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Agriculture
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Engineering Innovations in Agriculture
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Engineering Innovations in Agriculture

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2023) | Viewed by 34672

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vadim Bolshev

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Head of Laboratory of Intelligent Agricultural Machines and Complexes, Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don 344000, Russia
2. Senior Scientific Officer, Laboratory of Power Supply and Heat Supply, Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM, 109456 Moscow, Russia
Interests: agroengineering technologies; rural power supply; renewable energy; electric vehicles; smart agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Vladimir Panchenko

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Russian University of Transport, 127994 Moscow, Russia
2. Laboratory of Systems of Non-Traditional Energy, Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM, 109456 Moscow, Russia
Interests: renewable energy; agroengineering technologies; autonomous power supply; electric transport; three-dimensional modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Alexey Sibirev

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Head of Laboratory of Machine Technologies for Cultivation and Harvesting of Vegetable Crops in Open Ground, Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM, 109456 Moscow, Russia
2. Professor RAS, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Russian Academy of Science, 109428 Moscow, Russia
Interests: resource-saving technologies; olericulture; potato growing; complex of machines; robotization; automation; selection; seed production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rural development is an essential constituent of the global economy which allows employing 40 percent of the world's population and becoming the primary determinant of tackling the global problem of poverty. However, within agriculture, a decrease in the quantity and quality of crop harvest and livestock productivity is observed due to a deterioration in soil fertility, environment, as well as irrational use of natural resources. At the same time, agricultural areas are under pressure from population growth requiring more food production. As a result, it increases the expansion of people into intact primary areas so as to increase the area of crops, pastures, etc. which leads to the destruction of natural diversity. The solution to avoid the disaster is to increase agricultural production efficiency to expand crop harvest and livestock productivity without deteriorating their quality. It requires introducing innovative engineering technologies to agriculture. Fortunately, technology is developing rapidly nowadays and new driving scientific forces are emerging, such as big data, Internet of Things, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, renewable energy technologies, and drone technologies, which makes significant inroads into the development of all fields of agroengineering science.

The Special Issue “Engineering Innovations in Agriculture” aims to seek high-quality research and review articles from academics and industry-related researchers in the areas of Agricultural Engineering covering the following topics: harvesting and planting crops, livestock production, livestock and agro-food waste utilization, seed treatment and transportation, water treatment, agricultural robotic applications, solutions for digital and precision agriculture, hardware and software support for pest and weed control, machine learning, energy efficiency and conservation in agriculture.

Dr. Vadim Bolshev
Dr. Vladimir Panchenko
Prof. Dr. Alexey Sibirev
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agriculture mechanization
  • agriculture electrification
  • greenhouses
  • harvest technologies
  • irrigation
  • livestock production
  • precision farming
  • postharvest technologies
  • renewable energy
  • smart farming
  • seed treatment
  • waste management and recycling
  • pest and weed control
  • precision farming

Published Papers (20 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 172 KiB  
Editorial
Engineering Innovations in Agriculture
by Vadim Bolshev, Vladimir Panchenko and Alexey Sibirev
Agriculture 2023, 13(7), 1328; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13071328 - 29 Jun 2023
Viewed by 955
Abstract
Nowadays, the expansion of people into intact primary areas has been observed alongside an increase in the area of land devoted to crops, pastures, etc [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

25 pages, 6055 KiB  
Article
High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Equipment for Agriculture Power Supply
by Olga Shepovalova, Andrey Izmailov, Yakov Lobachevsky and Alexey Dorokhov
Agriculture 2023, 13(6), 1234; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13061234 - 12 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1099
Abstract
Developing an energy supply based on resources whose use does not spoil the noosphere and the creation of such energy supply of efficient equipment whose operation does not cause any damage to nature and man is an urgent task. The need for such [...] Read more.
