A. Azizi; Y. Abbaspour Gilandeh; T. Mesri Gundoshmian; H. Abrishami Moghaddam
Abstract
IntroductionStereo vision is an approach to 3D information from multiple 2D views of a scene. The 3D information can be extracted from a pair image, as known stereo pair by estimating the relative depth of points in the scene.Soil aggregate size distribution is one of the most important issues in the ...
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IntroductionStereo vision is an approach to 3D information from multiple 2D views of a scene. The 3D information can be extracted from a pair image, as known stereo pair by estimating the relative depth of points in the scene.Soil aggregate size distribution is one of the most important issues in the agriculture sector which highly affects energy consumed for preparing the field before planting. Mean weight diameter of clods is a standard metric for determining clod (big aggregates) size. Conventional methods are based on sieving soil samples to calculate the MWD. However, they are faced with several challenges in larger scales and practical applications. Furthermore, due to inherent limitations of soil environment and also being a tedious work, traditional methods would beuse to estimate the metric higher or lower than actual value.As new methods, researchers are using computer vision techniques as virtual sieve so that the size of clods can be determined via processing digital images which have been taken from soil surface. Although, image-based methods have solved many of previous problems, their accuracy is not so high due to the complexity of soil environment and overlapping colds, and needs to be improved. In order to overcome the mentioned challenges, in the current study stereo vision method was developed so that it is possible to extract the third dimension information as height of clods which helps us to categorize clods into their own class.Materials and MethodsIn this study, the W3-Fujifilm stereo camera equipped with two 10-megapixel CCD sensors for both left and right lenses, and baseline spacing of 7.5 cm was used. The distance between the camera lens and the ground was also set to 60 cm.In order to get three components of soil clods including (x, y, z), point cloud was investigated. For this, local features were extracted using a SIFT feature detector. The SIFT algorithm is robust against scale, rotation and illumination changes, so that these specifications have made it as a strong tool in the field of stereo vision. Then, the extracted features (keypoints) were matched between two stereo pair images by means of Brute Force algorithm and the location of all corresponding points were determined and point cloud was obtained.At the final stage, three features including length, width and height of all six classes of soil clods were entered into a linear classifier entitled discriminant analysis. This classifier as a linear separator classified these six classes based on appropriate functions in a 5 dimensional space.Results and DiscussionResults of classification model showed that the height (thickness) of clods have more distinguishing different soil clods. The reason for this refers to the event of overlapping, because most of clods were touched each other after sieving. Consequently, the length and width of clods had not significant effect in soil aggregates classification.In order to analysis the result of soil aggregate classification, confusion matrix was calculated and the overall classification accuracy was achieved 83.7%. The lowest and highest accuracy were obtained for class 1 (the littlest class) and class 6 (the biggest class), respectively due to their low and high height from the soil surface.ConclusionIn this research, the basic geometrical features including length, width and height were extracted from stereo pair digital images via stereo vision techniques to classify six classes of soil clods. This aim was reached by 3-D reconstruction of image data, so that the height of each image as the third component of (x,y,z) was obtained as well as the length and width. The results of classification indicated that the stereo vision technique had the satisfactory performance in determining the aggregate size distribution which is one of the most important indices for tilled soil quality.
I. Eskandari; V. Feiziasl
Abstract
Introduction Winter wheat is an important, well-adapted grain crop under dryland condition of the northwest of Iran. Soil water is the most limiting resource for crop growth in dryland areas. Therefore, farmers need to use crop residues and minimum tillage to control the soil erosion and effectively ...
