Comparison of mechanical properties of wheat and rice straw influenced by loading rates

This study investigates the comparison of mechanical properties of wheat and rice straw such as shear strength, specific shearing energy and cutting forces. The experiments were conducted at three loading rate of 15, 20 and 25 mm min-1 and three internode positions 70 (N1), 130 (N2) and 190 (N3) mm down from the ear. Results show that by increasing the loading rate, strength of wheat and rice straw changed from 8.12 to 22.94 and 6.06 to 14.33 MPa and specific shear energy was varied from 12.10 to 18.64 and 10.40 to 16.17 mJ mm-2, respectively. Moreover, the values of cutting forces of wheat and rice straw were within the ranges 13.23 to 19.50 and 9.40 to 16.70 N. Whereas the shear strength, specific shearing energy and cutting force were higher at higher loading rate at the third internode of both straw internode positions. The shear strength, specific shearing energy and cutting force of rice straw were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of wheat straw. With respect to the findings of the present research study, it is concluded that with decreasing loading rate of cutting blade toward the first internode, more energy can be saved by harvesting and threshing machines.Keywords: Cutting force, rice straw, shear strength, specific shearing energy, wheat strawAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(10), pp. 1068-107

Anaerobic Digestion of Buffalo Dung: Simulation of Process Kinetics

Assessment of kinetic of AD (Anaerobic Digestion) is a beneficial practice to forecast the performance of the process. It is helpful in the design of AD vessels, substrate feeding and digestate exit systems. The aim of this work was to assess the kinetics of anaerobically digested buffalo dung at different quantities of water added. It comprises the assessment of the specific methane production on the basis of VS (Volatile Solids) added in each reactor by using three first order models, i.e. the modified Gompertz model, the Cone model and the Exponential Curve Factor model. The analysis was tested by using the three statistical parameters, i.e. the coefficient of multiple determinations, the standard deviation of residuals and the Akaike?s Information Criteria. The result reveals that the Exponential Curve Factor model was the best model that described the experimental data well. Moreover, there was not a direct or indirect relation between the kinetic coefficients of the AD process with the varying total or volatile solid conten

Modern plant cultivation technologies in agriculture under controlled environment: a review on aeroponics

This review paper describes a novel approach to plant cultivation under soil-less culture. At present, global climate change is expected to raise the risk of frequent drought. Agriculture is in a phase of major change around the world and dealing with serious problems. In future, it would be difficult task to provide a fresh and clean food supply for the fast-growing population using traditional agriculture. Under such circumstances, the soil-less cultivation is the alternative technology to adapt effectively. The soil-less system associated with the Hydroponic and Aeroponics system. In the aeroponics system, plant roots are hanging in the artificially provided plastic holder and foam material replacement of the soil under controlled conditions. The roots are allowed to dangle freely and openly in the air. However, the nutrient rich-water deliver with atomization nozzles. The nozzles create a fine spray mist of different droplet size at intermittently or continuously. This review concludes that aeroponics system is considered the best plant growing method for food security and sustainable development. The system has shown some promising returns in various countries and recommended as the most efficient, useful, significant, economical and convenient plant growing system then soil and other soil-less methods

AN ADVANCED MEASUREMENT OF PADDY FIELD SURFACE ROUGHNESS BY STATIC LEVEL METHOD

Determination of accurate paddy field surface profile has great importance to designing the paddy tractor suspension system. With this aim, a new test rig has been designed and developed to measure paddy field surface profiles using static level method (sampled interval of 200mm). The data were analyzed through Matlab/Simulink software to obtain power spectral densities (0.05-3.5c/m) of the measured profiles on a log-log scale and it was found that the amplitude variation of the power spectral density (PSD) at low spatial frequency was higher than at high spatial frequency whereas the undulation of the PSD curve was largely changed from low to high frequency with roughness coefficient of 645.06x10-6 m3/cycle and slope value of 1.2399  representing the paddy field surface roughness under class D of ISO 8608 standards. This classification has great significance in the field of tractor vibration simulation work. Keywords: Paddy field surface, Rod and Level, Static level method, ISO 8608

