Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

Weed growth is a major problem for narrow spaced crops causing a considerably lower yield. At present, manual weeding tools are the only option for narrow spaced crops. Due to the need of an hour, a 1.3 kW petrol engine operated manually guided power weeder with different types of blade for narrow row crops was designed and developed. Operational parameters viz., three forward speeds (1, 1.5 and 2 km h^-1), two depths of operation (20 and 40 mm) and three types of blade (L-shape, T-shape and C-shape) were selected to evaluate its performance for weeding in field conditions. Power weeder attached to T-type blade with a forward speed of 2 km h^-1 at 20 mm depth of operation was optimized for his highest performance index (1079) and field capacity (0.251 ha h^-1). It shows satisfactory weeding efficiency (88.2%), plant damage (2.5%), fuel consumption (0.88 l h^-1) and field efficiency (63%).