Background:
Manual weeding in onion crop is a very tedious, costly and time consuming operation due to its closed spacing. The developed onion weeder works on vertical rotary weeding principle which could be very easily operable in closely spaced onion crop. A soil working element in each weeding unit is a spring tyne used in reel of the combine harvester. Each tyne is fixed on hub of 100 mm diameter. All four units are arranged on mainframe at the spacing of 150 mm and powered by means of 1.5 hp petrol engine. Weeding units are operated by means of chain sprockets and worm gear box with reduction ratio of 1:20. Two pneumatic ground wheels with steel rims of diameter 400 mm (16 inches) are provided on either sides of mainframe. Each wheel is supported on an independent attachment having a provision of height adjustment by means of a square threaded screw and nut. The ground wheels of self-propelled weeder are powered by engine through suitable chain and sprocket.:
Technology Details:
The onion weeder with a vertical rotary weeding principle has been developed which could be very easily operable in closely spaced onion crop. A soil working element in each weeding unit is a spring tyne used in reel of the combine harvester. Each ground wheel is supported on an independent attachment having a provision of height adjustment during transportation and working condition. The ground wheels of self-propelled weeder are powered by engine through suitable chain and sprocket. Time saving is 96 and cost saving is 62% with the self-propelled onion weeder, as compared to manual weeding. The effective field capacity of the machine is 0.06 ha/h at the field efficiency of 85% at forward speed of 1.2 km/h. The weeding efficiency of self-propelled onion weeder is 91-93%. The percent plant uprooted, percent plant partially damaged and percent plant mortality are 1.1, 1.6 and 1%, respectively for 200 mm row spacing. However, line transplanting of onion seedlings must be recommended for best performance of the weeder.