Developing an energy supply based on resources whose use does not spoil the noosphere and the creation of such energy supply of efficient equipment whose operation does not cause any damage to nature and man is an urgent task. The need for such an approach is especially relevant and noticeable in agriculture. This article presents the final results of complex studies of new PV devices and PV systems based on them. Considered in the article are the best solutions we propose to improve PV equipment and make it more attractive for agricultural consumers. The developed vertical and planar high-voltage multijunction silicon PV cells and PV modules on their basis are presented. The first type of modules have a maximum power point voltage of up to 1000 V, specific power of up to 0.245 ± 0.01 W/cm2, and efficiency of up to 25.3% under a concentration ratio range of 10–100 suns. The samples of the second module type (60,156.75 × 156.75 mm PV cells) have an open-circuit voltage of 439.7 V, a short-circuit current of 0.933 A, and a maximum power of 348 W. Additionally, two types of newly designed solar energy concentrators are described in this article: one-dimensional double-wing concentrator ensuring low Fresnel optical losses and multi-zone parabolotoric microconcentrator with the uniform radiation distribution in the focal region, as well as modules based on these concentrators and the developed PV cells. For PV modules, the maximum power degradation is 0.2–0.24% per year in a wet ammonia environment. For concentrating PV modules, this degradation is 0.22–0.37% per year. This article sets out the principles of increasing the efficiency of PV systems by increasing the level of systematization and expanding the boundaries of PV systems. The thus-created PV systems satisfy 30–50% more consumer needs. Thanks to a higher output voltage and other specific features of the developed modules, PV system loss decreased by 12–15%, and maintenance losses also decreased. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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16 pages, 3465 KiB  
Article
Influence of Factors Determining Weeds’ Plant Tissue Reaction to the Electric Pulse Damage Impact
by Igor Yudaev, Yuliia Daus, Vladimir Panchenko and Vadim Bolshev
Agriculture 2023, 13(5), 1099; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13051099 - 21 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1467
Abstract
Due to the emerging danger to the life of animals and people, today there is a turn to safe technologies for controlling weeds by physical methods, both from the point of view of ecology and food safety, which include the destruction of plants [...] Read more.
Due to the emerging danger to the life of animals and people, today there is a turn to safe technologies for controlling weeds by physical methods, both from the point of view of ecology and food safety, which include the destruction of plants using an electric current, in particular, high-voltage electrical pulses. The purpose of the study presented in the article is to identify and evaluate the effect of high-voltage electrical pulses on the irreversible damage to the intracellular structures of the plant tissue of weeds and unwanted grasses during their electric weed control, characterizing and evaluating the parameters and modes associated with such processing. Experimental studies were carried out using a laboratory experimental setup that consists of a pulse voltage generator, a control circuit for a spherical forming spark gap, and schemes for measuring the electrical resistance of the plant tissue of the weed sample. The lesion level made it possible to control the depth of irreversible damage to the internal structure of the plant tissue of weeds by measuring its tolerance (the conductivity of the tissue increased with increasing damage to the cellular components of the tissue).The irreversible damage to the plant tissues of weeds for weeds of various biological groups, which is characterized by reaching the value of at least 4.0–7.5 degrees of damage to their tissues, can be acted on them with high-voltage electrical pulses in the treated tissue of an electric field intensity of at least 3.74 kV/cm, while ensuring specific processing electric energy for the reliable processing of weeds: for Euphórbia virgáta, thise quals 5.2…17.5 J/cm3; for Amaránthus retrofléxus, it is 3.5…7.7 J/cm3; for Cirsium arvense, it is 2.7…10.9 J/cm3;for Sónchus arvénsis, it is 3.7…15.8 J/cm3; and for Lactúca tatárica, it is 3.3…8.1 J/cm3. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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16 pages, 6589 KiB  
Article
Design and Experiments of a Double-Cutterbar Combine Header Used in Wheat Combine Harvesters
by Linghe Yuan, Mingming Lan, Xun He, Wenhe Wei, Wanzhang Wang and Zhe Qu
Agriculture 2023, 13(4), 817; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13040817 - 31 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2270
Abstract
To solve the problems of congestion and increased power consumption of wheat combine harvesters (WCHs) caused by excessive feed rate, this paper proposes a method to reduce the feed rate by decreasing the feed length of the stalk and designs a double-cutterbar combine [...] Read more.
To solve the problems of congestion and increased power consumption of wheat combine harvesters (WCHs) caused by excessive feed rate, this paper proposes a method to reduce the feed rate by decreasing the feed length of the stalk and designs a double-cutterbar combine header (DCH). Using the threshing test bench and taking the feed rate, the feed length of the stalk, and the speed of the tangential threshing rotor as the influencing factors and the conveying time as the index, the influence of different parameters on the conveying performance was analyzed. The optimal parameters were obtained: the feed rate was 8 kg/s, the feed length of the stalk was 380 mm, the speed of the cutting drum was 554 r/min, and the conveying time was 8.089 s. The optimized parameter combination was tested and verified, and the test results show that the relative error with the predicted value was 0.198%, proving the reliability of the optimized parameters. The critical components of the DCH were designed, the movement process of the profiling mechanism was simulated using ADAMS software, and the structural dimensions of the profiling mechanism were determined. The field performance test of the WCH with a DCH was carried out. The results showed that the loss rate and stubble height met the operation quality requirements. At the same operation speed, the fuel consumption was 11.2% less than that of the WCH with a conventional header, providing a technical reference for the efficient harvest of the WCHs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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19 pages, 13577 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Prospective of Weed Amaranthus retroflexus for Biofuel Production through Pyrolysis
by Julia Karaeva, Svetlana Timofeeva, Marat Gilfanov, Marina Slobozhaninova, Olga Sidorkina, Ekaterina Luchkina, Vladimir Panchenko and Vadim Bolshev
Agriculture 2023, 13(3), 687; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13030687 - 15 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1624
Abstract
Amaranthus retroflexus or redroot pigweed is a second generation lignocellulosic fuel. Each biomass sample (leaves, inflorescences and stems) was pyrolyzed in a lab-scale furnace, in a nitrogen atmosphere under non-isothermal conditions at heating rates of 10 °C/min until the furnace temperature reached 550 [...] Read more.
