DEVELOPMENT OF TWO SIMPLE MECHANICAL WEEDERS AND THE STUDY OF THEIR FIELD PERFORMANCES

No Thumbnail Available
Date
1994-03
Authors
ADERELE, ADEREMI OLUFEMI
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
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
Citation
Collections