Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Vikram Netam, Akash Lima, Dr. VM Victor and Kishan Kumar Patel

Abstract:
Agricultural farms required a large portion of power to perform different farm operations. Small and marginal farmers have small and sparse lands to cultivate and conduct agricultural operations. These farmers own bullocks and draught animals and utilise them to work on their farms. Draught animals are beneficial to the environment as they consume crop waste and produce manure. Small and marginal farmers, on the other hand, are also unable to use mechanical weed eradication methods due to their small land holdings and totally dependent on costly chemical based pesticides. Hence an animal drawn prototype solar powered sprayer was developed. During the laboratory test, the suitable operating pressure of 4 kg/cm² was selected based on the discharge rate. The average discharge rate of 240 l/h was obtained at an operating pressure of 4 kg/cm². The actual field capacity was found to be 0.52 ha/h with the field efficiency of 83%. The sprayer was capable to cover 4 rows. The average power output was found to be 0.87 kW. The cost of operation was Rs. 274.25/ha. Pay Back Period was found to be 0.26 years. The sprayer is capable to discharge the chemical spray solution of 432 l/ha.