Vol. 11, Special Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
K Sandhya Devi, T Neeraja and V Prasuna

Abstract:
The experiment was conducted to measure the physiological cost of work while using six types of manually operated weeders including one wheel multi-pronged weeder, one-wheel straight pronged weeder, one-wheel curve pronged weeder, two-wheel multi-pronged weeder, two-wheel straight pronged weeder, and two-wheel curve pronged weeder was compared to the conventional hand weeding work with local made khurpi. Farm women aged between 13 and 52 years actively involved in weeding operations during the last year were formed the sample. The physiological cost of weeding was the lowest for hand weeding. Among the weeders, the physiological cost of weeding was less for the two-wheel straight pronged weeder followed by one-wheel straight pronged weeder. The difference in the mean was significant (P= < .0001) among the weeders in the physiological cost of work. A highly significant mean difference was observed in the physiological cost of work between traditional hand weeding and all the other six weeders selected for the study.