Amaranthus retroflexus or redroot pigweed is a second generation lignocellulosic fuel. Each biomass sample (leaves, inflorescences and stems) was pyrolyzed in a lab-scale furnace, in a nitrogen atmosphere under non-isothermal conditions at heating rates of 10 °C/min until the furnace temperature reached 550 °C. The pyrolysis characteristics of the three major components were also studied through thermogravimetric analysis. The thermal decomposition of the biomass samples is similar to the process of pyrolysis of lignocellulosic materials and proceeds in three main stages: dehydration, devolatilization, and carbonation. The highest bio-oil yield was obtained for inflorescences (55%) and leaves (45%). Gas chromatography—mass spectrometry analysis was carried out for oil fractions of the pyrolysis liquid from Amaranthus retroflexus. The composition of the pyrolysis oil fraction from the leaves had an overbearing aliphatic hydrocarbon nature whereas the oil fraction from inflorescences and stems was composed mainly of oxygen-containing components. The use of Amaranthus retroflexus biochars can lead to slag formation in power equipment, so it is advisable to use them to produce composite fuel, for example, mixed with coal. The results would help to better understand the thermal behavior of Amaranthus retroflexus biomass and its utilization for fuels or chemicals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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23 pages, 4475 KiB  
Article
Research on the Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problem for Fresh Agricultural Products Based on Customer Value
by Daqing Wu, Jiyu Li, Jiye Cui and Dong Hu
Agriculture 2023, 13(3), 681; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13030681 - 14 Mar 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1900
Abstract
With continuous improvements in people’s consumption levels, consumers’ demands for safe and fresh agricultural products increase. The increase in the number of vehicles and serious congestion on roads has led to problems, such as the weak timeliness of urban cold chain logistics, high [...] Read more.
With continuous improvements in people’s consumption levels, consumers’ demands for safe and fresh agricultural products increase. The increase in the number of vehicles and serious congestion on roads has led to problems, such as the weak timeliness of urban cold chain logistics, high carbon emissions, low customer value and reduced customer satisfaction. In this study, carbon emissions, customer satisfaction, customer value and cost are considered, and an optimization algorithm is established to solve the time-dependent vehicle routing problem in urban cold chain logistics. For road congestion at different time periods during the cold chain distribution process, the segment function is used to express the vehicle speed. According to the characteristics of the model, considering the constraints of the time window and vehicle capacity, an improved NSGA-II algorithm with the local optimization characteristics of the greedy algorithm (G-NSGA-II) is proposed, and the sorting fitness strategy is optimized. In addition, we carry out a series of experiments on existing vehicle routing problem examples and analyze them in a real background to evaluate and prove the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm. The experiment results show that the proposed approach effectively reduces the total cost, enhances customer value and promotes the long-term development of logistics companies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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11 pages, 829 KiB  
Article
Design of Device for Optical Luminescent Diagnostic of the Seeds Infected by Fusarium
by Maksim N. Moskovskiy, Mikhail V. Belyakov, Alexey S. Dorokhov, Andrey A. Boyko, Sergey V. Belousov, Oleg V. Noy, Anatoly A. Gulyaev, Sergey I. Akulov, Anastasia Povolotskaya and Igor Yu. Efremenkov
Agriculture 2023, 13(3), 619; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13030619 - 04 Mar 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1221
Abstract
The development and application of optical luminescent methods and devices will help obtain information quickly and objectively about the level of Fusarium infection of agricultural plants. For the previously obtained ranges, the spectral characteristics of excitation and luminescence of wheat, barley, and oats [...] Read more.
