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Performance Evaluation of a Battery Operated Rotary Type Low Cost Weeder for Upland Weed Management (2018-19)

M A Gulandaz
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

M A Hossain
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

M A Matin
Farm Machinery & Postharvest Process Engineering Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The overall goal of this experiment was to reduce the production cost and drudgery of labor in weeding purpose and use of renewable energy for upland crop production. The specific objective of this experiment is to remove weeds by using power operated weeder rather than manual, mechanical and chemical use of weeding to reduce time, save money and environment and increase work effort of labor. Adverse effects on environment and cost of chemical weeding are making farmers to consider and accept mechanical methods of weed control. Manual weeding is common practices in the farming system of Bangladesh. It is the most widely used weed control method but it is labor intensive. The mechanical weeder is to reduce drudgery and cost which ensure a comfortable posture of the farmer or operator during weeding. The costs associated with mechanical weeding such as operating cost can be lowered; as such mechanical weeding can represent a viable and cost effective option to majority of medium and small scale farmers in developing countries like Bangladesh. Weeder is designed and fabricated considering methodological steps. The performance of battery operated weeder is acceptable for wide row crop. Field trial on maize, chili and eggplant was conducted at FMPE research field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur. Weeding index of battery operated weeder for maize, chili and eggplant is 92.52%, 95.85%, 92.79% respectively which is similar to chemical weeding. Again effective field capacities of battery operated weeder for maize, chili and eggplant were 0.046 ha/h, 0.022 ha/h, 0.046 ha/h respectively. Plant damage ratio is very limited for maize which is only 0.50% but it grows a little up to 2.8% for chili and eggplant. Cost of weeding by battery operated weeder is almost half compare to BARI weeder and just about one third compare to manual weeding but equivalent to chemical weeding. But there is no significant difference in yield among three methods except eggplant. Adaptive trail in farmers’ field can help this technology more acceptable among the farmers.

Keywords: Weeder, Battery Operated, Weed Management, Environment friendly, Cost effective

Location: FMPE Division Research, BARI

Start Date: 01-07-2018

End Date: 30-07-2019

Program Area: Farm Mechanization

Commodity: Weeder

Objectives:

a) To design and develop of a DC motor operated dry land weeder.

b) To test and evaluate performances of weeder by adaptive trail.

Methodology:

