503 research outputs found

    Nitrogen Fertilization and Harvest Management Improve Forage and Crude Protein Content in Crabgrass

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    Crabgrass (Digitaria spp.) is an annual summer grass that can provide high-quality forage, but optimal management strategies are unclear. Our objective was to compare the yield and quality of crabgrass (Mojo and Quick-N-Big) under different nitrogen rates and harvest management. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with five treatments and three replications for each crabgrass variety, totaling fifteen experimental units for both Mojo and Quick-N-Big, in adjacent sites. Treatments were nitrogen rates (0, 100, and 200 lb N/acre) and harvest management (cut once or twice per year) for two growing seasons (2020 and 2021). Total forage accumulation (TFA) increased with nitrogen fertilization for both cultivars. Mojo had the highest TFA in the first year (7000 lb DM/a/yr) while Quick-N-Big TFA was the highest in the second year (7635 lb DM/a/yr). The highest crude protein (CP) content was obtained with the highest N dose, ranging from 10.5 to 13% for both cultivars. Based on these results, N fertilization and harvest management can contribute to improving forage yield and crude protein of crabgrass varieties during the growing season in forage systems

    Voltage Regulation Planning Based on Optimal Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Allocation Using Nature-Inspired Algorithms to Reduce Switching Cycles of On-Load Tap Changing Transformer

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    Due to the non-deterministic and probabilistic qualities of renewable energy resources (RER), integrating these resources has posed a challenge for energy companies and government policy planners. Hybrid power systems require frequent voltage regulation to address the changes in renewable generation and facilitate voltage management. This leads to an increment in the operating time of the tap changer in the power transformer, thus resulting in accelerated degradation of the on-load tap changer (OLTC) device. The primary focus of this paper is to optimally manage the penetration level of renewable generation while maintaining the minimum time for proper operation of voltage regulation devices. Accordingly, the major contribution of this paper is to address the switching cycle issues of the on-load tap changing transformer. Initially, a framework is proposed to optimize the location and size of renewable power generation using a multi-objective cuckoo search optimization algorithm. The main goal here is to reduce power losses and tap changer operations while improving the system voltage profile under different levels of renewable energy penetration. The optimization problem takes into consideration the fluctuating nature of wind speed and solar irradiance for sunny and cloudy days over 24 h. The framework has been applied to the IEEE 57-bus and 118-bus systems with different load levels. The performance of the proposed approach has been benchmarked by comparing it with the genetic optimization algorithm to identify the higher potential buses for renewable generation allocation. The cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) shows outstanding results in reducing the number of switching cycles to about (37 – 43) % whereas the genetic algorithm (GA) only (17 – 18). In this sense, the number of changes in tap position when using the CSA is 1956 for sunny days and 1763 for cloudy days compared to GA 2558 for sunny days and 2547 for cloudy days. The voltage profiles for both algorithms are maintained in the range of (1.06 and 0.94) per unit. The results affirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach in determining the optimal placement and size of RER with voltage profile improvement and reduction in the switching cycles of OLTC

    Impact of Fertility and Mowing on Crabgrass Quantity and Quality for Hay Production in Southeast Kansas

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    A crabgrass variety trial comparing Quick-N-Big and Mojo crabgrasses was conducted in 2021 at the K-State Experiment Station outside of Columbus, KS. The trial evaluated forage quantity and quality under different fertilization and harvest management practices
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