Agricultural Engineering International (E-Journal, CIGR - International Commission of Agricultural Engineering)
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Performance Evaluation of the Enset Decorticator Machine and comparison of the end product with manual decortication method
Full text linkEnset is perennial herbaceous root crop and about twenty percent of Ethiopia’s population used Enset for human food, fiber, animal forage, construction materials, and medicines. Decortication of this crop was mostly by traditional methods. This traditional method is inefficient, unhygienic, gender based, less productive and time consuming. To alleviate this problem, the way aimed for developing engine driven Enset decorticator. Therefore the objective this study was to determine the performance of the constructed enset decorticated machine in Wolkite University. The decorticating machine consists of cylindrical shaped drum, blade, inclined plate, storage device, output holes and 6.5 horsepower diesel engine. The developed diesel engine motor driven decorticator was tested in the laboratory and field. In laboratory test machine checked its specification and operational test. The result revealed that, at drum speed 1200 rpm the machine had maximum decorticating efficiency, fiber cleaning efficiency and lower un-decorticated sheath which was 95.35%, 93.16% and 6.15% respectively. When compared with traditional methods, the end product of the manual decorticated kocho can ferment faster than machine decorticated due to high value of PH, which had mean result of 5.69 and 5.01 respectively. And the time required to finish single sheath machine consume less time than manual method of decortication which has mean value of 0.25 sec and 1.14 sec respectively
Keywords: Decortication, Enset, Performance, spee
Modeling shear resistance of alfalfa stem against semi-static loads
Full text linkKnowledge of the physical properties of alfalfa stems is essential in the design of alfalfa harvesting machines. In this research, the components of force, strength, energy, and shearing power in fresh alfalfa stem by cutting blade at four-speed levels of V1=125mm/min, V2=250mm/min, V3=375mm/min, V4=500mm/min and three ranges of diameter D1=2-2.5mm, D2 =2.5-3mm, D3=3-3.5mm has been investigated. Examining Duncan's variance analysis table shows that the changes in speed and diameter on the force, stress, energy, and shear power are significant at a 1% level. The range of force, tension, energy, and shear power is 1.72-37.57N, 0.47-4.64Mpa, 0.008-0.15j, and 0.004-0.086w, respectively. Also, to investigate the cumulative effect of cutting the stems that occurs in harvesting with a cutting comb, the components of force, energy, and shearing power have been investigated in bunches of two, three, and four hay at a speed level of 500mm/min. The range of force, energy, and shear power in the multiple of alfalfa stem are 11.16-49.06 N, 0.07-0.46j, and 0.04-0.18w, respectively
A Preliminary Study of Phytochemical Quantification and Thermal Characterization of Faloak (Sterculia quadrifida R. Br) Leaf Powder
Full text linkNative to East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, the faloak plant is used in traditional medicine, concentrating on its bark. Faloak leaves, on the other hand, are a plentiful and promising natural resource complete with phytochemical components that are worth investigating for both food and medical uses. Thus, this work aims to determine the phytochemical quantification, represented by total phenolic and flavonoid content, and the thermal properties of faloak leaf powder originating from East Nusa Tenggara. The result revealed that the faloak leaf powder has a high total phenolic and flavonoid content of 89.26 mg GAE/g DW and 9.57 mg QE/g DW, respectively. Faloak leaf powder has a particle size distribution of 0.145 to 110.467 µm, with a d50 of 10.072 µm. Also, it has a negative surface charge, with a value of -19.1 mV, based on the zeta potential analysis. The presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in faloak leaf powder was confirmed by the fingerprint chemical bounds of those compounds in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra. Furthermore, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential thermo-analysis (DTA) demonstrated that the faloak leaf powder revealed good stability at moderate temperatures. As a result, faloak leaf powder has the potential and promise to be used as a functional ingredient in developing innovative functional food products or applications in other fields, such as pharmaceuticals
Effect of conservation tillage senarios on energy consumption in soybean production in Iran: Case study (Golestan province)
Full text linkA study was conducted to determine the effect of four tillage methods on the energy efficiency indices in soybean cultivation in northern Iran, Golestan province. Four tillage methods including conventional tillage (CT) (Disk harrow+planting with planter), minimum tillage (MT) (Chisel packer+planting with planter), no-tillage with no-till planter (NT-Planter) and no tillage with no-till grain drill (NT-Grain drill) were used in this study. Experimental design was a randomized complete block design with four replications. Energy efficiency indices consisted of energy ratio (ER), energy productivity (EP), energy intensity (EI) and net energy gain (NEG) were then calculated. The results indicated that NT-Grain drill had the highest energy ratio of 4.5 and yield of 3612 kg ha-1 more than the other treatments. The energy efficiency is higher in NT-Grain drill and equals to 0.7777, 108.3%, followed by the NT-Planter (0.7531, 100.1%), MT and CT (0.7183, 100%). The high values of energy productivity in NT-Grain drill (0.19 kg MJ-1) and in NT-Planter (0.17 kg MJ-1) compared to the CT (0.15 kg MJ-1), showed that NT systems had higher energy efficiencies. Although minimum tillage had the lowest consumption of energy with the amount of 2030.2 MJ ha-1among the treatments but due to reduction of soybean yield with the amount of 2794 kg had the lowest amount of net energy gain. The consumed energy of conventional tillage method was also obtained 2840.6 MJ ha-1. Using of conservation tillage methods would lead to less energy consumption and proper management and optimum use of inputs
