AEROLLER: HERBICIDES ROLLER MACHINE FOR AEROBIC RICE WEED CONTROL

Abstract

As wet land rice, aerobic rice is also faced with the problem of weeds management. The absences of stagnant water facilitating more weed species to survive and compete with rice plants. Therefore, soil preparation is crucial for reduce weed problems in addition to manual control, which focuses on the rate of herbicides, the growth of rice plants, plant moisture and weed species. The risk of spray drift would be eliminated if herbicides were wiped on to weeds rather than sprayed. A machine designed to apply herbicides using rolling wipers were assessed for their ability to apply constant amounts of herbicide to treated surfaces. The machine designed by developed a structure consist of weed ball applicator, a hose connect to a 300 liter reservoir tank which attached to the transplanter prime mover. Weed ball applicator treated strips 15cm wide and having a roller 100 cm length. Adjustments to the flow rate as the reservoir can be made using a control valve at weed ball devices and control valve at the reservoir tank. AeRoller application used by wipe the herbicide onto weeds instead of spraying. The risk of damage to nearby non target plant would be almost eliminated and treatment under windy conditions would be possible by wiping herbicide on to weeds rather than spraying. A field evaluation of the Aeroller showed that it had good potential for the applications of herbicides for controlling weeds on aerobic rice farm.  The use of this rollers device system saves chemicals, reduce labor, reduce pollution on the environment and reduce worker exposure to dangerous herbicides.