The development and application of optical luminescent methods and devices will help obtain information quickly and objectively about the level of Fusarium infection of agricultural plants. For the previously obtained ranges, the spectral characteristics of excitation and luminescence of wheat, barley, and oats of various degrees of infection were measured. The obtained dependences of flows on infection were approximated by linear regression models and relative sensitivities were determined. For wheat and barley, it is advisable to determine the degree of infection by the ratio of flows Φλ1/Φλ2, which makes it possible to calibrate the measuring device in relative units and increase its sensitivity. A method for determining the degree of infected seeds with Fusarium was developed. After the seeds are placed in a light-tight chamber, they are excited by radiation, and photoluminescence is recorded. The electrical signal from the radiation receiver is amplified and processed accounting for previously obtained calibration curves. In the universal device that measures the infection of wheat, barley, and oats seeds, it is necessary to have three radiation sources: 362 nm, 424 nm, and 485 nm. Based on the energy efficiency criteria, optimal LEDs and photodiodes, as well as a microcontroller, switches, operational amplifiers, a display, and other components of the device, were selected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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18 pages, 4483 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Comparative Field Studies for Root and Onion Harvester with Variable Angle Conveyor
by Alexey Dorokhov, Alexander Aksenov, Alexey Sibirev, Maxim Mosyakov, Nikolay Sazonov and Maria Godyaeva
Agriculture 2023, 13(3), 572; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13030572 - 26 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1627
Abstract
The long-term storage of vegetable crops and potatoes in storage, even with a small content of soil and plant impurities in the heap, does not ensure the preservation of the required quality indicators of marketable products. The lack of modern technological foundations for [...] Read more.
The long-term storage of vegetable crops and potatoes in storage, even with a small content of soil and plant impurities in the heap, does not ensure the preservation of the required quality indicators of marketable products. The lack of modern technological foundations for improving the design parameters of machines for harvesting vegetables and potatoes leads to the impossibility of eliminating the loss of root crops, their damage, as well as the high-quality process of cleaning from impurities. This circumstance is due to the fact that modern technologies and technical means of harvesting root crops and onions are not able to provide high-quality marketable products with minimal labor costs. In this regard, a modern separating system of the harvesting machine has been developed, which ensures the variation of technological parameters under changing conditions for the harvesting of root crops and onions. The experimental studies of the developed harvester with an experimental separating system made it possible to ensure the high-quality harvesting of potato and onion tubers with the following parameter values: a completeness of separation of more than 98% and a damage to products up to 1.7%, at a speed of movement of 1.7 m/s for the separating system; a completeness of separation of more than 98% and a product damage of up to 1.1% at a speed of up to 1.0 m/s for the harvester; and a separation completeness of more than 98% and a product damage of up to 1.4% at a commercial product extraction depth of 0.02 m. The results of comparative studies on the quality indicators of the machine for harvesting root crops in the harvesting of potato and onion tubers are presented, indicating the prevailing values of the quality indicators of work in the harvesting of potatoes, depending on the change in the regime indicators of the quality of work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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20 pages, 4823 KiB  
Article
Developing and Testing the Air Cooling System of a Combined Climate Control Unit Used in Pig Farming
by Ivan Ignatkin, Sergey Kazantsev, Nikolay Shevkun, Dmitry Skorokhodov, Nikita Serov, Aleksei Alipichev and Vladimir Panchenko
Agriculture 2023, 13(2), 334; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13020334 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1934
Abstract
This article presents the results of developing and testing the air-cooling system of a combined climate control unit used in pig farming. The authors have found a water-evaporative system to be the most efficient for cooling the air supply. Cooling systems of this [...] Read more.
This article presents the results of developing and testing the air-cooling system of a combined climate control unit used in pig farming. The authors have found a water-evaporative system to be the most efficient for cooling the air supply. Cooling systems of this type consume 0.003 kW/kW of electric power to produce 1 kW of cold. Based on the developed mathematical model for water-evaporative cooling in the combined climate control unit, the authors have determined that an air supply with a temperature of 31.2 °C and a relative humidity of 30.4% can be cooled by 8.3 °C when saturated with moisture to a relative humidity of 90.0% (by 11.7 °C at 100%). Experimental studies of the cooling system confirmed the theoretically obtained data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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17 pages, 3180 KiB  
Article
Pyrolysis of Amaranth Inflorescence Wastes: Bioenergy Potential, Biochar and Hydrocarbon Rich Bio-Oil Production
by Julia Karaeva, Svetlana Timofeeva, Svetlana Islamova, Kseny Bulygina, Firdavs Aliev, Vladimir Panchenko and Vadim Bolshev
Agriculture 2023, 13(2), 260; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13020260 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Many agro-industrial companies grow amaranth for the subsequent production of amaranth oil, flour, cereals, flakes, and bran. After the grain is extracted, waste in the form of inflorescences remains, which can be used to obtain useful new products. This work investigated the use [...] Read more.