Monitoring and Control Systems in Agriculture Using Intelligent Sensor Techniques: A Review of the Aeroponic System

In recent years, intelligent sensor techniques have achieved significant attention in agriculture. It is applied in agriculture to plan the several activities and missions properly by utilising limited resources with minor human interference. Currently, plant cultivation using new agriculture methods is very popular among the growers. However, the aeroponics is one of the methods of modern agriculture, which is commonly practiced around the world. In the system, plant cultivates under complete control conditions in the growth chamber by providing a small mist of the nutrient solution in replacement of the soil. The nutrient mist is ejected through atomization nozzles on a periodical basis. During the plant cultivation, several steps including temperature, humidity, light intensity, water nutrient solution level, pH and EC value, CO2 concentration, atomization time, and atomization interval time require proper attention for flourishing plant growth. Therefore, the object of this review study was to provide significant knowledge about early fault detection and diagnosis in aeroponics using intelligent techniques (wireless sensors). So, the farmer could monitor several paraments without using laboratory instruments, and the farmer could control the entire system remotely. Moreover, the technique also provides a wide range of information which could be essential for plant researchers and provides a greater understanding of how the key parameters of aeroponics correlate with plant growth in the system. It offers full control of the system, not by constant manual attention from the operator but to a large extent by wireless sensors. Furthermore, the adoption of the intelligent techniques in the aeroponic system could reduce the concept of the usefulness of the system due to complicated manually monitoring and controlling process

AN ADVANCED MEASUREMENT OF PADDY FIELD SURFACE ROUGHNESS BY STATIC LEVEL METHOD

Determination of accurate paddy field surface profile has great importance to designing the paddy tractor suspension system. With this aim, a new test rig has been designed and developed to measure paddy field surface profiles using static level method (sampled interval of 200mm). The data were analyzed through Matlab/Simulink software to obtain power spectral densities (0.05-3.5c/m) of the measured profiles on a log-log scale and it was found that the amplitude variation of the power spectral density (PSD) at low spatial frequency was higher than at high spatial frequency whereas the undulation of the PSD curve was largely changed from low to high frequency with roughness coefficient of 645.06x10-6 m3/cycle and slope value of 1.2399  representing the paddy field surface roughness under class D of ISO 8608 standards. This classification has great significance in the field of tractor vibration simulation work. Keywords: Paddy field surface, Rod and Level, Static level method, ISO 8608

Comparison of Water Sensitive Paper and Glass Strip Sampling Approaches to Access Spray Deposit by UAV Sprayers

Target and off-target spray depositions determine the spray’s effectiveness and impact on the environment. A decisive stage in the measurement of spray deposition and drift is selecting an appropriate sampling approach under field conditions. There are various approaches available for sampling spray deposition and drift, during the evaluation of ground sprayers used for the UAV sprayer assessment, under field conditions. In this study, two sampling approaches (water-sensitive paper, and glass strip collectors) were compared to analyze spray deposition in target and off-target zones. The results showed a variation in the estimation of the spray deposits among the two applied sampling methods. The results showed that the water-sensitive paper recorded the droplet deposition in the target zone with a range from 0.049 to 4.866 µLcm−2, whereas the glass strip recorded from 0.11 to 0.793 µLcm−2. The results also showed the water sensitive paper recorded an 80.3% higher deposition than that of the glass strip at zero position during the driving flight height 2 m and flight speed 2 ms−1 (T1 treatment). It can be concluded that variation in recorded depositing is due to the sampling material. It is recommended that the confident deposition results, measurement methods and sampling approaches must be standardized for UAV sprayers according to the field conditions and controlled within artificial assessments

Comparison of Water Sensitive Paper and Glass Strip Sampling Approaches to Access Spray Deposit by UAV Sprayers

