Determination of a Basis for Design of a Yam (Dioscorea Spp.) Minisett Sorter

It has been experimentally demonstrated that the practice of planting a mixture of yam minisetts cut from the head, middle and tail portions of the tuber results in non-uniformity in sprouting and widely different germination rates and tuber yields. This problem could be overcomed by separating the minisetts into groups from the head, middle and tail portions of the parent tubbers and planting them separately. Manual separation is both tedious and expensive, so the work reported here was done to determine a suitable basis for the design of a mechanical minisett sorter. Results from this study showed that the minisetts cut from the regions of the parent tuber can be separated on the basis of characteristic dimensions of arc length or radius. This may provide a suitable basis for designing a mechanical sorter for yam minisetts

Development of Oscillating Classifiers for Forage Chop Length Determination

The chop length produced by forage harvesting systems is an important factor in many aspects of silage production. The only reliable method being tedious hand measurement of every particle in a sample of chopped material. Three oscillating particle length classifiers have been developed. Each of them differed from one another in their stroke patterns. The three different drive-mechanisms produce three screen motions: Linear motion, Under-arc motion and Gyratory motion. Effects of the stroke patterns on forage particle size separation is studied by using identical screen boxes. A procedure for calculating forage particle size is defined. The size of the particles are reported in terms of geometric mean length and geometric standard deviation by weight.The particle size determined is used to evaluate forage harvesting machine and to define forage characteristics with regards to animal feeding trials

A Survey of Farm Tractor Management in Zamfara State

Maintenance is a key element in the management of any machinery firm. This study addresses the problem of Farm Tractors maintenance in Zamfara State. A survey was carried out to determine the level of agricultural machinery management. Information used was obtained from the State Ministry of Agriculture, State Tractor Hiring and Sales Agency (ZSTHSA), and through personal visits to the 14 Local Government Areas of the State. Data were also obtained from answers to a structured questionnaire, personal contact and oral interviews with the management staff, technical staff, tractor operators and some randomly selected farmers within the State. The obtained data was analyzed using relevant statistical tools. Simple descriptive statistical tools such as averages, percentages were used. The result revealed that the State owned 77 functional farm tractors (60.2% of the total owned farm tractors). Spare parts are not available, owned tractors do not reach their economic life, there is no single fully equipped tractor maintenance workshop in the State, maintenance records are not kept, there is lack of technical knowledge of operating and maintaining tractors, and frequent changes of the managerial staff due to some political reasons and non-adherence to the established government policies. Finally, recommendations were giving that will help improve the machinery maintenance.Keywords: farm tractor, maintenance, management, mechanization, survey stud

Tractability Conditions for Disc Ploughing on a Loamy Sand Soil in the Ilorin Agro-Ecological Zone

For agricultural field operations such as tillage and planting, an agricultural soil is considered tractable if it can develop adequate shear resistance to minimize tyre slip and soil damage and can produce required soil tilth without undue soil pulverization or the formation of large clods. Furthermore, the soil must be devoid of physical obstructions like stones, stumps, ant-hills, etc and be of a light vegetative cover. Tractability conditions for disc ploughing on a loamy sand soil based on soil moisture have been determined for Ilorin agro-ecological zone, which fall within the Guinea Savannah zone of Nigeria. This was achieved by carrying out disc ploughing on an experimental plot at thirteen different soil moisture levels ranging from 8.90 to 91.74% of field capacity. The tyre slip and wheel sinkage measured at each soil moisture level, were used to judge whether the soil was tractable or not. Soil is adjudged tractable if the observed tyre slip is either 15% or less. The corresponding soil moisture range was selected as the soil moisture condition at which the soil is tractable. It was found that the loamy sand soil of Ilorin agro- ecological zone was tractable between soil moisture levels of 8.90 and 60.08% of field capacity. Results showed that differences in soil moisture distribution along the slope of the land had no significant (P< 0.05) effect on the towing force and the drawbar pull of the tractor. However, differences in soil moisture levels had significant effect on them. Furthermore, data such as towing force, drawbar pull, soil cone index and tyre slip generated and analyzed using regression analysis, were used to establish empirical trafficability prediction equations; which are useful in studies of soil-machine interactions

Performance evaluation of Magnus screw press (Model MS-100) for palm kernel oil extraction

