Crop Residue Collection and Handing Machinery Performance: A Review

Increasing demand of agricultural production for human, animal, and industrial requirements is responsible for the enhancement of agricultural and agro-industrial activities. Each step of such activities produces various types of agricultural waste that include crop residue, on-farm livestock and fisheries waste, forest waste, agro-industrial waste, etc. Currently, handling and managing agricultural waste is a challenging task worldwide, especially in the context of environmental pollution control and sustainable agriculture. Thus, efficient management in terms of reuse, recycling, and reduction of agricultural waste is needed not only for the sustainable agriculture but also for farmers’ profitability. Various type of farm machinery is available and are in use to collect the crop residue from the field or directly incorporate the residue into the soil. The incorporated crop residue not only increases the soil fertility but also decreases the greenhouse gases emission due to burning of the crop residue. The crop residue chopper can be a solution of residue management at farmer field level. This chapter provides a review on the crop residue collection handing and incorporation machinery performance and their advancement

Design, Development, and Performance Evaluation of a Trash-Board Moldboard Plow for the Interaction between Soil and Straw with Two Different Water Content Levels

A two-year field study was conducted to investigate the performance of a lightweight trash-board moldboard plow (with and without a trash-board), as influenced by stubble height and water content. Both fields were measured for the performance of a trash-board moldboard plow when used during the optimization of the plowing depth, the water content, and the reaction forces. The results showed that in the first year, when a trash-board was required, the results were significantly different. The fields had lower draft and reaction force in the soil with only stubble height, which was greater than that in the soil with dense straw for all water content levels. This was also observed in the second year for the whole depth. This study shows that the moldboard plow with a trash-board provided minimum draft and reaction forces with only straw and heavy straw. The results indicate that straw nearby shear significantly increased displacement for all treatments, with variance of straw nearby moldboard. Hence, the results verify that a trash-board continuously created large soil fragmentation with different water content. Straw labels create a position of straw which also allows for better results. It is important to install trash-boards with the moldboard plow for heavy straw incorporation

Polysaccharides, Saponins, and Water Decoction of Astragalus membranaceus Significantly Enhance the Non-Specific Immune Response of Spotted Maigre (Nibea albiflora)

The effects of polysaccharides, saponins, and water decoction of the Chinese herb Astragalus membranaceus on the immune response of spotted maigre (Nibea albiflora) were investigated. Fish with an average initial weight of 49.6±5.5 g were fed a diet containing 2% extract for four weeks. The lysozyme and phagocytic activities of the fish were determined and compared with those of control fish fed an unsupplemented feed on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28. Both activities were significantly higher in groups fed the Astragalus extract than in the control group (p0.05). Most important, the Astragalus-fed groups were significantly protected against Vibrio vulnificus challenge compared to the control group (p<0.01). Our results indicatd that polysaccharides and saponins are main active components of Astragalus extracts and can enhance the non-specific immune response in spotted maigre

Forces and straw cutting performance of double disc furrow opener in no-till paddy soil.

Conservation tillage is an energy efficient and low cost tillage system to improve soil environment compared with conventional tillage systems. However, the rice residue management becomes an "impossible to achieve" task due to high soil moisture content at harvest time and the thickness of rice straw. Disc type furrow openers are used for both seed drilling as well as straw cutting during no tillage sowing. A study was conducted to evaluate the draft requirement and straw cutting performances of different sized furrow openers in no-till paddy soil conditions. Double disc furrow opener was tested on an in-field traction bench for three working depths, i.e. 30, 60 and 90 mm, and three forwarding speeds, i.e. 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 m/s. The draft and vertical forces on the disc were recorded with load cells. These sensors were connected to a data acquisition system developed with hardware and software. The results revealed that the size of the furrow opener, operating depth and the forwarding speed had significant effects (P<0.05) on the horizontal and vertical forces, and the straw cutting performance. Mean values of the draft were 648.9, 737.2 and 784.6 N for the opener with diameters of 330, 450 and 600 mm respectively, and the vertical forces for similar openers were 904.7, 1553.9 and 1620.4 N, respectively. Furthermore, the mean straw cutting efficiencies for the double disc opener with diameters of 330, 450 and 600 mm were 39.36, 78.47 and 65.46%, respectively. The opener with 450 mm diameter provided higher straw cutting efficiency as compared to 600 mm diameter disc, while lowest straw cutting efficiency was observed with 330 mm diameter disc. The 450 mm diameter opener provided the highest straw cutting efficiency (88.6%) at 90 mm working depth and expressed optimum performance compared with other furrow openers

Analysis of Multiangle Wheat Density Effects Based on Drill Single-Seed Seeding

Explaining the physiological and ecological effects of wheat population density can provide new research methods for field crop production. A three-year field trial under drill single-seed seeding was conducted, which used three different intra-row seed-seedling spacings to quantitatively analyze the density effect from three perspectives—population, individual plant, and single-stem panicle—at the winter wheat harvest. The results showed that year and density had significant effects on both the population and individual plant yield (p < 0.05), as well as on some yield components and biomass indicators. The interaction between planting density and annual climate was found only in the number of grains for both the entire population and individual plants. With the increase in planting density, the CI gradually increased, inhibiting the growth of individual plants and leading to a negative impact on monoculture wheat yield. The drill single-seed seeding method can provide a basic experiment condition for analyzing the density effect. The density effect of wheat populations originates from intraspecific competition, which mainly affects the growth of individual plants. Research based on the analysis of density effects from the perspectives of population, individual plants, and single-stem panicles can provide a methodological reference for precision agriculture

