Strawberry leaf surface temperature dynamics measured by thermal camera in night frost conditions

ArticleThe aim of the study was to define the strawberry leaf surface and ambient air temperature differences in night frost conditions. The study was carried out at the commercial strawberry field in late autumn at a specific natural climatic situation, corresponding to night frost conditions. Thermal camera FLIR P660 was used for obtaining thermal images and corresponding visual colour images of the strawberry leaves. The images were taken at ten-minute interval. The ambient air temperature, relative humidity, dew point, solar radiation and wind speed data were obtained by Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station. It was estimated that the surface temperature of the specific leaf is comparatively similar at different parts of the specimen and changes noticeably with the variation of solar radiation intensity. The speed of temperature changes was also analysed. During all the measurement period, the considerable difference between the temperature of the leaf and the ambient air temperature was established, especially in absence of solar radiation. The difference of the leaf surface and ambient air temperature reached 8 °C. The study showed that in night frost conditions the plants might be endangered by low temperatures even at the air temperatures above 0 °C due to intensive energy loss by long wave radiation to the sky. It is suggested that the thermal imaging or infrared radiation measurement should be used simultaneously with air temperature measurements for more exact timing of night frost prevention measures at strawberry cultivation.http://dx.doi.org/10.15159/ar.18.01

Energy and Agriculture in Estonia and Finland

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Farmers' Perspectives of the Benefits and Risks in Precision Livestock Farming in the EU Pig and Poultry Sectors

Simple Summary Smart farming is a concept of agricultural innovation that combines technological, social, economic and institutional changes. It employs novel practices of technologies and farm management at various levels (specifically with a focus on the system perspective) and scales of agricultural production, helping the industry meet the challenges stemming from immense food production demands, environmental impact mitigation and reductions in the workforce. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) systems will help the industry meet consumer expectations for more environmentally and welfare-friendly production. However, the overwhelming majority of these new technologies originate from outside the farm sector. The adoption of new technologies is affected by the development, dissemination and application of new methodologies, technologies and regulations at the farm level, as well as quantified business models. Subsequently, the utilization of PLF in the pig and especially the poultry sectors should be advocated (the latter due to the foreseen increase in meat production). Therefore, more significant research efforts than those that currently exist are mainly required in the poultry industry. The investigation of farmers' attitudes and concerns about the acceptance of technological solutions in the livestock sector should be integrally incorporated into any technological development.Abstract More efficient livestock production systems are necessary, considering that only 41% of global meat demand will be met by 2050. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has clearly illustrated the necessity of building sustainable and stable agri-food systems. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) offers the continuous capacity of agriculture to contribute to overall human and animal welfare by providing sufficient goods and services through the application of technical innovations like digitalization. However, adopting new technologies is a challenging issue for farmers, extension services, agri-business and policymakers. We present a review of operational concepts and technological solutions in the pig and poultry sectors, as reflected in 41 and 16 European projects from the last decade, respectively. The European trend of increasing broiler-meat production, which is soon to outpace pork, stresses the need for more outstanding research efforts in the poultry industry. We further present a review of farmers' attitudes and obstacles to the acceptance of technological solutions in the pig and poultry sectors using examples and lessons learned from recent European projects. Despite the low resonance at the research level, the investigation of farmers' attitudes and concerns regarding the acceptance of technological solutions in the livestock sector should be incorporated into any technological development

Increasing Solar Energy Usage for Dwelling Heating, Using Solar Collectors and Medium Sized Vacuum Insulated Storage Tank

This article describes a method for increasing the solar heat energy share in the heating of a dwelling. Solar irradiation is high in summer, in early autumn, and in spring, but during that same time, the heat demand of dwellings is low. This article describes a solution for storing solar heat energy in summertime as well as the calculations of the heat energy balance of such a storage system. The solar heat energy is stored in a thermally insulated water tank and used in the heating period. The heat is also stored in the ground if necessary, using the ground loop of the heat pump if the water tank’s temperature rises above a certain threshold. The stored heat energy is used directly for heating if the heat carrier temperature inside the tank is sufficient. If the temperature is too low for direct heating, then the heat pump can be used to extract the stored energy. The calculations are based on the solar irradiation measurements and heating demand data of a sample dwelling. The seasonal storing of solar heat energy can increase the solar heat energy usage and decrease the heat pump working time. The long-term storage tank capacity of 15 m3 can increase the direct heating from solar by 41%. The direct heating system efficiency is 51%

Farmers’ Perspectives of the Benefits and Risks in Precision Livestock Farming in the EU Pig and Poultry Sectors

More efficient livestock production systems are necessary, considering that only 41% of global meat demand will be met by 2050. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has clearly illustrated the necessity of building sustainable and stable agri-food systems. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) offers the continuous capacity of agriculture to contribute to overall human and animal welfare by providing sufficient goods and services through the application of technical innovations like digitalization. However, adopting new technologies is a challenging issue for farmers, extension services, agri-business and policymakers. We present a review of operational concepts and technological solutions in the pig and poultry sectors, as reflected in 41 and 16 European projects from the last decade, respectively. The European trend of increasing broiler-meat production, which is soon to outpace pork, stresses the need for more outstanding research efforts in the poultry industry. We further present a review of farmers’ attitudes and obstacles to the acceptance of technological solutions in the pig and poultry sectors using examples and lessons learned from recent European projects. Despite the low resonance at the research level, the investigation of farmers’ attitudes and concerns regarding the acceptance of technological solutions in the livestock sector should be incorporated into any technological development

Approach to model based motion scoring for lameness detection in dairy cattle

Lameness is an increasing animal welfare problem. It has a negative impact on milk production, body condition and reproductive performance in dairy cows (Booth et al., 2004; Holzhauer et al., 2004). Since early identification and treatment can reduce the cost of lameness and improve animal wellbeing, more objective measures to quantify lameness need to be used (Keegan et al., 1998). In the development of an automatic on-line tool for early lameness detection several image parameters are addressed. To avoid the need to redevelop algorithms for every image parameter used in lameness detection, we propose a model based motion scoring system. The model of the cow is derived from an image stream. First of all the cow is extracted from the background using image processing techniques (Song et al., 2007). Now the derivation of the cow model is performed in a top-down approach: The overall position of the body of the cow in the image is detected. This is performed by fitting a rectangle onto its body. This provides us with information about the position and orientation of the body; in the next step the position and orientation of the head of the cow is detected in a similar way; and finally the positions and orientations of the individual limbs are detected. Repeating this procedure gives us a mathematical model of the body position of the cow within each image and it provides us with an objective description of the motion of the cow. The model and motion description can be used for derivation of the image parameters needed for lameness detection.status: submitte