A tractor-mounted multiple-probe soil cone penetrometer

Determining soil compaction profiles requires fast sampling systems due to changing moisture conditions with time. Soil cone penetrometers are commonl y used for this purpose, but acquiring the many readings required due to sp atial and data variability can take long periods of time. A multiple-probe soil cone penetrometer was constructed and tested for the purpose of measur ing cone index values throughout the entire soil profile from trafficked mi ddle across a crop row to untrafficked middle. This machine has been succes sfully used in numerous studies and offers the capability of obtaining soil strength information throughout an entire field in relatively short period s of time.