The non-profit German Agricultural Society, known by the acronym DLG, conducts a variety of different functions related to agriculture and food — one of which is operating a facility that acts as a European equivalent to the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab.
It’s much more than that, though: it tests everything from lawnmowers to food products. And it issues different certifications and approvals that manufacturers happily use when promoting their products in Europe. Those approvals are generally highly sought after, according to DLG’s international media liaison officer.
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One manufacturer to seek a DLG quality mark certification for its products recently was India-based tire manufacturer BKT.
The company recently announced its 600/70 R 30 and 710/70 R 42 AgrimaxFactor tractor tires were tested at the DLG lab at Gross-Umstadt, about 40 km south of Frankfurt — and they received a “DLG Approved” quality mark for what DLG describes as “resources protection.”
That included looking at the tires’ effects on field soil health and tractor fuel consumption.
The tests were conducted in two different phases. First, the tires were mounted on a John Deere 6R 250 tractor. Their performance and effect on soil compaction in the field was evaluated. Second, the tractor was placed on DLG’s dynamometer test stand and evaluated under simulated road transport work.
The lab has a pretty sophisticated test stand that can simulate different power mix demands on a tractor, which allows for fuel consumption evaluations under a variety of simulated conditions.
As is common with many DLG tests, products like tires are evaluated in comparison to others on the market. The AgrimaxFactor tires were compared against five competitor tires.
To test for compaction, soil was probed after the tires pulled a load across it. According to the report, “at an inflation pressure of 0.6 bar (8.7 p.s.i.), BKT AgrimaxFactor tires have the second-largest contact area of all tested tires and a correspondingly low tire contact area pressure of 0.43 kg/cm2 (6.1 p.s.i.).
“The BKT AgrimaxFactor tires have achieved positive results in terms of tire contact area, ground pressure and track depth. The BKT AgrimaxFactor tires have the lowest measured ground pressure compared to their competitors. As to the track depth, the BKT AgrimaxFactor tires have the second-smallest value, resulting in a lower degradation of the soil area.”
In the field tests, BKT tires recorded 1.7 per cent lower fuel consumption rate than the average, which was 17.4 litres per hectare (1.86 U.S. gallons per acre). Fuel consumption in the transport tests was 0.3 per cent below the mean value of the reference tires.
The DLG report adds that “the specifications and properties of the BKT AgrimaxFactor are comparable to those of tires with VF (Very High Flexion) technology. Based on the test results, the DLG-Approved test mark was awarded for the ‘Resources Protection’ testing module.”
The DLG report (No. 7485) can be found on the DLG website.
