The study looked at how different ways of preparing the soil before planting cotton affect how much water the crop needs and how much cotton it produces. They tried five methods: using a disc harrow, a chisel plough followed by a disc harrow, a chisel plough followed by a subsoiler and then a disc harrow, and different combinations of these. The researchers found that the method of chisel ploughing followed by a subsoiler and then a disc harrow gave the best results in terms of water use and cotton yield.