The document discusses various mechanical weeding methods including uprooting, severing, and burial techniques suitable for different soil types and conditions. It outlines specific methods like tillage, hoeing, hand weeding, digging, sickling, mowing, burning, and flooding, highlighting their effectiveness, costs, and labor requirements. Additionally, it emphasizes factors affecting the success of these methods such as soil type, weed characteristics, and crop rotation.

1. Mechanical weeding methods

2. Techniques used by mechanical
weeders
• Uprooting
• Severing/breaking
• Burial

3. Uprooting
• Death of weed due to
completely removal of
root or loss of the root
in soil.
• More suitable to dry
soil.

4. Severing/breaking
• Cut the plant from
hypocotyl or mesocotyl.
• Distance of cutting from
hypo/mesocotyl < 1 cm
• For breaking, effort
should be such that it
stops the functioning of
phloem or xylem.

5. Burial
• Intact weed is covered by soil to stop the
entry of sunlight.
• Independent of type of soil to be applied.
• Not suitable for heavy rainfall areas.

6. Various mechanical methods
• Tillage
• Hoeing
• Hand weeding
• Digging
• Sickling and mowing
• Burning
• Flooding

7. Tillage
• Tillage removes weeds from the soil resulting
in their death. It may weaken plants through
injury of root and stem pruning, reducing their
regenerative capacity.
• Tillage mainly using the uprooting technique
to remove the weed and dry it out before
planting new seed.(for certain long root weed,
it use breaking technique.)
• The basic tilling width is 15 cm.

8. Hoeing
• Method depends on the tools name as hoe.
• hoe is long handled having light blade of
metal at the end for destroying weeds.
• Less effort (compare to hand weeding) and
less costly method for weeding.
• Technique of severing/breaking takes place by
the to and fro motion of the tool.

9. Hand weeding
• Hand weeding – It is
done by physical
removal or pulling out
of weeds by hand or
removal by implements
called khurpi, which
resembles sickle.
• Price – 60 to 80 Rs.
• Labour rata – 300 to
350Rs. / 10 hr.

10. Digging
• Digging is very useful in the case of perennial
weeds to remove the underground
propagating parts of weeds from the deeper
layer of the soil.

11. Sickling and mowing
• Sickling is also done by hand with the help of
sickle to remove the top growth of weeds to
prevent seed production and to starve the
underground parts. Mowing is a machine-
operated practice mostly done on roadsides
and in lawns.
• Cost of sickle – 50 to 80 rs.
• Labour rata – 300 to 350Rs. / 10 hr.

12. Other methods
⮚Burning - Burning or fire is often an
economical and practical means of controlling
weeds.
• It affect on soil moisture contain, hardness of
soil, nutrient value and life of micro-organism
present in soil.
⮚Flooding - Flooding kills plants by reducing
oxygen availability for plant growth. The
success of flooding depends upon complete
submergence of weeds for longer period.

13. Parameters affecting mechanical
methods of weeding
• Type of soil – dry or wet
• Type of Weed and root size.
• Row spacing between crop
• Types of crops and crop rotation