres compared with low-pressure super single tyres. There is an advantage in using super single tyres on haulout trucks compared with conventional dual tyres to minimise soil compaction.