Embodiment design of a soil bin for soil-tool interaction study

The agriculture industry is an important aspect of Indian economy. The changes occurring in global climate and increased frequency of extreme weather conditions pose challenges for agriculture industry. In such unpredictable conditions, achieving required outputs from farming for supporting continuously increasing population necessitates the mechanization of traditional processes. The selection of machinery for such mechanized setup is a key management task. Tractor is one of the farm machines being used in various farm related operations. Thus understanding constraints imposed on selection of a tractor is a primary factor in decision making process. The study has highlighted importance of power requirement for farming operation in tractor selection process. Thus to determine power requirement for farming operation a study of soil-tool interaction is necessary. A soil bin setup is one of the tools for studying the soil-tool interaction. This work presents the conceptual and embodiment design of a soil bin developed to find variation in draft force with respect to variations in the parameters like tillage depth, operation speed and soil moisture level. The tillage depth and operation speed were found to be directly proportional whereas the soil moisture level was found to be inversely proportional to the draft force.

Design and Development of an Automatic Prototype Smart Irrigation Model

In the current condition, it is difficult to increase plant development and reduce expenses in agricultural sectors; nevertheless, an advanced thought leads to the use of an automated model that introduces automation in the irrigation system, which can aid in improved water and human resources management. An automated model has been developed using sensors and microcontroller technology, to make the most efficient use of water supply for irrigation. A soil moisture content detector is inserted into the soil of the crops, and an ultrasonic sensor is placed above the soil of the crops to measure the water level after irrigation has begun. A C++ program with threshold values for the moisture sensor was used to start the system in the crop field depending on the soil moisture level, and an ultrasonic sensor was used to control the water in the crop field. The Arduino UNO board is a microcontroller inbuilt of Atmel in the mega AVR family (ATMega328) and the sensors were used to lead the model in turning ON/OFF. A microcontroller was included in this model to run the program by receiving sensor input signals and converting them to soil water content and water level values in the crop field. The microcontroller began by receiving input values, which resulted in an output instructing the relay to turn on the groundwater pump. An LCD screen has also been interfaced with the microcontroller to show the percentage of moisture in the soil, field water level, and pump condition. When the soil moisture level reaches 99 percent and the water level reaches 6 cm after 2.5 and 4 minutes, respectively, the pump is turned off. This model, according to the study, might save water, time, and reduce human effort.

Priming with Humic Acid to Reverse Ageing Damage in Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill.] Seeds

Soybean seed vigour declines with increase in storage duration, due to ageing, which can be alleviated through seed priming. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Humic acid (HA) priming on germination, vigour and seedling performance under laboratory and greenhouse conditions with two soil moisture level [50% and 80% field capacity (FC)]. Seeds stored for 12 months having 60% germination were primed either with 0.2 g/L HA solution or distilled water (hydro-primed) at 25 °C for 1, 3, 5 and 7 h. Non-primed dry seeds were used as control, giving nine treatment combinations. Various germination traits [mean germination time (MGT), final germination percentage (FG%), germination rate index (GRI), seedling emergence percentage (SEP)], mean emergence time (MET), seedling quality traits [seedling vigor index (SVI), shoot length, root length, root volume], antioxidant enzyme activities [catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD)], lipid peroxidation [malondialdehyde (MDA)] and electrical conductivity (EC) were determined. A germination test in the laboratory was conducted as single factor (nine priming treatments), while the greenhouse experiment was conducted as two factors [2 soil moisture level (50 and 80% FC) and 9 priming treatments]. The results indicated that seeds primed with HA for 5 h was able to reinstate the CAT activities (25%), POD activities (50%) and reduced EC (51%) and MDA content (40%) compared with non-primed seeds, reduced the MET (from 4.3 to 3.5 days), increased FG% (from 62 to 71%), GRI (15.6–21.1) and SEP (from 35 to 54%) and (from 60 to 72%) at 50% FC level and 80% FC level, respectively. A strong negative correlation (r = −0.80 **) was found between MDA content and GRI, while CAT and POD activities had positive correlation with GRI r= 0.67 ** and r = 0.56 **, respectively. Thus, priming with 0.2 g/L HA for 5 h improved the vigour of minimally deteriorated soybean seeds resulting in increased emergence with more uniform field establishment.