The screw (expeller) press is extensively used for commercial extraction of palm kernel oil (PKO) from oil-palm kernels. In this work, Magnus (Nig.)screw press (Model MS-100,) locally fabricated at Nsukka, Nigeria was evaluated for throughput capacity, feed rate, press cake oil content, oil expelling efficiency (OEE), percentage un-pressed grits output, percentage sludge output, and specific energy consumption. One-factor-at-a-time (OFAT), completely randomized designed (CRD) experimental approach with 4 factor levels and 2 replications was used to determine the effect of kernel moisture contents (KMC), kernel heating temperatures (KHTs), and kernel heating durations (KHDs) on the (OEE) of the screw press. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique was used to analyze the results. In its best operating settings, the MS-100 screw press has a throughput capacity of 91.7 kg-products/h at an average feed rate of 101.7 kg-kernels/h, press cake oil content of 13.6% (w/w); percentage actual oil yield of 33.6% (w/w); percentage cake output of 38% (w/w); percentage un-pressed kernel grits output of 14.2% (w/w); percentage sludge output of 3.6% (w/w); OEE of 73%; and specific energy consumption of 0.44 kWh/kg-kernels. The screw press is adjudged suitable for palm kernel oil extraction based on its OEE. The ANOVA of the results show that the best kernel factors for highest OEE include KMC of 5% w.b.; KHT of 50 - 130o C; and KHDs of 5 - 10 min. The 14.2% un-pressed kernel grits output, however, is a problem of Magnus Screw Press that needed to be reduced or eliminated through design modifications.Keywords: Palm kernel oil, screw press, oil extraction, Magnus screw pres

Classification and Engineering Properties of Unknown Variety of Oil Palm Kernels from Nigeria

Abstract: -The average size of oil palm kernels of unknown variety was used to classify their varietal composition. Engineering properties of oil palm kernels are important for rational design of general-purpose handling systems for oil palm kernels. In this work, average values of size, solid density, bulk density, compressive yield load, hardness, angle of repose, porosity, sphericity, and coefficient of friction were determined for samples of unknown variety of palm kernels sourced from three local markets in Nsukka, Enugu state, Nigeria. At an average moisture content of 6.1% (w.b.), the major diameter ranged between 15.68 ± 2.24 mm and 22.41 ± 2.19 mm with an average of 19.09 ± 2.01 mm. The solid density ranged between 1.00 ± 0.09 g/cm 3 and 1.32 ± 0.02g/cm 3 with an average value of 1.17 ± 0.13 g/cm 3 . Other average values were 608.05 ± 14.08 kg/m 3 for bulk density; 1022.44 ± 90.56 N for compressive yield strength; 10.41 ± 0.09 kN/m 2 for hardness; 37.75 ± 1.33 o for angle of repose; 47.4 ± 7.7% for porosity; and 0.74 ± 0.04 for sphericity. The average coefficients of friction were 0.52 ± 0.05, 0.51 ± 0.03, and 0.46 ± 0.06 on plywood, galvanized steel, and glass surfaces respectively. The size analyses results showed that the oil palm kernels used in this study were mixtures of dura, tenera, and pisifera varieties. Moisture content of the kernel was found to influence most of the propertie

Biophysical and Mechanical properties of rice varieties: attributes to losses in post harvest processing

The work showcases that at moisture content range (15 - 18%) wb, the compressive force against natural position of the grains were also determined and consideration of variation in natural position of rice grain at rest during compression gave representative apparent compressive strength across the five varieties. It requires about 25N for the rice grain (IITA306) to fail at 0.7mm at horizontal and 150N to crack the rice grain in vertical position at 21.0mm, it takes 60N for the rice grain (MAS) to fail at 1.4mm and 150N to crack the rice grain at 22.5mm as well as 58N for the rice grain (R18) to fail at 1.2mm and 125N to crack the rice grain at 20mm, as such 13N for the rice grain (SML) to fail at 0.93mm and 110N to crack the rice grain at 23.5mm as well as 21N for the rice grain (R15) to fail at 0.65mm and 200N to crack the rice grain at 22.5mm respectively. Therefore, losses during rice processing operations are specific. It is advisable to handle a particular rice variety uniquely since losses are variety specific. Keywords: biophysical, mechanical properties, rice varieties, processing, post-harvest losse

Ocena działania łuskarki do nasion afrykańskiego drzewa chlebowego (Treculia africana)

