Performance Evaluation of Tractor Mounted Inter Row Weeder Provided with Three Different Types of Weeding Tools on Okra Production
Abstract
Weeding is an important practice to be carried out during the initial stages of crop growth especially for controlling the weeds competing with the crop, stirring the soil for aerating the crop root zones and for burying the weeds into the soil. Efficient weeding aids and equipment for weed control seems highly necessary to minimize the time consumption, labor requirement and cost. The objective of the study was to evaluate a tractor operated inter-row weeder with three different types of blades for weeding in okra cultivation and compared to manual weeding method. The weeder is suitable for crops having considerable row spacing up to 80 cm, the width of the weeder is adjustable according to the crop row spacing. The modified weeder was evaluated at different test fields for okra plant and can be used in any vegetables plant with a maximum height of about 35cm. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Plot size was 4 m × 120 m. Results showed that there was highly significant difference (p=0.05) of weeding efficiency, grain yield and field efficiency. The weeding efficiency for V-shape lade1 was 93.7%, field efficiency was 83%, plant damage was 0.83 % and a yield of 365.7 kg/ha. Curved blade recorded 83.5 % weeding efficiency, 74 % field efficiency, 2.1% plant damage and a yield of 253.7kg/ha. The shank blade has a weeding efficiency of 59.2 %, field efficiency of 72 % and plant damage of 32 % and a yield of 127.2/ha. The manual weeding has a weeding efficiency of 99.9%, field efficiency of 35 % and damage factor of zero percent and a yield of 526.2kg/ha. These studies concluded and suggest that weed control on okra production could be best carried out by mechanical weeding method with V-shape blade and curve blade. For future study further research is needed to develop curve shaped blade with different design patterns and apply with different crops for better field efficiency and lower cost.