Design and Development of Robot for Harvesting Cotton Bolls
Full text linkMost of the cotton crop in India is harvested by handpicking, by women workers in general. Manual harvesting is very labour intensive and also a difficult activity involving drudgery. Cotton cultivation in India occupies a big share in commercial crops and is facing a major problem of harvesting labour. Objective of this work is to design and develop a cotton boll harvesting robot which is suitable for Indian farming practices meeting the needs of small and medium scale farmers. Field study and detailed literature review has been carried out to understand the cultivation of cotton crop, current harvesting practices and harvesting robots developed for other crops. Data collected through field visits was used to develop the cotton plant canopy and boll distribution within the canopy. This helped to decide the harvesting task space, maximum reach, and cotton-picking trajectories for the proposed cotton boll harvesting robot. Based in these requirements, specifications of the proposed cotton-picking robot were developed. Different conceptual robot designs involving standard arm configurations were developed to meet the specification and the best was selected considering compactness, weight, operational speed and control complexity. The selected design is a three link TRR configuration robot with mobile base equipped with vacuum type end-effector. A 3D model of the Cotton boll harvesting robot was created using SolidWorks software and the model was simulated in ADAMS software to validate its working and extract joint torques and other results. Detailed design of components and sub- systems was carried out to meet the design requirements of cotton boll harvesting robot. Designed components were fabricated as per requirements, sub systems were integrated and assembled. The developed cotton boll harvesting robot was integrated with the controller, programmed and proved for its work successfully. The developed robot has been tested in controlled laboratory conditions and it is capable of harvesting cotton bolls, with an average speed of 60 sec to pick 10 cotton bolls. The overall weight and cost of the system can be reduced further through optimization of sub-systems/ components. Also, future research has to focus on implementing image processing and testing of the robot in outdoor farming conditions. By replacing the dc motors used presently with servo motors, high precision and accuracy of the system can be achieved
Engr Optimizing ETo Model Selection: Spatial Insights for Climate-Smart Decision Making.
No full textThis study investigates the performance evaluation of 17 empirical evapotranspiration (ETo) models against the FAO-PM reference using the ERA5 dataset with a 0.10x 0.10 grid resolution from 1959 to 2022 using two multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods, VIKOR and MMOORA. The study focuses on spatial performance metrics to assess the suitability of these models across diverse climatic regions in Nigeria. Results reveal substantial spatial variations in model performance. Temperature-based models by Linacre, Ivanor, and Papadakis show stronger performance in the northern region with a KGE value greater than or equal to 0.5 but perform worse across the south. Conversely, radiation-based models exhibit worse performance across all the grid cells, showing the need for adjustments to accurately simulate local evapotranspiration processes. Mass transfer‑based models Penman, Mahringer, Trabert, and WMO consistently display promising performance with a KGE value of greater than 0.5, with select models surpassing optimal KGE values across all the grid cells. Through the application of VIKOR and MMOORA, this study emphasizes the significance of spatial performance metrics in accurately selecting the suitability of ETo models for diverse climatic regions, advocating for the VIKOR method's superior efficacy in identifying appropriate models across varied geographical contexts
Enhanced performance and theoretical parametric study on an activated stepped-type solar still compared to the conventional passive one
No full textTo improve its performance, a modified stepped-type solar still (M-SSS) was implemented and setup with the same dimensions and specifications for conducting the performance comparison with the conventional one (C-SSS) through: installing external booster reflectors at top and bottom edges with the optimum inclined angles; integrating with a flat plate collector for preheating the inlet salty water; augmenting the still receiver with air cooling DC-fans powered by a PV solar panel for enhancing the evaporation and condensation rates. Thus, two SSSs were experimentally assessed at Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt (Latitude 30.5o – Longitude 31.5o) under three different water salinity levels of 15000, 35000 and 45000 ppm under solar radiation insolation range of 490-998 W/m2 and ambient temperature range of 31.8 to 36.5 oC. Additionally, a comparative