Abstract

Drudgery involved in weeding operation increases stress on the worker causing increase in heart rate and oxygen consumption. Ergonomic evaluation of weeding operations by different age group of workers at different working hours showed that the heart rates corresponding to cono- weeder and Mandava weeder were 154.54 beats/min and 140.17 beats/min, respectively. Oxygen consumption rate was 1.76 l.min^-1 and 1.47 l.min^-1, respectively. Working during 12:00 to 2:00 PM with both weeders developed maximum heart rate and oxygen consumption rate as compared to 8:00 to 11:00 AM and 4:00 to 6:00 PM. Agricultural workers of 25 to 30 years age group developed maximum working heart rate and oxygen consumption rate during weeding operations, which were higher than the age groups of 30 to 35 years and 35 to 40 years. The ANOVA based statistical analysis showed that weeding operation had significant influences on age group of workers, timings in a day and type of weeder.

Key words: Agricultural worker, weeding, drudgery, heart rate, oxygen consumption.