Development and evaluation of solar powered manually operated sprayer cum grasscutter

Abstract

Spraying of pesticides and cutting grasses is an essential task in the agricul- tural sector to protect the crops from insects for obtaining high yield. In this study, a solar-powered sprayer cum grasscutter was developed and used solar energy as a power source for spraying and cutting grasses. The total fabrication cost of the solar-powered sprayer cum grasscutter was Tk 12550. The application rate of the sprayer was 281.25 L ha⁻¹, with spray coverage of 46.7%. The theoretical and effective field capacity of sprayer cum grasscutter was found of 0.08 ha hr⁻¹ and 0.06 ha hr⁻¹, respectively. The field efficiency of solar-powered sprayer cum grasscutter was found of 75%, for an average of 2.1 km hr⁻¹ operating speed. This research observed that cutting efficiency was 79%. The operating cost of the machine was 903.17 Tk ha⁻¹. The capi- tal recovery factor, capital consumption and annual cost of solar-powered sprayer cum grasscutter were 0.26, Tk 3062, and Tk 43352, respectively. The solar-powered sprayer cum grasscutter is free from pollution because no fuel is needed. The price of the machine is low as compared to others, which are available in the market.