Development and performance evaluation of small scale walk behind sprayer

Author(s) : Hafiz Talha Ahmed , Abdul Ghafoor, Zia-Ul-Haq, Aksar Ali Khan, Talha Mehmood, Abu Saad, Syed Mudassir Raza, Muhammad Adnan Islamd, Ibrar Ahmade, Muzammil Husain

Digital object identifier:

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050202

Abstract:

Spraying agrochemicals on crop is essential to protect them from insects, pests and weeds. Different machine like knapsack, boom and aircraft are being commonly used worldwide to spray agrochemicals for crop protection. Knapsack sprayer is a common equipment used by the farming community in Pakistan. These sprayers have less field efficiency and can lead to operator discomfort and back pain. Tractor mounted boom sprayers and aircraft sprayers may also be used but these are very expensive equipments and small farmer cannot afford them. To address this farming community challenge, a small scale walk behind sprayer was designed and manufactured at Agricultural Engineering Workshop, University of Agriculture Faisalabad in 2020. This newly developed spraying machine is light weight and easy to operate in the fields. Performance of walk behind sprayer was evaluated in the term of effective field capacity, field efficiency and wheel slippage. Spraying machine can work for five hours after one recharge of a 12V battery. Pump produced pressure of 150 PSI and discharge rate of nozzles were 0.5 liters per minute. Overall machine has proven beneficial for the small farmer as it can easily spray 5 acres/day. The research findings showed that field efficiency of machine was 77.7% and slippage factor was 13.5%. It is concluded from the study that newly developed technology performed better as compared to knapsack sprayer therefore this machine is recommended to the farmers.