Performance Evaluation of a Power Weeder in Different Forage Grasses

Testing and evaluation of engine operated power weeder was conducted in four grasses viz. Guinea grass (Panicum maximum); Fulkara grass (Bothriochloaintermedia); Bahiya grass (Paspalumnotatum) and Dinanath grass (Penisetumpendicelatum) at Central Research Farm, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi during 2014–15 and 2015–16. An engine operated, walk-behind type power weeder with an air cooled engine of 5.9 kW capacity was operated in line sown crops. The width and tool angle of shovel were 70 mm and 40º, respectively. The distance between wheels was adjusted according to the distance between the rows of crop having different row to row spacing of 0.5 and 1.0 m. The equipment was able to perform weeding in line sown crops with average field capacity in the range of 0.084 to 0.112 ha/h for different grasses with fuel consumption of 1.5 l/h. The highest weeding index of 84 and 96% at 20 days after harvesting (DAH) and 35 DAH was observed in case of guinea grass with only 2.1% plant damage at 20 DAH. The plant damage was lesser in weeding on 35 DAH due to better clarity of rows. The cost of weeding with power weeder varied from Rs.1, 866 to Rs.2, 487 per hectare as compared to Rs.4500 with manual weeding. Weeding and better management practices resulted in higher seed yield of forage crops from 100 to 250 kg/ha enhancing additional benefit of Rs.63, 000 to 1, 31, 250 per ha.