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Introduction Winter wheat is an important, well-adapted grain crop under dryland condition of the northwest of Iran. Soil water is the most limiting resource for crop growth in dryland areas. Therefore, farmers need to use crop residues and minimum tillage to control the soil erosion and effectively store and to use the limited precipitation received for crop production. Crop rotation and tillage system could affect crop yield due to their effects on water conservation and soil chemical and physical properties. Galantini et al., (2000) studied the effect of crop rotation on wheat productivity in the Pampean semi-arid region of Argentina and found that a wheat–vetch (Vicia sativa L.) rotation resulted in higher yield and protein content, and greater yield components than the other rotations.Payne et al. (2000) stated that where precipitation amount is marginal (400 mm), dry field pea offers a potential alternative to summer fallowing. The purpose of this study was to identify the optimal tillage system for increasing crop productivity in a vetch–wheat rotation in dryland farming of the northwest of Iran. Materials and Methods The field experiment was carried out from 2010 to 2014 at the Dryland Agricultural Research Station (latitude37° 12´N; longitude 46◦20´E; 1730 m a.s.l.), 25 km east of Maragheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The long-term (10 years) average precipitation, temperature and relative humidity of the station are 336.5 mm, 9.4 ◦C and 47.5%, respectively. The soil (Fine Mixed, Mesic, Vertic Calcixerepts, USDA system; Calcisols, FAO system) at the study site had a clay loam texture in the 0–15 cm surface layer and a clay texture in the 15–80 cm depth. This study was conducted in vetch (Vicia pannonica)- wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The tillage treatments consisted of (1) conventional tillage: moldboard plowing followed by one pass of a disk harrow (CT); (2) reduced tillage:chisel packer (CH); (3) minimum tillage: Stubble mulch cultivator (MT); and (4) no-till (NT) with retained previous crop residue. At beginning prior to the tillage operation, only wheat stubble was present on the soil surface. A uniform tillage treatment was applied to all plots using a chisel packer in October. A shallow tillage was also performed using a tandem disk harrow just prior to winter vetch planting. In the second, third, fourth and fifth years, the tillage treatments for the vetch and wheat planting were similar. A winter wheat cultivar (Azar 2) was sown 6 cm depth at a rate of 350 seeds per square meter with an Alvand conventional and Baldan NT 250 no-till drill. Vetch cultivar Golsefied was drilled 8 cm depth at a seeding rate of 85 kg ha−1 using Alvand drill. The following parameters were measured: heads of wheat per square meter, 1000-kernel weight, kernels per head, head length, plant height, and wheat grain yield. Grain yield was obtained with a plot combine harvester. The dry matter content was determined and yield corrected to a standard moisture content of 130 g kg−1. Rain use efficiency (RUE) was calculated by dividing dry weight of grain yield by growing season precipitation. Soil water content and dry bulk density were measured gravimetrically (drying method, w/w) in cropping seasons. Results and Discussion Conservation tillage treatments resulted in water saving in soil layers. In both stages of soil sampling, the most soil moisture variability to initial state was observed in plots which planted as no-tillage. The moisture variability of no-tillage system was 23.4% higher than that of conventional tillage system at 10-20 cm soil layer in flowering stage of wheat. Effect of treatments on soil bulk density in different soil depths illustrated that conservation tillage can reduce soil bulk density during four years. According to the results of this study the overall infiltration in no-tillage was 1.58 times more than that of conventional tillage system. Yields under no-tillage and reduced tillage were higher (4% and 6% respectively) than conventional tillage. Grain yields under direct drilling were similar to those obtained using the reduced-tillage (Chisel packer) system. Conclusion Based on the results of a 4-year field study on a dryland production system in the northwestern cold continental climate of Iran, minimum- or no-till winter wheat crop production in a vetch–wheat rotation were the most efficient soil management practice from the standpoint of grain yield production and rain use efficiency. Overall, in this study, the no-tillage treatment is proposed as the best treatment in terms of grain and biomass yields and mechanical properties of soil.
M. Barzegar Tabrizi; S. J. Hashemi; R. Karimi
Abstract
Introduction Improving the efficiency of all agricultural operations has always been important for farmers and engineers. It is well known that the force required for cutting a soil using narrow blades is a function of soil and environmental physical properties, tool shape geometry and the tool’s ...
