The Preliminary Study of Non-Chemical Weed Control for Precision Agriculture by Heated Vegetable Oil

¹ Research and Development Unit for Agricultural Materials and Bio-Energy Properties, Division of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Chiang mai, Thailand
² College of Integrated Science and Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Chiang mai, Thailand
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Chiang mai, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: prud@rmutl.ac.th

Abstract

This study aims to improve the technique for non-chemical weed control by applying heated vegetable oil. Two temperatures of palm oil. at 50 °C and 70 °C. were applied in this experiment to transfer heat energy to the weed. Two weed cultivars with Spanish needles (Bid em pilosa) and Crowfoot grass (Dactyloctemum aegyptimti) at two early phenological growth stages (BBCH 10 and 12) were investigated for weed control efficacy. Hot vegetable oil (1 mL) was dropped onto the weeds. After application, the weeds were cultivated in a natural environment and their deterioration was evaluated in a laboratory. Damage to weeds after treatment was visually assessed every other day for a week. The results demonstrate that thermal weed control using vegetable oil can be used as an alternative technique for non-chemical weed control. The type of weed between monocotyledons and dicotyledons affects the efficiency of weed control, as well as the phenological growth stage of weeds. Application of 1 ml vegetable oil at 50 °C can be used for weed control with a Spanish needle at BBCH 10 in 7 days after application.