Effect of biochar applications on soil phosphorus availability under different soil moisture levels

Soil moisture level is crucial to soil phosphorus (P) availability. However, there is no quantitative research on the relation between soil P availability and moisture level. In addition, biochar application could also alter soil P availability at different moisture levels. In this study, a 16-day soil incubation experiment was conducted at a laboratory-scale to analyze the effects of soil moisture and P fertilization regimes (P-laden biochar fertilizer and conventional mineral P fertilizer) on soil P availability and fractionation. The results showed that soil P availability was positively correlated with soil moisture level (Pearson coefficients ranged from 0.46 to 0.91). High moisture level would lead to less amount of P in readily available fractions under P-laden biochar application. However, even with less P in readily available fractions, P-laden biochar could maintain soil P availability (117.7 mg P m-2) at a similar level as the conventional P fertilizer (116.1 mg P m-2).

Features of potato cultivation at drip irrigation in the Lower Volga region

Организация эффективного промышленного производства картофеля – одна из актуальных задач современного российского АПК. Цель исследований: оптимизация режимов орошения и минерального питания при выращивании картофеля с использованием капельного орошения. Исследования влияния водообеспеченности и питательного режима почвы на рост, развитие, водопотребление и урожайность картофеля при поливе системами капельного орошения проводили в 2008–2010 годах на светло-каштановых почвах СПК «Престиж» Ленинского района Волгоградской области. Почвы подзоны характеризуются маломощными гумусовыми горизонтами (0,15–0,25 м) и низким содержанием гумуса (1,6–2,3%) в пахотном слое. Реакция почвенного раствора слабощелочная (рН – 7,0–8,3). В рамках двухфакторного опыта изучались три режима орошения с поддержанием предполивного порога влажности почвы на уровне 80% НВ: вариант А1 – с фазы цветения, А2 – с фазы бутонизации, А3 – с фазы всходов, а также четыре дозы минеральных удобрений расчетно на получение уровня урожая: N40P50K0– 20 т/га, N100P100K70 – 30 т/га, N155P150K180– 40 т/га и N210P200K290 – 50 т/га. Для поддержания порога предполивной влажности почвы 70% НВ в период от посадки до всходов требовалось провести 1–2 полива, в период от посадки до бутонизации – от 1 до 3 поливов, в период от посадки до начала цветения – от 2 до 5 с поливной нормой 160 м3/га. Для поддержания порога предполивной влажности почвы 80% НВ с фазы всходов необходимо провести от 8 до 20 поливов, с начала фазы бутонизации – от 7 до 18 поливов, с начала фазы цветения – от 6 до 15 поливов по 130 м3/га. Суммарное водопотребление картофеля при сочетании факторов, обеспечивающих формирование урожайности до 50 т/га зрелых клубней, составляло 3470–3590 м3/га воды. Период вегетации от посадки до начала фазы сбора продукции возрастал с 91–97 суток при внесении удобрений дозой N40P50K0 и поддержании предполивного уровня влажности почвы 80% НВ с начала фазы цветения до 100–108 суток при внесении удобрений дозой N210P200K290и поддержании предполивного уровня влажности почвы 80% НВ с фазы всходов. The organization of effective industrial production of potatoes is one of the urgent tasks of the modern Russian agro-industrial complex. The purpose of the research is to optimize irrigation regimes and mineral nutrition when growing potatoes using drip irrigation. Studies of the influence of water availability and the nutrient regime of the soil on the growth, development, water consumption and yield of potatoes when watering with drip irrigation systems were carried out in 2008–2010 on light chestnut soils of the SEC Prestige of the Leninsky district of the Volgograd region. The soils of the subzone are characterized by low-power humus horizons of 0.15–0.25 m and a low humus content (1.6–2.3%) in the arable layer. The reaction of the soil solution is slightly alkaline (pH – 7.0–8.3). As part of a two-factor experiment, three irrigation regimes were studied with maintaining the pre-irrigation threshold of soil moisture at 80% NWC: option A1 – from the flowering phase, A2 – from the budding phase, A3 – from the germination phase, as well as four doses of mineral fertilizers calculated to obtain the yield level: N40P50K0– 20 t/ha, N100P100K70 – 30 t/ha, N155P150K180– 40 t/ha and N210P200K290 – 50 t/ha. To maintain the threshold of pre-watering soil moisture of 70% NWC in the period from planting to germination, 1–2 watering was required, in the period from planting to budding – from 1 to 3 watering, in the period from planting to the beginning of flowering – from 2 to 5 with a watering rate of 160 m3/ha. To maintain the threshold of pre-watering soil moisture of 80% NWC from the germination phase, it is necessary to carry out from 8 to 20 watering, from the beginning of the budding phase – from 7 to 18 watering, from the beginning of the flowering phase – from 6 to 15 watering of 130 m3/ha. The total water consumption of potatoes with a combination of factors that ensure the formation of a yield of up to 50 t/ha of mature tubers was 3470–3590 m3/ha of water. The vegetation period from planting to the beginning of the harvest phase increased from 91–97 days when applying fertilizers with a dose of N40P50K0and maintaining a pre-watering soil moisture level of 80% NWC from the beginning of the flowering phase to 100–108 days when applying fertilizers with a dose of N210P200K290 and maintaining a pre-watering soil moisture level of 80% NWC from the germination phase.

Soil moisture level prediction using optical technique and artificial neural network

This research describes the use of an optical system combined with artificial neural network (ANN) for wireless and nondestructive prediction of soil moisture level. The former system comprising of near infrared (NIR) emitters of wavelengths 1200 nm and 1450 nm, and a photodetector for near real time soil moisture measurement in loams and peats holding different amount of water. There were 63 and 90 sets of data from loams and peats, respectively, used in the development of the dual stage-multiclass ANN model, wherein measurement of light attenuation (from nondestructive system) was correlated with percent soil moisture (from destructive gold standard approach) in pre-measurement stage. The result revealed a relatively good performance in the training of the NN with regression, R, of 0.8817 and 0.8881, and satisfactory error performance of 0.7898 and 1.172, for loams and peats, respectively. The testing of the system on 50 new samples of loam and peat showed a considerably high mean accuracy of 92 % for loams while 82 % was observed for peats. This study attributes the poorer performance of the system used on peats to the detection resolution of percent soil moisture, and structure and properties of the corresponding soil. This work concluded that the developed technology may be feasible for use in the future design and improvement of agricultural soil management.

Soil Moisture Retrieval Model Design with Multispectral and Infrared Images from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Convolutional Neural Network

This paper deals with a soil moisture retrieval model design with airborne measurements for remote monitoring of soil moisture level in large crop fields. A small quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is considered as a remote sensing platform for high spatial resolutions of airborne images and easy operations. A combination of multispectral and infrared (IR) sensors is applied to overcome the effects of canopies convering the field on the sensor measurements. Convolutional neural network (CNN) is utilized to take the measurement images directly as inputs for the soil moisture retrieval model without loss of information. The procedures to obtain an input image corresponding to a certain soil moisture level measurement point are addressed, and the overall structure of the proposed CNN-based model is suggested with descriptions. Training and testing of the proposed soil moisture retrieval model are conducted to verify and validate its performance and address the effects of input image sizes and errors on input images. The soil moisture level estimation performance decreases when the input image size increases as the ratio of the pixel corresponding to the point to estimate soil moisture level to the total number of pixels in the input image, whereas the input image size should be large enough to include this pixel under the errors in input images. The comparative study shows that the proposed CNN-based algorithm is advantageous on estimation performance by maintaining spatial information of pixels on the input images.

Effect of Soil Moisture Level on the growth of the Giant African Land Snails, Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina in different season.

This study focused on the evaluation of the effect of soil moisture on the feed intake and weight gain of the Giant African Land snails, Achatina achatina and Archachatina marginata in different seasons using a 2 x 2 x 4 factorial experiment with soil moisture at two levels (low 25ml of water/ week and high 100ml water/week), species at two levels (Achatina achatina and Archachatina marginata) and season at four levels (cold dry, hot dry, hot wet and cold wet) constituting the three factors. Result showed that there was a significant seasonal differences (P<0.001) for weekly feed intake of snails in which values of 3.85, 2.53, 3.88 and 4.44g were recorded in cold dry, hot dry, hot wet and cold wet seasons, respectively. Monthly weight gains of 5.41g recorded for Archachatina marginata was significantly higher (P<0.001) than the value of 1.94g recorded for Achatina achatina. There was significant interaction (P<0.001) between soil moisture level and species on monthly weight gains of the snails. The feed intake and weight gain of snails (4.28 g and 6.43 g) in the high soil moisture treatment was significantly (P<0.01) higher than those in the low soil moisture treatment (3.07 g and 5.30 g). In conclusion, it is evident that species, season and soil moisture level affected the feed intake and weight gain of the Giant African Land Snails