Investigation on the Field Performance of Four Weeding Methods for Peanut

In this research, field performance of four weeding methods for peanut crop was investigated in Kiashahr located at Guilan province. The weeding methods were included weeding by two types of motorized weeders (power tiller operated cultivator and power tiller operated rotovator at three forward speeds of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km/h), weeding by hand-driven wheeled cultivator and hand weeding by trench hoe. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used for the experiment. Weeding index, crop yield, field capacity, energy consumption and the economical index of benefit-cost ratio were measured and determined. Results showed that the highest weeding efficiencies of 98.61 and 97.37% were obtained in hand weeding for the first and second weeding stages, respectively. In all the mechanical treatments, the weeding efficiency of the second stage was greater than that of the first stage. The highest value of field capacity in the first stage (0.1263 km/h) and second stage (0.1287 ha/h) was recorded for power tiller operated rotovator at travel speed of 2.0 km/h. with amount of field efficiency was achieved in weeding with tiller rotovator at forward speed of 2 km/h (0.1263 and 0.1287 ha/h for first and second stages of weeding operation respectively). Among the methods, the lowest value of energy consumption with the average of 307.8 Mj/ha was registered for hand-driven wheeled cultivator. Results also indicated that power tiller operated rotovator at forward speed of 1.0 km/h had the highest benefit-cost ratio of 2.06 compared to other treatments. Thus, weeding by power tiller operated rotovator at forward speed of 1.0 km/h is advisable for peanut cultivation in the region.