Modifikasi dan Uji Kinerja Alat Penyiang Gulma dengan Menambahkan Fungsi Pemutus Akar untuk Padi Sawah (Oryza sativa)
Abstract
Weeding is one of important phase in rice cultivation. Gasrok or lalandak is a kind of tool usually used in weeding. In this research gasrok was modified by adding a pair of knife expected to cut the root. Agronomically, it is convinced root cutting will stimulate more young root growth. Knives were installed at 4 cm depth assuring that the parts of the crops being cut are the roots. The performance test showed that the knives cut about 11 % of the total roots. The knives also increased porosity, decreased bulk density and soil penetration resistance significantly at 16 days after transplanting, but did not change porosity, bulk density and soil penetration resistance significantly at 40 days after transplanting. Meanwhile, the knives still kept the main function in weeding with efficiency at about 84 %.