Tractors had been introduced in the farming operations to replace the draft animals. With the advancement of crop production techniques being used in the agriculture the designs of tractors have also been improved a lot worldwide. Depending upon crops and special farm operations to be performed in different agro-climatic conditions various types of tractors have been developed and introduced. Following are the various types of tractors being used these days on farm for agriculture purposes.
Two wheel drive tractors
In this type of tractors, the traction power is provided on the rear wheels whereas the front tyres are used as steering tyres which are generally smaller in size as compared to rear wheels. Mostly, these two wheel drive tractors are considered as general purpose tractors and are being used widely from lower power range say 20 hp to 60 hp. Track width (centre to center distance between two tyres on the same axle) can adjusted to use these tractors for various agronomic practices in crop production.
Four wheel drive tractors
The traction power is provided to all four tyres of the tractors to perform highly loaded farm operations. These tractors are used in soft soils and wet lands where high traction is required to reduce the slippage and increase the drawbar power. Four wheel drive tractors are available in the power range from 60 hp to even more than 300 hp in the different parts of the world.
Row crop tractors
These tractors are also known as standard row-crop tractors. The width of tyres (front and rear) can be adjusted according to the spacing required for various farm operations to be done in the row crops.
Orchard tractors
These tractors have been developed to farm operations specifically in orchards. Special considerations are given to the emission norms and location of exhaust muffler to avoid any damage to the trees.
High clearance tractors
Ground clearance is kept significantly high in these tractors to be used in crops having plant height relatively more and requires interculture, weeding and spraying operations to be performed till maturity. The high clearance prevents the mechanical damage to the plants.
Crawler tractors
These are slow speed tractors which are used for performing farm operations like seeding, spraying etc. having forward speed even less than 1 km/h. Sometimes creeper gears are also provided to make tractor crawl at very low forward speed.
Track type tractors
These tractors have tracks instead of wheels to improve traction in wet land cultivation. Special purpose tracks are used for tractors to be used for agricultural purposes.
