INFLUENCE OF THE NUMBER OF PASSES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY ON PENETRATION RESISTANCE AND THE DEGREE OF SOIL COMPACTION

In the context of the ongoing development of mechanized agriculture, which implies the use of heavy agricultural machinery, often on soils with high moisture content, it increased significantly the risk of soil compaction. Compaction has become a problem of major proportions especially to farmers, because this phenomenon causes environmental damage, and affects soil quality and crop production. Penetration resistance is a valuable and easy to determine indicator of the degree of compaction of agricultural soil. In this paper are presented the results of some experimental research conducted to determine the penetration resistance of a plot of clover, under the influence of the number of passes of a tractor, in order to assess, from an qualitative point of view, the degree of soil compaction

CONSIDERATIONS ON EQUIPMENT USED FOR MORE EFFICIENT USE OF WATER IN PRECIPITATION

Soil is the element that underlies the development of agricultural activities but also of other human activities.It is the source of water supply and nutrients necessary for the growth and development of crops. the entire period of vegetation. The present work presents some of the most used equipment used in the technologies of crops of fodder plants and of grain crops. located on muddy or sloping grounds for the most efficient use of rainwater, preventing erosion and leakage. [8

RESEARCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF WET SATURATED STEAM DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT

Distillation is a conventional method of extracting volatile oils from medicinal and aromatic plants. This is defined as a process of separating the components of a mixture that is based on the difference between the vaporization temperatures of the constituents, respectively water and oil when distilling medicinal plants. Distillation can be performed in three ways: distillation with water, by boiling the mixture of plants and water, condensation of resulting vapours and separation of oil, distillation with water and steam, in which the steam obtained by evaporating a quantity of water passes through the plant batch; steam distillation under pressure provided by an external generator, a process named in the literature and steam entrainment. The steam distillation process is applicable to many medicinal and aromatic plants that grow in our country. The extraction of volatile oils through this process depends on the different characteristics of the plants but also on the main parameters of the process, pressure and temperature, which are different

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF EQUIPMENT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF WATER COLLECTION BASINS FROM PRECIPITATION AND FROM THE USE OF SPRAY IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

Global warming has been growing rapidly lately, which implies an increasing need for water for the good development of agricultural crops. To allow the recovery of a significant amount of water from rainfall or irrigation, reducing the amount of energy necessary for irrigation but also for soil losses caused by the phenomenon of erosion or puddling, works are introduced in crop technologies with the help of which this recovery can be achieved. This paper presents equipment used for the execution of rainwater catchment basins and the use of sprinkler irrigation systems

PRODUCTION STATUS OF BIOMASS PELLETS – REVIEW

The use of biomass has become extremely important for the production of clean energy from renewable sources. This is due to the continuously increased need for energy, to the possible depletion of conventional fossil fuels in the near future, and also to the regulations of European Union on the need to reduce significantly the emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper presents a synthesis on the raw materials used for pellets production, some of the important characteristics of pellets (density, ash content and heating power), and also data on the status of pellets production and consumption in different countries. Latest reported data show that the European Union is the biggest wood pellets producer globally, with a production of 13.5 million tonnes in 2014. Romania’s pellets production in 2014 was of 740000 tonnes, and estimations are that in 2020 it will exceed 1.2 million tonnes

THE ANALYSIS OF HEAVY METALS CONTENT IN WHOLE AND CHOPPED PLANTS

This paper presents the results of experimental research performed to analyze thepotentially contain of heavy metals in whole and chopped herbs, in order to examine the influence of the cutting process on bioaccumulation of metals in studied plant material

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE CONDITIONS OF USING TRACTOR-TRAILER COUPLING DEVICES

Coupling devices can be one of the main causes of accidents on public roads dueto the use of inadequate systems (both on tractors and also on trailers or agricultural machinery), this mainly due to the fact that the systems in question were built most of the times without taking into account the national, European and international regulations that are in force. The paper presents a few aspects regarding the coupling (traction) devices, the conditions of use and the tests that are necessary to be performed for approval before being used on public roads

HARVESTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS

In recent years, the people had more and more the tendency to return to remedies offered by nature. Nowadays, according to W.H.O. data, over 80% out of world population is using the medicinal plants for which a great interest was generated by traditional phytotherapy and especially by the fact that they represent an important source of bioactive substances. Therefore, the fields cultivated with medicinal plants have been extended and the relevant culture technologies have been modernized and adapted to current requirements. In general, mechanized harvesting of medicinal and aromatic plants is an important prerequisite in achieving a good production. Lavender is one of the most valuable aromatic species due to its volatile oil obtained by distillation of fresh inflorescences, being widely used in industry of perfume, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, aromatherapy, etc. Harvesting technologies of lavender and medicinal plants require specialized equipment designed according to cultivated field size. This paper presents a lavender harvesting technology, based on the utilization of a low-capacity equipment designed to gather the lavender from rather reduced surfaces. At the same time, a technology of harvesting medicnal plants, from which aerial organs (stems, leaves, flowers) are collected, is presented together with the small capacity equipment used for this purpose. This equipment was designed in order to support small farmers, for whom lavender and other medicinal species cultivation (from which the herb is capitalized) represents a real opportunity for obtaining major incomes

THEORETICAL RESEARCH ON THE WORKING PROCESS OF COMPLEX AGGREGATES FOR SOIL TILLAGE - REVIEW

The paper presents a summary of theoretical research developed in the country, related to the design and optimization of complex aggregates for soil processing and the improvement of their quality indices of work