Effects of Tillage Methods on Crop Root Growth Trend Based on 3D Modeling Technology

Strip rotary tillage seeding technology has been widely used in rice&ndash;wheat rotation system, benefiting the economy greatly. The purpose of farming is to create a comfortable seedbed environment for crop growth. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the effects of tillage methods on wheat root configuration and growth trend in the research of strip tillage, instead of just focusing on optimizing the shape of tillage tools, sowing methods, and soil fragmentation. To clarify the effects of different tillage methods on crop root growth trends, a two-year wheat planting experiment was carried out. Strip tillage (ST1 and ST2) and full width tillage treatment (FT) were designed, 3D models of root structure and soil on the surface of the seedbed wall were established, and four quantitative indexes were proposed: soil surface roughness of seedbed wall (SR), difference coefficient of root soil space occupation (P), difference coefficient of root angle expansion trend (PA), and difference coefficient of root length expansion trend (PL). The results showed that the cultivation method directly affects the growth trend of wheat roots. The wheat roots tended to grow along the inter-specific direction under ST treatment on the 14th day, and the average P, PA, and PL were as high as 38, 43, and 55, respectively. The SR produced by ST1 treatment was 70% lower than that of ST2 treatment, suggesting ST1 treatment had more serious restrictions on root growth. P, PA, and PL in ST1 treatment were 38.5%, 14%, and 43% higher than those in ST2 treatment within 14 days, respectively. This paper briefly explains the effects of tillage methods on the growth trend of wheat roots, provides new methods and technologies for the rapid and effective acquisition of soil surface information, solved the problem of the trend of root expansion being difficult to quantify, and provided a new direction for the optimization of tillage methods

Identification of Edwardsiella tarda isolated from duck and virulence genes detection

Bacteria from 30 duck liver samples were characterized using VITEK System. Two strains showed 99% similarity to Edwardsiella tarda (E. tarda). A set of seven virulence genes viz. citC (citrate lyaseligase), fimA (fimbrial operon), gadB (glutamate decarboxylase), katB (catalase), mukF (putative killing factor), esrB (TTSS regulator) and gyrB (ATPase domain of DNA gyrase) were amplified from obtained duck E. tarda and reference fish E. tarda. The results obtained show that all seven genes were present in the isolate X1 and reference strain, while only gyrB, citC and mukF genes were present in the isolate X2. The results obtained also indicate that X1, X2, and reference strain were all virulence strains

Straw-Soil-Rotary Blade Interaction: Interactive Effects of Multiple Operation Parameters on the Straw Movement

Conventional soil-tool interaction has been upgraded to straw-soil-tool interaction due to plenty of straw remains in the field after harvesting. Understanding the straw-soil-tool interaction relationship and quantifying the straw movement and distribution characteristics at various tillage operation parameters is critical for straw management and the design of tillage tools. Here, in order to investigate the interactive effects of key operation parameters on the displacement and burial of straw, a specific field test rig was developed to perform straw movement test. According to the singe-factor test and multifactor interactive experiment, we investigated the effect of straw length, tillage depth and rotary speed on straw movement, and established a mathematical model between operation parameters and straw movement. The results showed that the significant order of the influence on the displacement and burial of straw was as follows: the tillage depth, the straw length, the rotary speed. As determined by response surface analysis, the optimal combination of parameters for straw incorporation was straw length of 5 cm, tillage depth of 13 cm, and rotary speed of 320 rpm, and the corresponding straw burial rate and straw displacement were 95.5% and 27.6 cm, respectively. The relative errors of the optimization results are less than 5%. These results indicated that the mathematical model can be used to predict and evaluate straw movement. Therefore, it is feasible to enhance the straw incorporation performance by a reasonable setting of operation parameters, which may provide a comprehensive strategy to improve the working quality of tillage tools

Effect of Straw Length, Stubble Height and Rotary Speed on Residue Incorporation by Rotary Tillage in Intensive Rice–Wheat Rotation System

High-yielding agriculture in an intensive rice–wheat rotation system leads to plenty of residues left in the field after harvest, which is detrimental to seeding operation, seed germination, and early plant growth. Some residue thus needs to be incorporated into the soil. Providing the relationship between tillage operations and residue incorporation and establishing a mathematical model play important roles in residue management and the design of tillage machinery. In order to obtain detailed data on the interaction between residue incorporation and tillage operations, a multifunctional field-testing bench with precise parameter control was developed to assess residue incorporation characteristics of rotary tillage, and we investigated the effects of straw length, stubble height and rotary speed on residue incorporation. Three experimental factors affecting residue incorporation performance were studied, i.e., six lengths of straw (30–150 mm), four heights of stubble (50–200 mm), and three rotary speeds (240–320 rpm). Chopped straw and stubble with certain sizes were prepared for the test, and we measured the burying rate and distribution uniformity of residue after rotary tillage. The results indicated that straw length, stubble height, and rotary speed all impact residue incorporation quality. The burying rate and distribution uniformity of residue decreased with the increase in straw length and stubble height; a lower rotary speed parameter buried less residue and distributed it with worse uniformity than a higher one. It is suggested that farmers determine the straw length and stubble height at the stage of harvest according to the required burying rate and distribution uniformity of residue