System of Rice Intensification- Weeder: Some Innovative Designs

Weed control is one of the most difficult tasks on an agricultural farm. Three methods of weed control are commonly known in agriculture. These are mechanical, chemical and biological control. Mechanical weed control is easily adopted by farmers once they get convinced of its advantages. Mechanical weed control not only uproots the weeds between the crop rows but also keeps the soil surface loose, ensuring better soil aeration and water intake capacity. Weeding by mechanical devices reduces the cost of labour and also saves time. In order to assess the possibility of mechanization of the weeding operation, the power operated single row active weeder is to be designed and developed considering the optimum shape, size and location of cutting blades, evaluation of its performance with other weeding methods in field conditions, optimisation of dimensions of machine for better performance. The main objective is to design and fabrication of a power weeder, while minimum damages done to rice plants, cost effectiveness, easy manuvelling, low weight and fabrication by using freely available components and easy maintenance are main features of this design.