Comparative Performance of the Developed Mini Tractor Operated Sprayer Cum Weeder with The Various Types of Existing Spraying and Weeding Methods

Abstract

Insects, diseases and weeds are the three main biological elements that have the greatest influence on agricultural output losses and farmer profits. The two most crucial practises in agriculture for maximum yielding are chemical application and weeding. In the past, spraying was performed using a knapsack sprayer, and weeding was carried out manually and with a bullock-drawn weeder, both of which required a lot of time and effort. For spraying and weeding in modern agriculture, farmers employ a variety of power-operated tools. However, because each task was carried out independently, it took more time and effort to finish the weeding and spraying tasks. Multioperational equipment or machinery is required to decrease operating time, cost, and the number of passes. As a result, efforts have been made to create a machine that can complete both tasks in a single pass. Considering these points, mini tractor operated sprayer cum weeder was developed. By using the developed sprayer cum weeder time saving of 95.79 %, 90.42 % and 38.71 % could be achieved as compared to existing manual methods, animal drawn machine and power operated machine and developed machine could also save 91.50 and 8.84 % operational cost as compared to existing manual methods and power operated machines in spraying and weeding operations respectively. The weeding efficiency of the developed machine for combined operations was found 84.53 % as compared to power operated weeder (86.12 %) which is more or less equal while it is only for weeding operation.