Development of Hydraulic Test Rig for Evaluating Weeding Blades

Mechanical weed control is very effective, it helps to reduce drudgery involved in manual weeding, kills the weeds and also keeps the soil surface loose ensuring soil aeration and water intake capacity. To optimize the crop, soil and machine parameter are important for development of mechanical power weeder. To develop a power weeder influencing parameters were analysed using an experimental test rig which is used to calculate the power requirement and weeding efficiency of weeding blades. The different types of weeding blades were evaluated by using hydraulic test rig. The L-type blade was recorded higher weeding efficiency (91 per cent) when compared to I-typeand C-type blades. The I-type blades consumed less power (0.65 hp) when compared to L-type and C type blades.