# Current Status and Future Directions for Combined Tillage and Sowing Technology and Equipment
## 2 Status of Development of Combined Tillage and Sowing Machines
### Combined Multi-Link Tillage and Sowing Machine
The equipment integrates two plowing and finishing operations, promoting high productivity and adaptability. As one of the research directions of combined tillage and sowing technology, ridging technology has been combined with rotary tillage technology to derive a rotary tillage and ridging combined planter. The development and application of related supporting equipment are relatively complete and have been widely used in practical production. The potato planter, known as the GL430, designed by GRIMME, can be paired with the GF400 rotary tiller and ridge to carry out five essential soil tillage processes: ridging, fertilizer application, spraying, and sowing, as depicted in Figure 3b. The machine's sowing component features four high-precision units, ensuring uniform and adjustable seed spacing and a consistent sowing depth. With a tiltable hopper, the precision of sowing is further improved. This machine is designed with modularity, allowing for the flexible combination of various equipment to meet diverse work requirements and enhance adaptability in different scenarios [39]. FORIGO manufactures a combined seeder incorporating rotary tillage and ridging, as shown in Figure 4. This machine is designed to grind and level the surface soil using the front rotary filler, prepare an appropriate seedbed with the ridging device, and complete the seeding operation by attaching the fertilizer and sowing equipment at the rear. It is versatile and can be used for planting vegetables such as onions, garlic, and carrots, and can operate in wetlands [40]. The rotary tillage and ridging combined planter is designed to enhance crop growth by incorporating the ridging function into the combined operation, creating high-quality ridged bodies to meet the specific growth needs of crops. The machine has a small and compact working width, making it suitable for small and medium-sized plots. However, its use is limited to specific crop production environments, and it may need to be more effective and feasible in some agricultural settings, resulting in its poor general applicability and low operational efficiency. Subsequently, it is necessary to further improve its adaptability, increase the working width, and improve the operating efficiency by innovating the structure  
Figure 2: Partial subsoiling and rotary tillage combine seeder. (**a**) 2 BMYFS-16(5)/8(5)-4 combined no-tillage fertilizer seeder for subsoiling and rotary tillage. (**b**) 2 BFSG-14 combined no-tillage fertilizer spreader for subsoiling and rotary tillage. of the straight knives was superior to those of the other two types at rotational speeds of 375-500 r/min and cut-off distances of 20-27 mm, and that there was no significant difference in the rate of soil fragmentation [43; 44; 45]. Aiming at the problems of the poor passability and low soil breakage rate of the rotary filler in rice-rapeseed planting areas, [PERSON] et al. designed a combination of a driven disk plow body and double-edged rotary knives (Figure 6), which improved the straw burial rate and the average soil breakage rate through the active plowing followed by rotary plowing of the double knives, and improved the performance of the cultivator [46]. The low quality of the rotary tillage operation will definitely lead to poor soil leveling, which will affect the quality of the subsequent fertilization and seeding of the combine machine. If the operation power consumption is high and the soil disturbance is large, it will also damage the structure of the tilled soil and affect the moisture retention of the seedbed. At present, research is mainly conducted through bionic, mechanism analysis and other methods, optimizing and improving the rotary tillage knife structure, innovating the tillage form, reducing soil disturbance and operating power consumption, and exploring the interactions between the knife and soil particles, broken poles and stubble, and clarifying its movement law.