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Introduction Improving the efficiency of all agricultural operations has always been important for farmers and engineers. It is well known that the force required for cutting a soil using narrow blades is a function of soil and environmental physical properties, tool shape geometry and the tool’s surface characteristics like soil-tool adhesion and friction. Soil tool adhesion can reduce ploughing efficiency and quality. It may also halt the movement of tillage machines in more severe conditions. Adhesion can also disable some machine abilities, which can result in a significant reduction of machine performance. Adhesion of the soil to seed-bed preparation tools like furrowers can significantly affect the germination rate. Reducing soil tool adhesion of furrowers can reduce draft force and improve ploughing efficiency. Many researchers have worked on methods of reducing draft force by modifying the surface material and/or surface texture of the plough tools. A good prediction on draft force of a tool before producing it has always been important for farmers and engineers. There are some models for predicting the draft force of narrow blades in soil. McKyes-Ali’s model is widely used because of its accuracy and simplicity. Ultra-high molecular weight polythene (UHMW-PE) is a polymer with ultra-high weight and long molecular chains and is well known for its outstanding physical and chemical properties and self-cleaning abilities, which reduce soil-tool adhesion. The aim of this study was to investigate usability of UHMW-PE coated furrower tines for draft force. Analytical and experimental investigations were carried out during the research. A comparison was conducted between the analytical and the experimental method. The results of this comparison can be used to determine reliability of the analytical model for predicting the draft force improvement caused by the surface modification on tines using different surface coatings. Materials and Methods Eight tines have been built. Four of them had a thick coating layer of UHMW-PE, and the other four were made of pure mild steel. Each set of the tines have been installed on a four shanked chisel plough chassis and then attached to a tractor. The draft force required for pulling the furrowers attached to the tractor has been measured by a simple load meter mechanism connecting two tractors. Draft force has been measured in two different speeds. Slip ratio of the tractor has been recorded. Each test has been repeated three times.McKyes-Ali’s proposed model for evaluating the draft force of narrow blades has been chosen to predict draft force of the traditional steel furrower tines and the surface coated ones. To drive the model, a computer program has been coded in the script environment of Matlab software. The model required some of the mechanical properties of the soil and the tool to operate. Specific gravity, cohesion and internal friction angle of the soil have been measured by routine laboratory methods. Soil-tool adhesion and friction of the mild steel and the UHMW-PE plates have been measured using the direct shear apparatus. Results and Discussions MkKyes-Ali’s model has predicted draft forces with an accuracy of 90%. According to the results of the driven model, applying a UHMW-PE coating layer to the surface of the tines can improve draft force by 13%. The change of tractor speed from 3.5 km h-1 to 5.5 km h-1 have no significant effect on the predicted draft forces. The model also predicted different angles of the soil failure zone for coated and uncoated tines. On the other hand, the improvement of the draft force for the UHMW-PE coated tine in the field test was about 27%. According to The results obtained from the field test, the draft force of the furrower tines had significant correlation with the speed. Conclusion The UHMW-PE coated tines required significantly less draft force to work in compare with the steel tines. McKyes-Ali’s model predicted a significant improvement (13%) in draft force for the UHMW-PE coated tines. According to the experimental results, the improvement of the draft force was about 27%, which was almost twice as predicted. Although the McKyes-Ali’s model could predict an improvement for draft force of the UHMW-PE coated tine, but the actual improvement was about twice of the prediction. According to analytical and experimental results, applying a layer of UHMW-PE plastic on furrower tines can improve the draft force significantly.
B. Goudarzi; M. A. Asoodar; N. Kazemi
Abstract
Introduction: Mulch tillage system is an intermediate system which covers some of disadvantages of no tillage and conventional tillage systems. In farms in which tillage is done with a chisel plow, runoff and soil erosion have a less important relation to moldboard and disk plow and naturally absorption ...
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Introduction: Mulch tillage system is an intermediate system which covers some of disadvantages of no tillage and conventional tillage systems. In farms in which tillage is done with a chisel plow, runoff and soil erosion have a less important relation to moldboard and disk plow and naturally absorption of rainfall will be developed. Thus, the mulch tillage system is an appropriate alternative to conventional tillage and no tillage (Backingham and Pauli, 1993). The unwanted vibration in machinery and industry mainly processes most harmful factors, for example: bearing wear, cracking and loosening joints. And noise is produced in electrical systems by creating a short circuit (Wok, 2011). Self-induced and induced vibration are used in tillage systems. Induced vibration is created by energy consumption and self-induced vibration is created by collision among the blades and soil at the shank (Soeharsono and Setiawan, 2010). A study by Mohammadi-gol et al. (2005) was conducted. It was found that on the disk plow, plant residues maintained on the soil are more than that of moldboard plow. 99% frequency and amplitude, speed and rack angle of blade directly affect soil inversion and indirectly affect preservation of crop residue on the soil. The effect of vibration frequency and rack angle of blade to reduce the tensile strength is also clear. Moreover, in contrast to previous studies when speed progressing is less than (λ), not only the relative speed (λ), but also frequency can reduce the tensile strength (Beiranvand and Shahgoli, 2010; Awad-Allah et al., 2009). Therefore, aim of this study was to determine the effect of vibration and the speed of tillage on soil parameters and drawbar power in using electric power.
