DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF SMALL-SCALE POWER WEEDER

Hegazy, R. A.; Abdelmotaleb, I. A.; Imara, Z. M.; Okasha, M. H.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2014.98430

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF SMALL-SCALE POWER WEEDER

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor, Agric. Eng. Dept., Faculty of Agric., Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt.

² Professor, Agric. Eng. Dept., Faculty of Agric., Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt.

³ Head Researcher, Agricultural Engineering Res. Inst. Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

⁴ Engineer, Rice Mechanization Research Center, Meet El- Deeba, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2014.98430

Abstract

Small-scale power weeders are an important and challenging task in many countries, where the farm size in hectare per capita is very low and is declining over time. Therefore, the development of suitable mechanized weeding methods is an imperative to meet the demand for farmers. An economical mechanical power weeder that can be used as inter and intra-row weeding method was developed and evaluated in triple hybrid 314 variety of maize. Developed power weeder consisted of engine, blades assembly and transmission system. Modified vertical blades were used with the weeder and mounted on a circular rotating element on its horizontal side; the motion was transferred to blades units by amended transmission system. The effect of weeder forward speeds, depth of operation, number of blades and soil moisture content on fuel consumption, plant damage, weeding index, effective field capacity, field efficiency, energy required per unit area and total cost were studied. Three levels of soil moisture content (7.73, 12.28 and 16.18 %), two blades arrangements (two and four vertical blades for each unit), three weeder forward speeds (1.8, 2.1 and 2.4 km/h) and two depths of operation (from 0 to 20 and from 20 to 40 mm) have been chosen. The results showed that, the minimum value of fuel consumption was 0.546 l/h and recorded by using two blades with 1.8 km/h weeder forward speed at depth of operation ranged from 0-20 mm and soil moisture content 16.18 %. The highest field efficiency was 89.88% by using two blades with 1.8 km /h weeder forward speed at depth of operation ranged from 0 to 20 mm and soil moisture content 16.18%. The minimum value of effective field capacity was 0.198 fed/h by using four blades, weeder forward speed 1.8 km/h, soil moisture content 7.73% and under depth of operation ranged from 20-40 mm. The lower value of total cost was 55.09 L.E /fed and was obtained by using two blades with 2.4 km/h weeder forward speed at depth of operation ranged from 0-20 mm and soil moisture content 16.18 %.

Keywords

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