This paper reports the effect of the parboiling time on dehulled kernel out-turns (DKO) of African breadfruit seeds, and the most recent effort to upgrade an existing dehuller and its performance. Two common and readily available varieties - Treculia var. africana and var. inverse were used in the study. The seeds were parboiled for 0 (control), 2, 5, 8, 11 and 14 minutes and then dehulled. The result revealed that the parboiling time had a significant effect on the DKO of the two varieties of the seed. The DKO increased from 0 to 5 min of the treatment, after which it decreased considerably up to 14 min of the parboiling time. The obtained data were used to develop a non-linear quadratic regression model to predict the DKO as a function of the parboiling time. The performance evaluation of the breadfruit seeds dehuller revealed that it was significantly influenced by the variety.Artykuł ten przedstawia wpływ czasu gotowania na uzysk łuskanego ziarna afrykańskiego drzewa chlebowego oraz niedawne wysiłki w kierunku ulepszenia istniejącej łuskarki i jej działania. Do badań użyto dwie pospolite i dostępne odmiany Treculia var. africana oraz var. inverse. Ziarna gotowano przez 0, 2, 5, 8, 11 i 14 minut a następnie łuskano. Wyniki pokazały, że czas gotowania miał istotny wpływ na uzysk ziarna łuskanego dwóch odmian ziarna. Uzysk ziarna łuskanego zwiększał się w ciągu 0-5 minut obróbki, po czym po 14 minutach gotowania drastycznie zmalał. Uzyskane dane zostały wykorzystane do przygotowania nieliniowego kwadratowego modelu regresji służącego do przewidywania uzysku ziarna łuskanego w funkcji czasu gotowania. Ocena działania łuskarki wykazała, że było ono uzależnione od odmiany

Effects of temperature and time on oil extraction from some Nigerian indigenous fresh water microalgae species

This study determined the effects of temperature and time on oil extraction from indigenous freshwater microalgae– Dictyosphaerium, Chlorella, Desmodesmus and Cosmarium species, cultured in fifteen 2-litre column photobioreactors (PBR) (three per specie).  Growth and specific growth rates for the mixotrophic>autotrophic cultivation of the species. Oil was extracted from the dried microalgae species at temperatures ranging from 40 to 120 °C at 20 oC intervals and times ranging from 30 to 210 minutes at 30 minutes’ intervals, by accelerated solvent extraction method. Extraction temperature, time and type of microalgae species had significant effect (p < 0.05) on oil yield (temperature > time > type of species).  As extraction temperature and time increased, Desmodesmus armatus gave the optimum oil yield (72.6% at 92.5 oC), whereas, Cosmarium spp. produced the least (45.5% at 91.7 oC). Optimal oil yield and temperatures of Desmodesmus subspicatus, Chlorella lewinii and Dictyosphaerium spp. were  68.2% and 92.5 oC; 72.3% and 91.9 oC; and 66.7% and 92.5 oC respectively. The optimization result showed that oil extraction from microalgae should be conducted at about 80 oC and at the first 30 minutes of heating for oil extraction. These findings reduce extraction wastages of time, cost, energy, resources and chemicals

Biosynthesis of Tithonia diversifolia leaf mediated Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles loaded with flamboyant pods (Delonix regia) for the treatment of Methylene Blue Wastewater

The large capacity of wastewater production due to rapid growth of industries has resulted in limited water resources. The need to protect and conserved water resources have enforced researchers worldwide to focus on the development of an effective, economical and environmentally friendly novel materials. In this study, green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) using T. diversifolia leaf extract by hydrothermal method was loaded on the surface of flamboyant pods (Delonix regia) activated carbon (FPAC). The developed ZnONPs loaded on the surface flamboyant pods activated carbon (ZnONPs-FPAC) was used successfully to remove of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. The developed FPAC, ZnONPs and ZnONPs-FPAC were characterized UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized FPAC, ZnONPs and ZnONPs-FPAC were screened and the results revealed that ZnONPs has an excellent antibacterial activity when compared. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to investigate the influence of process parameters such as initial concentration, contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage and temperature on MB uptake. The high BET surface area of 794.48 m2/g and mesoporous ZnONPS-FPAC developed gave good adsorption capacity of 186 mg/g. Equilibrium adsorption data of MB were modelled using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) isotherm model. The adsorption of MB onto ZnONPs-FPAC was best described by Freundlich model indicating surface heterogeneity, and pseudo-second-order kinetics according to (normalized standard deviation), SSE (sum od square error), and R2 (coefficient of determination) values. The results of the thermodynamic suggest that the adsorption process of MB onto ZnONPs-FPAC is endotherm, favourable, spontaneous, and physical. In nature. The reusability of ZnONPs-FPAC was examined upto five cycles with no significant loss in removal efficiency. The mean free energy (E), and Enthalpy () values calculated, suggested that the adsorption mechanism of MB on ZnONPs-FPAC is dominated by physical adsorption