Many agro-industrial companies grow amaranth for the subsequent production of amaranth oil, flour, cereals, flakes, and bran. After the grain is extracted, waste in the form of inflorescences remains, which can be used to obtain useful new products. This work investigated the use of pyrolysis to recycle amaranth inflorescence wastes (AIW). Thermochemical conversion experiments in an inert medium were carried out in a laboratory setup at 550 °C and a heating rate of 10 °C/min. It was found that the AIW pyrolysis produced 37.1 wt.% bio-oil, 35.8 wt.% pyrogas and 27.1 wt.% biochar. The oil fraction of the obtained bio-oil contains 41.8% of hydrocarbons. Thermogravimetric analysis of AIW was performed in the temperature range from 40 to 1000 °C at heating rates of 10, 15, and 20 °C/min in argon medium (75 mL/min). The kinetic parameters were determined by the model-free Friedman, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall, and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose methods. The average activation energy values are in the range of 208.44–216.17 kJ/mol, and they were used to calculate the thermodynamic parameters. The results indicate that the pyrolysis application will allow efficient conversion of AIW into value-added products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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20 pages, 2986 KiB  
Article
Optimal Design of Agricultural Mobile Robot Suspension System Based on NSGA-III and TOPSIS
by Zhanghao Qu, Peng Zhang, Yaohua Hu, Huanbo Yang, Taifeng Guo, Kaili Zhang and Junchang Zhang
Agriculture 2023, 13(1), 207; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13010207 - 14 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2165
Abstract
The stability of vehicles is influenced by the suspension system. At present, there are many studies on the suspension of traditional passenger vehicles, but few are related to agricultural mobile robots. There are structural differences between the suspension system of agricultural mobile robots [...] Read more.
The stability of vehicles is influenced by the suspension system. At present, there are many studies on the suspension of traditional passenger vehicles, but few are related to agricultural mobile robots. There are structural differences between the suspension system of agricultural mobile robots and passenger vehicles, which requires structural simplification and modelling concerning suspension of agricultural mobile robots. This study investigates the optimal design for an agricultural mobile robot’s suspension system designed based on a double wishbone suspension structure. The dynamics of the quarter suspension system were modelled based on Lagrange’s equation. In our work, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) was selected for conducting multi-objective optimization of the suspension design, combined with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to choose the optimal combination of parameters in the non-dominated solution set obtained by NSGA-III. We compared the performance of NSGA-III with that of other multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). Compared with the second-scoring solution, the score of the optimal solution obtained by NSGA-III increased by 4.92%, indicating that NSGA-III has a significant advantage in terms of the solution quality and robustness for the optimal design of the suspension system. This was verified by simulation in Adams that our method, which utilizes multibody dynamics, NSGA-III and TOPSIS, is feasible to determine the optimal design of a suspension system for an agricultural mobile robot. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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23 pages, 8037 KiB  
Article
Yolov5s-CA: An Improved Yolov5 Based on the Attention Mechanism for Mummy Berry Disease Detection
by Efrem Yohannes Obsie, Hongchun Qu, Yong-Jiang Zhang, Seanna Annis and Francis Drummond
Agriculture 2023, 13(1), 78; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13010078 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2842
Abstract
Early detection and accurately rating the level of plant diseases plays an important role in protecting crop quality and yield. The traditional method of mummy berry disease (causal agent: Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi) identification is mainly based on field surveys by crop protection experts [...] Read more.
Early detection and accurately rating the level of plant diseases plays an important role in protecting crop quality and yield. The traditional method of mummy berry disease (causal agent: Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi) identification is mainly based on field surveys by crop protection experts and experienced blueberry growers. Deep learning models could be a more effective approach, but their performance is highly dependent on the volume and quality of labeled data used for training so that the variance in visual symptoms can be incorporated into a model. However, the available dataset for mummy berry disease detection does not contain enough images collected and labeled from a real-field environment essential for making highly accurate models. Complex visual characteristics of lesions due to overlapping and occlusion of plant parts also pose a big challenge to the accurate estimation of disease severity. This may become a bigger issue when spatial variation is introduced by using sampling images derived from different angles and distances. In this paper, we first present the “cut-and-paste” method for synthetically augmenting the available dataset by generating additional annotated training images. Then, a deep learning-based object recognition model Yolov5s-CA was used, which integrates the Coordinated Attention (CA) module on the Yolov5s backbone to effectively discriminate useful features by capturing channel and location information. Finally, the loss function GIoU_loss was replaced by CIoU_loss to improve the bounding box regression and localization performance of the network model. The original Yolov5s and the improved Yolov5s-CA network models were trained on real, synthetic, and combined mixed datasets. The experimental results not only showed that the performance of Yolov5s-CA network model trained on a mixed dataset outperforms the baseline model trained with only real field images, but also demonstrated that the improved model can solve the practical problem of diseased plant part detection in various spatial scales with possible overlapping and occlusion by an overall precision of 96.30%. Therefore, our model is a useful tool for the estimation of mummy berry disease severity in a real field environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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27 pages, 6366 KiB  
Article
Experimental Study on Water Distribution and Droplet Kinetic Energy Intensity from Non-Circular Nozzles with Different Aspect Ratios
by Zixin Wang, Yue Jiang, Jialing Liu, Hong Li and Hao Li
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 2133; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12122133 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1144
Abstract
(1) Background: In sprinkler irrigation systems, the water distribution and droplet kinetic energy are affected by the shape of the nozzle. In this paper, the effects of working pressure and aspect ratio (L/D) of circular and non-circular nozzles (diamond and ellipse) on [...] Read more.