Materials and Methods: To perform this test, three different modes of vibration (fixed, variable and induced vibration) and two levels of speed in real terms at a depth of 20 cm were used for farming. The test was performed with a split plot and randomized complete block design and three replications, and the fixed factors were: the depth of tillage: 20 cm, soil moisture: 16 to 17 percent and rack angle: 15 degrees; and the variable factors were the rate of progress in both 4.5 and 7.5 kilometers per hour and six levels of frequency, 1 fixed (zero) 2 variables (self-induced), 3 (positive19) and 4 (negative19), 5 (positive37) and 6 (negative37) Hz were performed. An electric generator was used to create vibration power. The equation (1) was used to calculate the vibration power:
(1)
Where P: Electric power (W), V: voltage (V), I: current (amps) and Ǿ: phase angle (degrees) between the voltage and current. After the calculation, the required power of 19 Hz was calculated to be 0.6, and the required power of 37Hz, was calculated to be 0.75 kilowatts, respectively. The sample of mean weighted diameter, after tillage in each plot, was about 10 kg soil (0 to 20 cm depth) with 3 replicates and through the equation (2), mean weight diameter was calculated as follows:
(2)
Where MWD: Mean weight diameter (cm), Xi: Two Elk consecutive mean diameters (cm) and Wi: weight ratio of the soil remaining on the sieve to the total weight of the sample. In order to calculate the specific energy tension due to the width of tillage (28 Cm), equation (3) was used.
(3)
Where E: tensile special energy in kilojoules per square meter, P1: drawbar pulling power required in kW, P2: the vibration according to equation (1) based on kilowatt, T: tillage time in one square meter per second.
Results and discussion: According to analysis of variance (Table 2) interaction effects of frequency and speed to keep the residue are significant at 1%, and this situation was shown well in Fig.2 Therefore, in practice, with increasing frequency in both induction and self-induction vibration, the tillage blades created a groove at the soil surface with less turmoil, and this would maintain the maximum residue on the surface of the soil.
As is clear from Fig.3, treatment of the frequency of 37+ (code 5) in both the first and second average forward speed is highest in remaining residue with 85% and 74%, respectively (Liu and Chen, 2010) and (Awad-Allah et al., 2009). By applying induced vibrations, a significant reduction in tensile strength occurs, because it reduces the time to deal with the blade of soil tillage and soil fractures with blows of the blade. It is clear that vibration reduces slip and real wheel speed is progressing, and following it, the increase in tensile strength occurs and it should not be considered due to the in efficiency of vibration tillage, since vibration may increase the depth of tillage, with the same vertical force component (Sahaya et al., 2009). Specific energy (plus drawbar and vibration) are shown in Figure.5 and the lowest energy consumption in both the first and the second speeds was on treatment of frequency +19, being 18.9 kJ m and 23.2 kJ m to first and second speeds, respectively.
Conclusions: In general, both factors (vibration and speed) affected tillage parameters and energy consumption and induced vibration caused by the system of unequal mass and electrical power properties was very easy to change phase vibration and transfer of power. This study was designed because of the significant effects on the important parameters of quality by vibration frequency of tillage and different frequencies to control the way in which tillage parameters are controlled. We can take it as a precision tillage that introduced variable control rate of percent residue on the soil, clod mean weight diameter that is suitable for the cultivation combined with reduced energy consumption.
K. Afsahi; A. Akram; R. Alimardani; M. Azizi
Abstract
For improvement or change in a plowing system, it is crucial that all important parameters to be taken in account. Recommendation of a tillage system should receive supports from research data as well as from skilled farmers in order to find a resolution to problems of that system. In this study, strengths, ...
