What equipment is commonly used to loosen and prepare soil for planting?

The correct choice for loosening and preparing soil for planting is a tiller. A tiller is specifically designed to break up and aerate the soil, creating a well-prepared seedbed for planting. It can easily mix in organic materials like compost or fertilizer, ensuring that the soil is fertile and conducive for plant growth. Tilling usually involves turning the soil over, which helps in breaking down clumps and providing good soil structure.

While options like a plow and a harrow also serve important functions in soil preparation, they cater to slightly different stages or methods in the process. A plow is typically used for deeper soil inversion and can disrupt larger soil clods, but it generally prepares soil at greater depths than what is necessary for initial seedbed preparation. A harrow is used primarily for leveling and smoothing the soil surface and can follow plowing to break down clods further, but it does not offer the same degree of mixing and aeration that a tiller provides.

A seeder, on the other hand, is primarily focused on the planting aspect of agriculture rather than soil preparation; it assists in placing seeds into the ground after the soil has been adequately prepared.

Thus, the tiller stands out as the most effective equipment specialized for