Development and performance evaluation of drive wheel driven boom sprayer

In India, varieties of sprayers (manual or power operated) are typically used for spraying. However, these conventional sprayer types ultimately come with several downsides. Traditional spraying methods have drawbacks such as increased running costs, labor requirements, time consumption, discomfort, fuel unavailability, vibrations, noise, operating costs, water wastage, and health hazards for farmers. A new sprayer has been developed to address these issues and provide better efficiency, safety, economics, and ergonomics. The sprayer was developed at COAE&T SKUAST-K in the year 2021 and the performance of the developed sprayer was evaluated at three levels of forward speed (2.11, 2.55 and 3.44km h^-1), three levels of boom height (31, 41and 51 cm) and three levels of pump operating pressure (1.30, 1.50 and 1.75 kg cm^-2) with its response parameters being discharge rate (ml min^-1), swath width (cm), rate of work (ha/h) and field efficiency (%). Based on optimized operating parameters of forward speed 3.44 km/h, boom height 51 cm and pump operating pressure 1.50 kg/cm², the developed sprayer resulted in discharge rate of 392 ml min^-1, swath width of 26 cm, effective field capacity of 0.212 ha/h with field efficiency 93.62%. Benefit-cost ratio, Break-even point and Payback period for the developed prototype were found to be 1.54, 0.65 ha and 284.28 h, respectively. The total operating cost of operation per hour was found to be Rs.73.47. Thus, performance of developed prototype of sprayer was found satisfactory and economically viable.