Performance Evaluation of Some Manually Operated Weeders Used in Jhum Cultivation in Hill Regions of Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

Manual weeding is a labour intensive and time consuming operation in Jhum cultivation
system in hill region of Arunachal Pradesh. However the scarcity of labour during the peak
season results in increased of labour wages and delay in weeding operation which ultimately
reduced the yield of crop. The present study was undertaken with an objective to evaluate
field performance of four different types of manually operated weeders namely push pull
weeder with five tines, push pull weeder with sweep blade, peg type dry-land weeder and
straight blade hand hoe. The trail was conducted in the farmer’s cabbage field located at
Lakhi village of Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh. The average effective field
capacity of 0.0185, 0.022, 0.016, and 0.017 ha/h, respectively were observed for wheel hoe
with five tine, wheel hoe with sweep blade, peg type dry-land weeder and straight blade
hand hoe at forward speed of 0.285, 0.338, 0.290 and 0.270 m/s respectively. The result
revealed that maximum weeding efficiency of 79.72% was recorded for sweep type followed
by straight blade (78.19%), tine type (75.71%) and peg type dry-land weerder (72.50%).
Push pull weeder with sweep type blade also recorded the lowest labour requirement of 51
man-h per hectare followed by 56 man-h, 66 man-h and 70 man-h per hectare for push pull
five tines weeder, straight blade hand hoe and peg type dry-land weeders respectively.
Percentage plant damage was highest under straight blade hoe (2.5%) followed by push pull
with five tine (1.5%), push pull with sweep blade (1%) and peg type dry-land weeder (0%).
Among the weeders, peg type dry-land weeder required minimum power input of 0.071 kW
(0.096 hp) followed by straight blade hoe 0.079 kW (0.107 hp), push pull with sweep blade
0.105 kW (0.142 hp) and push pull with five tine weeder 0.112kW (0.152 hp). However the
maximum performance index of (1222.75) was observed for push pull weeder with sweep
blade followed by straight blade hand hoe (1211.21), peg type dry-land weeder (1208.33)
and push pull weeder with five tines (976.34).