Vol. 12, Special Issue 12 (2023)

Author(s):
MV Jalu, R Yadav, PS Ambaliya and DB Chavda

Abstract:
Among the various agricultural operations plant protection is an essential operation in the basic practices of crop production. The crop yield is generally reduced by 40% mainly due to attack of pest, diseases and weeds and farmers have adopted many chemical methods for controlling them. The conventional method of spraying (hand operated spraying) results in excessive application of chemicals ultimately leading to environmental pollution, high labour intensive, time consuming, less uniformity rendering to more operational cost and also continuous spraying operation leads to fatigue of the operator. Solar power is one of the important renewable energy sources. A large amount of solar radiation falls on the earth. In most part of our country very few days are without sunshine. India lies within the latitude of 8^о N to 37^о N with annual average intensity of solar radiation of 1361 W/m². The time required for charging of battery was found to be 8 hours to achieve full voltage of 27.8 V. Solar powered remote-controlled sprayer worked continuously for 5 hours and 30 minutes (9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.) without interruption due to availability of power from solar panel.