Performance evaluation of different models of power weeder for pulse cultivation

Abstract

The arduous operation of weeding is usually performed manually with the use of traditional hand tools in upright posture, inducing back pain for majority of labours. Weeding is the one of the labour intensive and tedious operation in pulse cultivation. This situation necessitates the introduction of suitable power weeders for pulse cultivation. With this objective to select the suitable power weeder for pulse cultivation a study was conducted at TNAU fields with 3 models of commercially available power weeders (Model A, B and C). In this case, to suit the power weeder the crop geometry was modified with 60 × 10 cm in pulse cultivation. The three models were compared with conventional method of hand weeding. The working width of the power weeders were 60 cm, 60 cm and 30 cm respectively for Model A, B and C. Manual weeding using hand hoe registered maximum weeding efficiency of 83.10 % (wet basis) and 82.5 % (dry basis). The weeding efficiency of Model A was 74.10 % (wet basis) and 73.45 % (dry basis), Model B recorded 63.49 % (wet basis) and 64.15 % (dry basis) and Model C recorded lowest weeding efficiency of 43.43 % (wet basis) and 43.13 % (dry basis). The saving in cost of weeding operation with three models when compared to manual weeding were 75.8, 72.5 and 54.8 % respectively for Models A, B and C. The saving in time of weeding operation using with the three models when compared to the manual weeding was 95.8, 94.6 and 89.8 % respectively for Models A, B and C.