Assumptions: Design of the rotary weeder is depends on field conditions, crop and soil types and energy requirement of the machine. The machine is to be powered by a 48 volt 750-watt motor which is operated by 48-volt rechargeable dry cell battery. Belt and sprocket arrangement is used for transmission of power. Motor speed is 700 rpm, Number of teeth on Sprocket = 15, Number of teeth on Sprocket of rotary shaft= 15x2 = 30, Rotary shaft speed = 350 rpm, maximum value of soil resistance = 1.05 kgf/cm², coefficient of friction = 0.1, efficiency of transmission system = 90%. Design Process: Power requirement of motor, chain and sprocket selection and design and arrangement of tines are needed to be considered in the design process. There is no power in the wheel; so, weeder should be pushed manually but continuous pushing of tines makes weeder to go forward easily. The power supply on rotary shaft should be taken into consideration. There are two parts of the weeder, one is body and another is handle. Body part consists of motor, battery, wheel and rotary shaft but handle consists of auto switch and converter. Power requirement: Power requirement was estimated. calculated. Total power required: It was also estimated based on he standard procedure.Thus, a prime mover of 1.0 hp was required for this weeder. Chain and sprocket selection: Chain and sprocket arrangement was adopted for transmission of power. The chain, sprocket and shaft selection was based on Agricultural Machinery Management Data.The size of chain is 60B and and number of teeth of sprocket is 14. Weeding Tines and Tines arrangement: A j-shaped tine is designed on the shaft. Length and width of the tine is 80mm, curve angle of tine is 120? and 18mm respectively. Dimension of the shaft is 245 mm and 73 mm respectively. The shaft consists tines of equal lengths and arranged in spiral shaped. Machine Description: The powers to the rotary hoe are supplied from the motor through chain and sprocket. The most of the components of weeder were fabricated at the Farm Machinery and Post-Harvest Process Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) while other standard components, such as motor and transmission elements were picked up locally and the parts were assembled at the same workshop. Performance Test and evaluation: Laboratory Test- The laboratory tested results as per parameter are- Rated motor Speed, rpm = 580; Rotary blade speed, rpm = 500; and Theoretical field capacity, ha/h = 0.05. Site and experimental condition:The experiment was conducted at FMPE division research field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI during kharif season 2018-19. The soil was clay loam and soil penetration was recorded before each treatment imposed. The experiment plot was well pulverized and leveled with a tractor. Crop and weeds Maize: Hybrid Maize (Elite) was planted manually in the experimental plot (6.5 x 7 m each) with 60 cm row to row spacing and 25 cm plant to plant spacing. Each plot accommodated 6 rows. The planting date was 14th December, 2018. Density of weed was recorded before and after treatment imposed. The weed sampling was done randomly in middle three rows in 1.2 x 1 m quadrants. Width of cut is 20 cm, so three pass is done to cover 60 cm width. Number of plant damage is recorded and Inter plant weeds were removed by mechanical method. Chili BARI chili-1 was planted manually in the experimental plot (4 x 2 m each) with 50 cm row to row spacing and 50 cm plant to plant spacing. Each plot accommodated 4 rows. The planting date was 20th December, 2018. Density of weed was recorded before and after treatment imposed. The weed sampling was done randomly in middle three rows in 1.2 x 1 m quadrants. Width of cut is 20 cm, so three pass is done to cover 50 cm width. Number of plant damage is recorded and Inter plant weeds were removed by mechanical method. Eggplant: BARI BT Begun-4 was planted manually in the experimental plot (5 x 4 m each) with 100 cm row to row spacing and 75 cm plant to plant spacing. Each plot accommodated 4 rows. The planting date was 17th December, 2018. Density of weed was recorded before and after treatment imposed. The weed sampling was done randomly in middle three rows in 1.2 x 1 m quadrants. Width of cut is 20 cm, so three pass is done to cover 60 cm width. Number of plant damage is recorded and Inter plant weeds were removed by mechanical method. The common species of weeds were recorded. Fertilizer, Irrigation and earthling up: Fertilizer and irrigation was applied as BARI recommended dose. And earthling up for maize is done manually at 45 days after sawing. Experimental Design: The study included three treatments replicated four. The experiment was designed in Randomized Complete Block. The treatments were: T₁ - Weeding by BARI Battery Operated weeder at 15 and 30 DAT; T₂ - Weeding by BARI push and pull weeder at 15 and 30 DAT; T₃ - Manual Weeding at 15 and 30 DAT; and T₄ – Chemical Weeding by herbicide spray at 15 and 30 DAT. Test Procedure: The performance of weeder is examined by the indicators: Weeding Index - Weeding index is a ratio between the number of weeds removed by a weeder and the number present in a unit area and is expressed as a percentage. Three randomized selected area of 1m x 1m in each replication were marked out for sampling. Weeds in each plot were counted before and after weeding using the battery operated rotary weeder. The time taken to perform this operation was noted. Equation 1 was used to calculate weeding index. Plant Damage - Plant damage was observed in mechanical method and recorded. Plants, damaged completely or uprooted were counted as 'damaged' and expressed as percent of each plot the plant damage percent was evaluated. Theoretical Field capacity - Theoretical field capacity (TFC) depends only on the full operating width of the machine and the average travel speed in the field. Field capacity - The weeding tools were tested on the same plots to determine the field capacity of each of the practices. Field capacity is the amount of area that a weeding tool can cover per unit time. Cost parameters for economic analysis: Depreciation cost - The ratio between salvage values deducted from purchase price and life of a machine. Benefit cost ratio (BCR) - It refers to the ratio of gross/total return to the gross cost or total cost. It indicated the amount of taka a farmer receives for every taka he spent. Payback period - The length of time required to recover the cost of an investment. Statistical Analysis: All statistical analyses in this experiment were carried out using statistical package “R 3.4.4” for Windows Version 2010. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Coefficient of variance (CV) and least significant difference (LSD) between mean values were calculated at 5% significance level.

Source of Information: Annual Research Report 2018-2019, BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

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Achievement/Findings:

Battery operated weeder is designed by solidwork software and fabricated in view of methodological steps. For performance evaluation of battery operated weeder, field trials are done in Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering division research field among battery operated weeder, BARI push and pull weeder, manual weeding and chemical use of weeding. The performance of battery operated weeder is found quite satisfactory and it is an excellent weeding technology for farmers. We found a significant difference in weeding Index, time of weeding, plant damage due to weeding among four weeding method. And there is no significant difference in yield among the treatments. But battery operated weeder shown better performance among all treatment. Weeding index of battery operated weeder is very close to manual weeding. Effective field capacity and plant damage ratio is acceptable. Though Cost of weeding of battery operated weeder is almost equal to chemical weeding but very low compare to other two weeding method. Though inter plant weed removal is not possible but it has no significant effect on yield. But multipurpose use of battery can ensure the sustainability of weeder. Adaptive trail in farmers’ field can help this technology more acceptable to the farmers.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings