Effectiveness of Three Terminating Products on Reducing the Residual Moisture in Dwarf Castor Plants: A Preliminary Study of Direct Mechanical Harvesting in Central Greece

The contribution of castor oil for reaching the targets set by RED1 and RED2 in Europe can be tangible if the problem related to the mechanical harvesting is overcome. Dwarf hybrids suitable for mechanical harvesting are already available on the market but the residual moisture of plants and capsules has to be lowered in order to allow mechanization. In the present case of study, three common terminating products (Glyphosate GLY, Diquat DIQ and Spotlight DEF) were tested on Kaiima C1012 hybrid in a complete randomized block design to assess the effectiveness of using chemical products to decrease residual moisture in castor plants. Plants were harvested via combine harvester equipped with cereal header to evaluate seed loss (due to dehiscence, impact and cleaning shoe) and the dehulling capacity of the combine harvester’s cleaning shoe. DIQ decreased significantly moisture content of capsules (7.32%) in comparison to the other treatments, while the lowest plant moisture was recorded in DIQ (62.38%) and GLY (59.12%). The use of DIQ triggered the highest impact seed loss (61.75%) in comparison with GLY (46.50%) and DEF (29.02%). Control plants could not be harvested mechanically due to the high residual moisture content and high density of weeds. The present case of study provides highlights regarding the need to further investigate the best practice to terminate castor plants and to develop a specific combine header to reduce seed loss from impact.

FPGA-Embedded Smart Monitoring System for Irrigation Decisions Based on Soil Moisture and Temperature Sensors

The basic need common to all living beings is water. Less than 1% of the water on earth is fresh water and water use is increasing daily. Agricultural practices alone require huge amounts of water. The drip technique improved the efficiency of water use in irrigation and initiated the introduction and development of fertigation, the integrated distribution of water and fertilizer. The past few decades have seen extensive research being carried out in the area of development and evaluation of different technologies available to estimate/measure soil moisture to aid in various applications and to facilitate the use of drip irrigation for users and farmers. In this technology, plant moisture and temperature are accurately monitored and controlled in real time over roots in the form of droplets, by developing smart monitoring system to save water and avoid water waste using drip irrigation technology. Water is delivered to the roots drop by drop, which saves water as well as prevents plants from being flooded and decaying due to excess water released by irrigation methods such as flood irrigation, border irrigation, furrow irrigation, and control basin irrigation. Drip irrigation with an embedded intelligent monitoring system is one of the most valuable techniques used to save water and farmers’ time and energy. In this paper, we design an embedded monitoring system based in the integrated 65 nm CMOS technology in agricultural practices which would facilitate agriculture and enable farmers to monitor crops. Hence, to demonstrate the feasibility, a prototype was constructed and simulated with modelsim and validated with nclaunch the both tools from Cadence, as well as implementation on the FPGA board, was be performed.

Rancang Bangun Alat Penyiram Sayuran Hidroponik Menggunakan Arduino Mega 2560

Activities suitable for planting with hydroponic systems in the midst of covid 19 pendemi are in great demand by utilizing limited land. One of the elements in suitable planting activities is water, because 70 percent of the molecules in plants are water. Water serves as the raw material of plants in the process of photosynthesis and can also keep plant moisture from withering. Currently the method of watering plants is still done manually by checking the condition of the soil, if the soil condition is dry then the new water pump is turned on for watering. But the method is considered less effective because it requires farmers to do regular checks and should not forget so that the soil does not dry so that the plants do not wither. To answer these problems in this study want to provide certainty how the plant gets enough water. One of the efforts that can be done is to make an automatic watering tool that without having to take time so as to give an efficient impact. The tool is made using Arduino Mega 2560 Components that serve as controllers in the watering system with the help of smartphones for remote control.

Dry Matter Estimation of Standing Corn with Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

HIGHLIGHTSQuadratic relationships were established to relate ear moisture or stover moisture to whole plant moisture, and they explained 90% and 84% of whole plant moisture, respectively. Based on our observations, the moisture content of a corn field can be estimated within +1% w.b. in 19 out of 20 fields by sampling 5-10 plants. The calibration offered by SCiO was successful at predicting oven-dried moisture content based on traditional NIRS metrics of R2 = 0.92, RMSE = 3.6, RPD = 3.2, and RER = 15. However, the 95% prediction bands were +6.9% w.b., which would indicate little utility in estimating ear moisture content. Based on a prediction model that was developed using the data collected for this study, a significant instrument-to-instrument bias was observed, indicating the necessity of including multiple SCiO devices in calibration spectra collection. ABSTRACT. Determining the appropriate time to harvest whole-plant corn is an essential factor driving the successful preservation via anaerobic fermentation (ensiling). The current options for timely on-farm monitoring of corn moisture in the field include selecting a set of representative plants, chopping and drying a subsample, or harvesting a portion of the field using a harvester equipped with an on-board moisture sensing system. Both methods are time-consuming and expensive, limiting their practicality for harvest decision-making. This work’s objective was to develop a practical solution that utilizes the moisture content of the ear to estimate whole-plant moisture. An improvement of this method was also considered that utilized a hand-held near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) device to predict ear moisture in situ. Based on the data collected during this work, a quadratic relationship was developed where ear moisture explained 90% of the variability in whole-plant corn moisture. However, based on our observations, the hand-held NIRS evaluated would have little utility in predicting whole-plant corn moisture with either the calibration developed here or provided by the manufacturer. The manufacturer’s prediction model yielded the best result with an R2 of 0.92, and a ratio of performance to deviation of 3.19. However, the 95% prediction band was +6.85% w.b. Finally, we determined that for a corn field uniform in appearance, sampling five to ten plants is likely to provide a reasonable estimate of field moisture. Keywords: Corn silage, Forage analysis, Harvest timing, Moisture content, NIRS.

Waste processing method and environmental protection in the agro-industrial complex

The article presents the features of conservation of leafy mass of high-protein crops of the legume family, the disadvantages of traditional preparation of biomass for silage in fodder production. The results of studying the possibility of reducing plant moisture by mechanical means, using the press residue as a raw material for making haylage, and brown juice as a preservative are presented. The results of the development of a method for silage of the pressed alfalfa residue with the introduction of fermented brown juice enriched with the metabolic products of lactic acid and propionic acid bacteria - organic acids, to intensify the process of fermentation of feed. The analysis of the chemical composition of plant raw materials and the obtained haylage was carried out, the value of fodder, energy value and potential harmlessness for feeding to animals was determined.

Mapping buried paleogeographical features of the Nile Delta (Egypt) using the Landsat archive

The contribution highlights the use of Landsat spectral-temporal metrics (STMs) for the detection of surface anomalies that are potentially related to buried near-surface paleogeomorphological deposits in the Nile Delta (Egypt), in particular for a buried river branch close to Buto. The processing was completed in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) for the entire Nile Delta and for selected seasons of the year (summer/winter) using Landsat data from 1985 to 2019. We derived the STMs of the tasseled cap transformation (TC), the Normalized Difference Wetness Index (NDWI), and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). These features were compared to historical topographic maps of the Survey of Egypt, CORONA imagery, the digital elevation model of the TanDEM-X mission, and modern high-resolution satellite imagery. The results suggest that the extent of channels is best revealed when differencing the median NDWI between summer (July/August) and winter (January/February) seasons (ΔNDWI). The observed difference is likely due to lower soil/plant moisture during summer, which is potentially caused by coarser-grained deposits and the morphology of the former levee. Similar anomalies were found in the immediate surroundings of several Pleistocene sand hills (“geziras”) and settlement mounds (“tells”) of the eastern delta, which allowed some mapping of the potential near-surface continuation. Such anomalies were not observed for the surroundings of tells of the western Nile Delta. Additional linear and meandering ΔNDWI anomalies were found in the eastern Nile Delta in the immediate surroundings of the ancient site of Bubastis (Tell Basta), as well as several kilometers north of Zagazig. These anomalies might indicate former courses of Nile river branches. However, the ΔNDWI does not provide an unambiguous delineation.