(1) Background: In sprinkler irrigation systems, the water distribution and droplet kinetic energy are affected by the shape of the nozzle. In this paper, the effects of working pressure and aspect ratio (L/D) of circular and non-circular nozzles (diamond and ellipse) on water distribution and droplet kinetic energy intensity were investigated; (2) Methods: The hydraulic performance of a PY15 impact sprinkler with circular and non-circular nozzles was assessed under different working pressures, and the droplet diameter, velocity, and kinetic energy intensity were measured by a 2D video disdrometer. Moreover, the coefficient of variation (CV) and form factor (β) were introduced to represent the water distribution and droplet characteristics; (3) Results: The results revealed that, under the same working pressure, the CV of the diamond nozzle was the smallest compared with that of the circular and elliptical nozzles, reflecting a more uniform water distribution. The uniformity of water distribution was the best when the L/D of the elliptical nozzle was the smallest. In general, the larger the outlet diameter, the larger the wetted radius and water application rate. In addition, the smaller the L/D, the smaller the peak water distribution value and the radial increase of the kinetic energy intensity of a single nozzle. The maximum droplet kinetic energy per unit volume of the elliptical nozzle was the smallest compared with that of the circular and diamond nozzles. The circular nozzle at 200 kPa and the diamond and elliptical nozzles at 100 kPa obtained the highest uniformity coefficients of combined kinetic energy intensity distribution, which were 55.93% (circular), 67.59% (diamond), and 57.78% (elliptical) when the combination spacings were 1.0 R, 1.1 R and 1.2 R, and 1.0 R, respectively. Finally, the fitting function of unit volume droplet kinetic energy, distance from the nozzle, L/D, and working pressure of non-circular nozzles was established, and a fitting coefficient of 0.92 was obtained, indicating that the fitting equation was accurate; (4) Conclusions: At low working pressures, the elliptic and diamond nozzles showed better water distributions than the circular nozzle. The distal average droplet diameters of the sprinkler with non-circular nozzles were found to be smaller than those produced by the circular nozzle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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20 pages, 6002 KiB  
Article
A Counting Method of Red Jujube Based on Improved YOLOv5s
by Yichen Qiao, Yaohua Hu, Zhouzhou Zheng, Huanbo Yang, Kaili Zhang, Juncai Hou and Jiapan Guo
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 2071; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12122071 - 02 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Due to complex environmental factors such as illumination, shading between leaves and fruits, shading between fruits, and so on, it is a challenging task to quickly identify red jujubes and count red jujubes in orchards. A counting method of red jujube based on [...] Read more.
Due to complex environmental factors such as illumination, shading between leaves and fruits, shading between fruits, and so on, it is a challenging task to quickly identify red jujubes and count red jujubes in orchards. A counting method of red jujube based on improved YOLOv5s was proposed, which realized the fast and accurate detection of red jujubes and reduced the model scale and estimation error. ShuffleNet V2 was used as the backbone of the model to improve model detection ability and light the weight. In addition, the Stem, a novel data loading module, was proposed to prevent the loss of information due to the change in feature map size. PANet was replaced by BiFPN to enhance the model feature fusion capability and improve the model accuracy. Finally, the improved YOLOv5s detection model was used to count red jujubes. The experimental results showed that the overall performance of the improved model was better than that of YOLOv5s. Compared with the YOLOv5s, the improved model was 6.25% and 8.33% of the original network in terms of the number of model parameters and model size, and the Precision, Recall, F1-score, AP, and Fps were improved by 4.3%, 2.0%, 3.1%, 0.6%, and 3.6%, respectively. In addition, RMSE and MAPE decreased by 20.87% and 5.18%, respectively. Therefore, the improved model has advantages in memory occupation and recognition accuracy, and the method provides a basis for the estimation of red jujube yield by vision. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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10 pages, 3049 KiB  
Article
Red Light Emitting Transition Metal Ion Doped Calcium Antimony Oxide for Plant Growth Lighting Applications
by Lankamsetty Krishna Bharat, Harishkumarreddy Patnam, Alexander Sokolov, Sergey V. Gudkov and Jae Su Yu
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 2066; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12122066 - 01 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1408
Abstract
In this work, we synthesized Mn4+-doped CaSb2O6 phosphors using the conventional solid-state reaction method for plant growth lighting applications. The morphological, structural, and optical properties were analyzed based on the results obtained from scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, [...] Read more.
