Performance evaluation of tractor mounted boom sprayer on chilly crop

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important vegetable and spice crop belongs to Solanaceae family which grown all over the world. Dried pods contain 36 gms of carbohydrates, 18 gms of proteins, and excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin C which together provide roughly 160 calories of energy per 100 gms (Narayanan et al., 1999). Area, production and productivity of Chilli in India was 7.43 Lakh ha, 19.14 Lakh Tonnes and 2576 kg/ha, respectively (Anonymous, 2018). Keeping in mind, above parameters the performance of tractor operated boom sprayer was tested on Chilly crop. Under laboratory conditions, the designed boom sprayer performed excellently at 0.90 l/min nozzle discharge and 689.5 kPa operating pressure. It was observed that droplet size, spray uniformity, and droplet density was influenced by the nozzle discharge rate and pressure of 0.45, 0.70, 0.90, and 1.35 l/min and 275.8, 413.7, 551.6, and 689.5 kPa, respectively. The Volume Median Daimater (VMD), Uniformity Coefficient (UC) and Droplet Density (DD) of the existing boom sprayer have 130.9-206.36 µm, 0.98-1.39 and 11-27 number of droplets/cm2, respectively, for nozzle 0.9 lpm and pressure 689.5 kPa. The modified sprayer has droplet sizes between 125.04 and 181.42 m, droplet densities between 16 and 27 number of droplets/cm2, and uniformity coefficients between 0.99 and 1.25 at nozzle discharges of 0.90 l/min. With the 689.5 kPa working pressure and 0.90 l/min nozzle discharge, the designed boom sprayer offers notably higher discharge and nozzle pressure in each individual nozzle than the existing sprayer.