Life Cycle Assessment of an Innovative Technology against Late Frosts in Vineyard

Wine production is a key sector for the Italian economy, representing 13 billion euros per year. The proportion of the market raises concerns about improving the production technology at low cost, safe practices, and low environmental impacts. The recurrent life cycle assessment performed does not report on the impacts of frost protection. This study presents the potential environmental impact of a novel late frost protection technique for vineyards that is currently under development. It consists of an organic coating made of sugar and straw to prevent vine damage due to frosts in vineyards in the coldest hours of late winter and early spring. From previous research at the University of Perugia (Italy), the technique has proven to be an effective protection method for vine shoots. Currently, the yields are protected by highly energy-demanding methods. For this study, we simulated two different scenarios of frosting protection so we could point out possible hotspots for the field application of the novel method and compare it to a technique usually employed in central Italy. Under the Centrum voor Milieukunde Leiden (CML) method, the cotton candy technique is estimated at 316 kg CO2 equivalent emissions for hectare. Employing the organic sugar-coating means avoiding 69,375 kg of CO2 eq. compared to the traditional technique of oak wood-burning into the vineyard. Preliminary cost analysis demonstrated the economic viability of implementing the organic coating.

UAV-Based Heating Requirement Determination for Frost Management in Apple Orchard

Frost is a natural disaster that can cause catastrophic damages in agriculture, while traditional temperature monitoring in orchards has disadvantages such as being imprecise and laborious, which can lead to inadequate or wasteful frost protection treatments. In this article, we presented a heating requirement assessment methodology for frost protection in an apple orchard utilizing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based thermal and RGB cameras. A thermal image stitching algorithm using the BRISK feature was developed for creating georeferenced orchard temperature maps, which attained a sub-centimeter map resolution and a stitching speed of 100 thermal images within 30 s. YOLOv4 classifiers for six apple flower bud growth stages in various network sizes were trained based on 5040 RGB images, and the best model achieved a 71.57% mAP for a test dataset consisted of 360 images. A flower bud mapping algorithm was developed to map classifier detection results into dense growth stage maps utilizing RGB image geoinformation. Heating requirement maps were created using artificial flower bud critical temperatures to simulate orchard heating demands during frost events. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed orchard heating requirement determination methodology, which has the potential to be a critical component of an autonomous, precise frost management system in future studies.

Influence of Frost Protection Windmachine with Continuous Oscillation on Microclimate in Tea Fields

To verify the influence of frost protection windmachine with continuous oscillation on microclimate, the experimental study was conducted in a tea field in Zhenjiang, China on a typical radiation frost night. Disturbed airflow variation and protection effect were investigated. Airflow velocity of 8 points at different distance from the machine was measured during an oscillation period with an anemometer, and temperature variation of 48 points at different distance from the machine and different height above the ground was measured with temperature recorders. The changes of airflow velocity and temperature were analyzed. Where the velocity was high, the airflow-disturbed duration was as well as large. Airflow velocity at each point presented a trend of rise, fluctuation, and decline under the action of windmachine with continuous oscillation. The temperature rise with the same distance from the machine was close, among which the 10 m and 20 m away from the machine increased greatly. Disturbed airflow enlarged the temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the canopy. The windmachine with continuous oscillation is proved to be effective for tea frost protection and provides more coverage than traditional anti-frost fan with flabellate oscillation.

The Application of Granulated Expanded Glass Aggregate with Cement Grout as an Alternative Solution for Sub-Grade and Frost-Protection Sub-Base Layer in Road Construction

The purpose of the research was to assess the possibility of using granulated expanded glass aggregate (GEGA) with cement grout as a replacement of a sub-grade and frost-protection layer, made of natural fine aggregates (NATU), stabilized with a hydraulic binder. Instead of traditional parts of the road construction, such as the sub-grade and frost-protection layer with the application of fine aggregate, stabilized with cement, the authors propose only one layer, made of lightweight water-permeable material, containing GEGA with a grain size from 8 to 11.2 mm. In the article the authors present the physical properties of the materials, applied for the road layers, the properties of the fine aggregate, stabilized with cement, and those of the cement composite with GEGA as an alternative solution. The laboratory test results of fine aggregates, stabilized with cement and of cement composites with GEGA, are presented. Porosity, volume density, compressive strength, and frost resistance are being researched. The results of those tests are meant to play an essential role in designing the thickness of road layers. Different types of pavement structure (asphalt and concrete) and different values of road load are being considered in the given work. The paper is concluded with considerations on an innovative solution, involving the use of ecological materials.