In this work, we synthesized Mn4+-doped CaSb2O6 phosphors using the conventional solid-state reaction method for plant growth lighting applications. The morphological, structural, and optical properties were analyzed based on the results obtained from scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and spectrophotometer. The results of the spectrophotometer illustrate that the phosphors showed a red emission band in 550–800 nm wavelength range with peak maxima at 642 nm. The red emission in these phosphors is attributed to the 2Eg → 4A2g transition of Mn4+ ions. The emission intensity is increased with the doping of a charge compensator. The emission range of the phosphor covers the absorption range of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, phytochrome Pr, and phytochrome Pfr. The results signify that the prepared phosphor materials are suitable candidates for application in plant growth lighting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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16 pages, 5962 KiB  
Article
The Results of Studies on the Assessment of the Destruction of Soil Clods during Combine Harvesting of Potatoes
by Alexey Dorokhov, Otari Didmanidze, Alexander Aksenov, Alexey Sibirev, Nikolay Sazonov, Maxim Mosyakov and Maria Godyaeva
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 2024; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12122024 - 26 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1235
Abstract
Existing potato harvesters cause damage to marketable products as a result of the interaction of potato tubers with each other, with working bodies and soil clods, given the wide variety of soil and climatic conditions in which the harvesting process takes place. In [...] Read more.
Existing potato harvesters cause damage to marketable products as a result of the interaction of potato tubers with each other, with working bodies and soil clods, given the wide variety of soil and climatic conditions in which the harvesting process takes place. In addition, under homogeneous soil and climatic conditions within the same accounting area, there is a large deviation from the average values of the main physical soil constants—moisture and hardness. Field studies were carried out to determine the fractional composition of soil clods, size-mass parameters, as well as their physical and mechanical properties with the identification of the greatest force for their destruction. The article presents a methodology for conducting research to assess the influence of working bodies on the magnitude of the force impact on potato tubers and soil clods during harvesting, a methodology for assessing the dynamic destruction of soil clods. The results of comparative studies of the force impact of the working bodies of modern potato harvesters, which affect the destruction of soil clods, causing damage to potato tubers as a result of their interaction with soil clods are presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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17 pages, 4217 KiB  
Article
Research on Characteristics of Airway Pressure Loss in Seeding-Wheel-Type Pneumatic Seeder
by Xirui Zhang, Zhentuo Wen, Qingjie Wang, Hongwen Li, Zhifu Zhang and Junxiao Liu
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 2021; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12122021 - 26 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1360
Abstract
In order to optimize the parameters of the mechanism, reduce the pressure loss and improve the efficiency of pneumatic utilization, the principles and types of pneumatic loss in different areas were defined, and the key parameters, including the diameter of the horizontal air [...] Read more.
In order to optimize the parameters of the mechanism, reduce the pressure loss and improve the efficiency of pneumatic utilization, the principles and types of pneumatic loss in different areas were defined, and the key parameters, including the diameter of the horizontal air pipe, the angle of the air pipe, and the diameter of the negative pressure aperture, which affect the pressure loss, were analyzed. In addition, an orthogonal simulation experiment was carried out using Fluent software, and determined the best parameter combination, which is as follows: the diameter of the horizontal air pipe must be 15 mm, the angle of the air pipe must be 105°, and the diameter of the negative pressure aperture must be 34 mm. It can be concluded from the simulation results that the average airflow velocity of the seed-sucking hole is 102.59 m⋅s−1, the minimum airflow velocity of the seed-sucking hole is 101.58 m⋅s−1, and the airflow velocity standard deviation of the seed-sucking hole is 0.54 m⋅s−1. The trend of the test results was consistent with the simulation results, which verified the reliability of the numerical analysis. These results will provide theoretical guidance for research on the obstruction effect of complex airways on airflow. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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14 pages, 3562 KiB  
Article
Influence of Pulsed, Scanning and Constant (16- and 24-h) Modes of LED Irradiation on the Physiological, Biochemical and Morphometric Parameters of Lettuce Plants (Lactuca sativa L.) while Cultivated in Vertical Farms
by Alexandr A. Smirnov, Natalya A. Semenova, Alexey S. Dorokhov, Yuri A. Proshkin, Maria M. Godyaeva, Vladimir Vodeneev, Vladimir Sukhov, Vladimir Panchenko and Narek O. Chilingaryan
Agriculture 2022, 12(12), 1988; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12121988 - 23 Nov 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1597
Abstract
In city farming, when growing green crops, a significant part of the production cost is the cost of electricity for lighting. The physiology, biochemistry, morphology and productivity of plants can be affected by changing irradiation modes and these changes reduce electricity costs. However, [...] Read more.
