DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MINI TRACTOR OPERATED ROTARY WEEDER 2884
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Date
2019-07
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JAU,JUNAGADH
Abstract
Every year India faces the total loss of 33% of its economy from weeds which accounts an average of 1980 Cr of rupees is wasted due to weeds. The Losses are due to some of the following reasons; total loss of 26% from Crop Diseases, total loss of 20% from Insects and Worms, total loss of 6% from Rats has been surveyed (Sridhar, 2013). Removal of weeds consumes 25% labour i.e. 900-1200 man–hour during the cultivation season (Kumar et al., 2002). Average weeding cost by traditional method is nearby Rs. 945/ha out of the total cost of cultivation Rs. 3000/ha for agricultural crop (Tajuddin et al., 1991).
In 2019, a mini tractor operated rotary weeder was developed in department of farm machinery and power engineering, CAET, JAU Junagadh as research project. The overall dimension of rotary weeder was 1200×600×760 mm and fabricated with square pipe of 40 × 40 × 5 mm. Based on the row to row distance and other parameter to solve the problem of weeding. The development of fabrication work was carried out at workshop of department of farm machinery and engineering department. The weeder was tested with ‘L ‘type blade and three different rotor RPM of 40, 60 and 80 RPM. The cutting blade was bolted with flange which joined with shaft of 38mm with keyway mechanism. Whole cutting unit consist cutting blade, flange with hub, rotor shaft. The rotational movement provided with help of chain and sprocket mechanism. Dimension of the chain i.e. pitch, roller width, sprocket thickness and working Load of chain were 15.875mm, 9.525mm, 8.71mm and 635 kgs respectively. The output PTO rpm was 540 transmitted through primary reduction unit through cardan shaft. Output RPM from primary reduction unit to chain and sprocket mechanism was 180 RPM. It was
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compared with animal drawn weeder. The comparative performance has been assessed on the basis of weeding efficiency, plant damage, effective field capacity and fuel consumption. Field experiments were conducted at vegetables research station, Junagadh agricultural university, Junagadh.
For three different of 40,60 and 80 rotor rpm at operating speed of 1.5 km/h weeding efficiency were 98.28 %, 96.70 % and 96.28 % respectively and plant damage were 1.12% , 3.36% and 4.48 % respectively. Fuel consumption was obtain 2.10 l/h at operating speed of 1.5 km/h and effective field capacity and field efficiency were obtain 0.14 ha/h and 82 % respectively. Fabrication cost of rotary weeder was ₹ 39,700 and operational cost ₹ 328.25 /h and benefit cost ration and payback period were 3.54 and 2.84 year.