parametric analysis was conducted on thermo-physical properties to describe the evaporative properties of the water that express to productivity and efficiency of both SSSs. The theoretical analyses are proved to be 62% of output production for the M-SSS higher than the C-SSS. The accumulative daily distillate output production of the M-SSS recorded 11.92 and 11.38, 10.92 and 4.48 to kg/m2.day with an overall increase of 121.5, 133.0 and 143.3 % compared to the C-SSS for the previous salinity levels, respectively. Furthermore, the daily performance efficiency of the M-SSS was 56.3, 64.7 and 62%, meanwhile its annual cost of one kilogram of distillate water is decreased by 25, 39.8 and 42.5% for the same salinity levels, respectively. Thus, low cost and more performance improvements of stepped solar still for the represent modifications in this study is obtained. So, it could be recommended
Environmental impact assessment of dryland winter wheat cultivation in different tillage systems
Full text linkTillage operations account for the major of energy consumption in agricultural operation and reducing non-renewable energy use in tillage has important results for decreasing greenhouse gases emissions. So, the purpose of present study was to survey the energy consumption and environmental effects of two tillage systems in dryland winter wheat cultivation. The required data were collected using oral questionnaire and direct visiting from farmers in the west of Iran. Life cycle assessment was used by ReCiPe2016 method for survey wheat production environmental impacts under two tillage systems. The results indicated that the conservation system consumes about 16% less energy compared to the conventional system. The energy ratio of conservation system was about 19% higher than that of conventional system. The CO2 emission amounts due to the use of diesel fuel were calculated about 297 and 186 kg ha−1 in conventional and conservation tillage systems, respectively. Life cycle assessment results showed that all the investigated environmental indicators in the conservation system are better than the conventional system. Also direct emissions were the main hotspots of environmental damages in two systems. It was concluded that in conservation system, dryland wheat can be produced with lower environmental impacts than conventional system
Ginger Processing and Applications in Vietnam's Food Industry: A Comprehensive Review
Full text linkGinger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae family, has been used for centuries in various industries, such as foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, due to its health-beneficial and aroma compounds. Vietnam plays a significant role in the global ginger market, ranking 4th in terms of ginger cultivation area and contributing approximately 5% of worldwide production (Ginger Market Size, Share, Price Trends and Forecast 2023-2028, n.d.). The present review focused on the preliminary processing of ginger, as well as different processing techniques like drying dried ginger powder and ginger starch), distillation (essential oil), extraction (oleoresin, wine and liquor), and fermentation (pickle and candied). A comparison is drawn between the traditional and modern methods to achieve a higher yield of ginger essential oil and ginger oleoresin. Additionally, other applications of ginger in food preservation (seafood and post-harvest products), food flavoring (instant ginger tea, jelly, beer, and liqueur) and the utilization of ginger residue are also discussed. This study provides an overview that highlights the diverse production processes of ginger products while emphasizing the utilization of semi-finished or by-products of ginger for other food-related purposes
Effect of growth stage based water stress on yield and water use efficiency of tomato at tselemty district, Tigray, Ethiopia
Full text linkWater availability is a strong challenge especially under water resource scarce areas. In water-scarce regions as is of Ethiopia, optimum yield and enhanced water use efficiency of crops can be obtained if best irrigation water management stategey is adopted . The deficit irrigation practices become the main adopting policies for water saving. A two year field experiment carried out at Maitebri Agricultural Research Center, Maitsebri experimental farm during 2020 and 2021 off seasons to find out the effect of growth stage based water stress on yield, yield parameters and water use efficiency of Tomato. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications used in the field trial. Three irrigation levels (100%, 50%, and 25% crop evapotranspiration) and FAO based four growth stages of tomato (initial,developmental, mid and late seasons) was considered as treatments. Data on marketable yield, other yield parameters and crop water use efficiency (WUE) were recorded. Results showed us, reducing the full crop water requirement up to 75% at development growth stage can severely reduce the marketable yield up to 66.5%. On the other hand, the highest in water use efficiency (9.2kgm-3) was obtained with reducing the full crop water requirement by 75% at the end growth stage of tomato. The lowest in water use efficiency (3.5kgm-3) was obtained from treatments that were irrigating 75% below the full crop-evapotranspiration at development growth stage. Generally, reducing irrigation water below 75%ETc during development growth stage of tomato can significantly influence the marketable, water use efficiency and yield parameters. Therefore, tomato crop is very sensitive to water stress beyond 50% of the full crop evapotranspiration (ETc) at its developmental growth stage