In city farming, when growing green crops, a significant part of the production cost is the cost of electricity for lighting. The physiology, biochemistry, morphology and productivity of plants can be affected by changing irradiation modes and these changes reduce electricity costs. However, the results of studies in the literature are contradictory. In this work, we investigated the effect of impulse (frequency 1000 Hz and duty cycle 67%), scanning (the principle of running lights) and constant 16 h and 24 h modes of operation of white light LED irradiators on the physiological, biochemical and morphometric parameters of lettuce with red and green leaves. The daytime integral of light in all variants remained unchanged ~15.6 mol m−2 day−1. Daily electricity consumption also did not differ significantly. Plants were grown on racks in a climatic chamber up to 35 days of age. For lettuce with red leaves, the most optimal for biomass accumulation and synthesis of anthocyanins was the impulse illumination mode, while for lettuce with green leaves, no statistically significant differences in biomass were observed under different irradiation modes. For red-leaved lettuce, it was found that the highest concentration of carotenoids in the leaf was observed under constant (24 h) and scanning irradiation, which is associated with a more active reaction of the photosynthetic system to prolonged irradiation and increased intensity during scanning irradiation. Also, increased photosynthetic activity was found in both varieties of lettuce at 16 h of operation of LED irradiators, which, however, did not affect their final productivity. The results may be useful for the development of LED illuminators for use in rack growing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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18 pages, 7610 KiB  
Article
Measurement and Calibration of DEM Parameters of Soybean Seed Particles
by Dongxu Yan, Jianqun Yu, Yang Wang, Kai Sun, Long Zhou, Ye Tian and Na Zhang
Agriculture 2022, 12(11), 1825; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12111825 - 01 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1397
Abstract
In discrete element method (DEM) simulations, accurate simulation parameters are very important. For ellipsoidal soybean seed particles, the rolling friction coefficient between seed particles (RFCP-P) and the rolling friction coefficients between seed particle and boundary (RFCP-B) are difficult to measure experimentally and therefore [...] Read more.
In discrete element method (DEM) simulations, accurate simulation parameters are very important. For ellipsoidal soybean seed particles, the rolling friction coefficient between seed particles (RFCP-P) and the rolling friction coefficients between seed particle and boundary (RFCP-B) are difficult to measure experimentally and therefore need to be calibrated. In this paper, soybean seed particles of three varieties with different sphericities were taken as the research objects. Through the simulation analysis of repose angle and self-flow screening, it was shown that the above two parameters needed to be accurately calibrated. In addition, the sensitivity of the RFCP-P and RFCP-B to the angle of repose was analyzed by simulating the repose angle test. The results showed that the RFCP-P had a significant effect on the test results of the repose angle, and the RFCP-B had little effect on the test results of the repose angle. Therefore, the RFCP-P was calibrated using a single-factor test of repose angle, and the RFCP-B was calibrated using the repose angle test with soybean particles mixed with organic glass spheres. The accuracy of the calibration parameters was verified by rotating cylinder test and self-flow screening test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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13 pages, 1785 KiB  
Article
Electric Heating System with Thermal Storage Units and Ceiling Fans for Cattle-Breeding Farms
by Aleksei Khimenko, Dmitry Tikhomirov, Stanislav Trunov, Aleksey Kuzmichev, Vadim Bolshev and Olga Shepovalova
Agriculture 2022, 12(11), 1753; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture12111753 - 23 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1758
Abstract
A combined energy–saving heat supply system was proposed that included a combined ETS unit and a ceiling fan, and provided the normative air parameters in a livestock room, with an air temperature of −17 °C and air relative humidity (ARH) of −75%. A [...] Read more.
A combined energy–saving heat supply system was proposed that included a combined ETS unit and a ceiling fan, and provided the normative air parameters in a livestock room, with an air temperature of −17 °C and air relative humidity (ARH) of −75%. A heat supply system of a preventive maintenance premises for calves was chosen as the subject of the study. Comparative analysis of the temperature and ARH distribution with height in the preventive maintenance premises, was carried out, with and without a ceiling fan. The study showed that, during the heating period, application of the ceiling fans helped to raise the air temperature and to reduce ARH, in the areas where young stock is located, in accordance with the normative indicators. The energy-saving effect was achieved by supplying warmer ventilation air, which accumulated in the upper zone of the premises from the ceiling fan to the locations of the animals. At the same time, there was a decrease in the consumption of electric energy for the heat supply system of up to 14%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Innovations in Agriculture)
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