Target and off-target spray depositions determine the spray’s effectiveness and impact on the environment. A decisive stage in the measurement of spray deposition and drift is selecting an appropriate sampling approach under field conditions. There are various approaches available for sampling spray deposition and drift, during the evaluation of ground sprayers used for the UAV sprayer assessment, under field conditions. In this study, two sampling approaches (water-sensitive paper, and glass strip collectors) were compared to analyze spray deposition in target and off-target zones. The results showed a variation in the estimation of the spray deposits among the two applied sampling methods. The results showed that the water-sensitive paper recorded the droplet deposition in the target zone with a range from 0.049 to 4.866 µLcm−2, whereas the glass strip recorded from 0.11 to 0.793 µLcm−2. The results also showed the water sensitive paper recorded an 80.3% higher deposition than that of the glass strip at zero position during the driving flight height 2 m and flight speed 2 ms−1 (T1 treatment). It can be concluded that variation in recorded depositing is due to the sampling material. It is recommended that the confident deposition results, measurement methods and sampling approaches must be standardized for UAV sprayers according to the field conditions and controlled within artificial assessments

Evaluation of Physico-Mechanical Characteristics of Different Paddy Cultivars Grown in Humid Subtropical Region of Eastern China

Background: Paddy during various stages i.e. loading, transportation, storage, handling etc. occurs severe losses, which can be reduced by designing appropriate post-harvest machineries using physico-mechanical properties. Objectives: The study aimed to assess the variation in physico-mechanical properties of thirteen different paddy cultivars. Methodology: The study was carried out at the College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, China. Thirteen different freshly harvested paddy cultivars were collected from Nanjing. Collected paddy cultivars before experiment were cleaned removing extraneous materials. Paddy cultivars were sealed polythene bags, and were then kept in refrigerator at a temperature of 5 ºC for 7 days for uniform distribution of moisture. The required amount of samples from each cultivar was accordingly taken for evaluating their physical and mechanical properties. Results: The results when assessed were statistically different (p?0.05) from each other. The average values of different paddy cultivars for length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, square mean diameter, equivalent diameter, surface area, volume, sphericity, aspect ratio, thousand kernel weight, bulk density, true density, porosity, hardness and toughness (for both horizontal and vertical orientations) were calculated to be 7.94mm, 3.32mm, 2.26mm, 3.84mm, 4.51mm, 2.56mm, 3.64mm, 46.53mm2, 29.74mm3, 0.49%, 0.42, 28.64 gm, 568.31 kg m-3, 1225.20 kg m-3, 54%, 46.09 N, 14.75 N, 16.06 mJ and 6.90 mJ respectively. Conclusion: A wide variation was observed for each parameter while comparing different paddy cultivars. This wide variation in result will negatively affect the performance of the equipment and machinery being used for post-harvest practices. The study concludes that it is essential for industries involved in equipment design and machinery production, as well as end-users responsible for their implementation, to take into account these substantial differences among cultivars when making their decisions

Optimizing approach of water allocation to off takes during reduced flows

Multi-objective optimization models with an index were developed based on farmers’ preferences, local requirements, supplies available at the head of the canal, system losses, crop demand about different growth stages, and field soil moisture balance. The models were applied using linear programming. The Model 1 determines the cropping pattern by maximizing net economic benefits using a monthly basis lumped volume available at the head of the canal and is set to the minimum and maximum area constraints along with the constraint of minimum main crop area. The areas for different crops given by the first model form input for the Model 2. The other inputs of Model 2 included periodic supply available at the head of the primary canal (7-day period in this study), root growth depth, demand, and soil moisture constants. The Model 2 optimizes the sum of relative yields of all the crops and provide the irrigation levels of various crops for specified periods. Finally, the distributed area and irrigation levels determined by Model 2 are used in conjunction with the losses to decide flow rates of off takes. The complete program was implemented in the West branch irrigated area of Mirpurkhas subdivision. The results showed that the resources were allocated to off-takes in a competitive and conflict-free manner