DEVELOPMENT OF TWO SIMPLE MECHANICAL WEEDERS AND THE STUDY OF THEIR FIELD PERFORMANCES
DEVELOPMENT OF TWO SIMPLE MECHANICAL WEEDERS AND THE STUDY OF THEIR FIELD PERFORMANCES
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Date
1994-03
Authors
ADERELE, ADEREMI OLUFEMI
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Abstract
Weed control is a vital and important operation
in crop production. The use of mechanical method in
controlling these weeds is justified especially during
this time in Nigeria when the alternative method
(chemical) is getting beyond the reach of our peasant
farmers that form the majority. In order to meet the
current level of agricultural needs, simple mechanical
tools for weeding need to be developed.
The two simple mechanical weeders developed in
this study have given satisfactory field performances.
The Motorized weeder was found to give an average
field capacity of 0.0488 ha/h (88.7% of theoritical
field capacity) and could weed to the depth of 40mm and
550mm width for a pass. It also gave an average
cleanliness of weeding of 85% It was observed for
this weeder that the amount of power required varried
with blade rotational speed and depth of weeding, weed
density also affected the performance.
The wheeled long handle weeding hoe also gave an
average field capacity of 0.00394 ha/h and 88.0%
cleanliness of weeding percentage. The amount of
force required at rake angle of 30o to the horizontal
and depth of 40mm was about 20N.
When the two weeders were compared the performance
of motorized weeder was better than that of
wheeled long handle weeding hoe in terms of field
capacity but the reverse is the case for cleanliness
of weeding.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu
Bello University, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Science
in Agricultural Engineering
Department of Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
MARCH, 1994
Keywords
DEVELOPMENT,, TWO SIMPLE,, MECHANICAL WEEDERS,, FIELD PERFORMANCES