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For improvement or change in a plowing system, it is crucial that all important parameters to be taken in account. Recommendation of a tillage system should receive supports from research data as well as from skilled farmers in order to find a resolution to problems of that system. In this study, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of different tillage systems for wheat cultivation in the Khodabandeh region (Zanjan province, Iran) were identified and ranked using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Based on the viewpoints of skilled farmers, the main threats in tillage systems, which include small farm lands in the region, lack of qualitative research on new tillage systems and lack of government support, affected the system selection (32 percent), relative strengths(26 percent), opportunities (22 percent), and weakness(20 percent). Because of these threats, farmers keep using conventional tillage method (with the value of 47 percent) in spite of their awareness about the benefits of conservation tillage and no-tillage methods. In this situation, the recommended measures are; making new policies for the land integration, performing qualitative research specially on new machinery, clarifying the government's policies on exporting and importing agricultural products and on the amount of guaranteed prices of products before starting the growing season. By these activities the threats can be replaced by opportunities and strengths.
R. Sedghi; Y. Abbaspour Gilandeh
Abstract
Suitable soil structure is important for crop growth. One of the main characteristics of soil structure is the size of soil aggregates. There are several ways of showing the stability of soil aggregates, among which the determination of the median weight diameter of soil aggregates is the most common ...
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Suitable soil structure is important for crop growth. One of the main characteristics of soil structure is the size of soil aggregates. There are several ways of showing the stability of soil aggregates, among which the determination of the median weight diameter of soil aggregates is the most common method. In this paper, a method based on adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to describe the soil fragmentation for seedbed preparation with combination of primary and secondary tillage implements including subsoiler, moldboard plow and disk harrow. Adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is a suitable approach to solving non-linear problems. ANFIS is a combination of fuzzy inference system (FIS) and an artificial neural network (ANN) method and it uses the ability of both models. In this study, the model inputs included “soil moisture content”, “tractor forward speed”and “working depth”. The performance of the model was evaluated using the statistical parameters of root mean square error (RMSE), percentage of relative error (ε), mean absolute error (MAE) and the coefficient of determination (R2). These parameters were determined as 0.135, 3.6%, 0.122 and 0.981, respectively. For the evaluation of the ANFIS model, the predicted data using this model were compared to the data of artificial neural network model. The simulation results by ANFIS model showed to be closer to the actual data compared with those made by the artificial neural network model.
S. M. J. Afzali; E. Javaheri
Abstract
This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of tillage practices (with different depths) on soil penetration resistance, technical parameters and grain yield of wheat crop. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with three replications for two years. Treatments included: ...
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This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of tillage practices (with different depths) on soil penetration resistance, technical parameters and grain yield of wheat crop. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with three replications for two years. Treatments included: moldboard plow fallowed by two passes of disc harrow and leveler (CT), two passes of disc harrow plus leveler (RT), subsoiler fallowed by two passes of disc harrow and leveler (S1D) and subsoiler fallowed by rotivator (S1R). The results showed that soil compaction and penetration resistance increased at the end of growth stages because of irrigation operations and cohesion force of soil particles. However due to increasing of cumulative infiltration, it can be concluded that subsoiler caused the formation of micro cracks in different depths of soil. From technical indices viewpoint comparing to CT treatment, S1D and S1R treatments saved fuel consumption up to 2.2 and 10.44 lit ha 1 and tillage operation time up to 0.58 and 1.54 h ha-1, respectively. The result of grain yield assessment showed an increase of 8.5% in grain yield after replacing moldboard plow with annual subsoiling. Subsoiling has advantages such as, good technical indices, elimination of preplanting irrigation and fewer operations in planting time. Finally, subsoiling increased grain yield by 22% as compared to reduced tillage practice
Design and Construction
M. Askari; M. H. Komarizade; N. Nobakht
Abstract
For measuring the draft forces exerted by implements into tractor, we use the dynamometers that are divided into pull type or three-point hitch type. For measuring the forces between the tractor and the mounted implements, three-point hitch dynamometers are used. In this research, an adjustable three-point ...
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For measuring the draft forces exerted by implements into tractor, we use the dynamometers that are divided into pull type or three-point hitch type. For measuring the forces between the tractor and the mounted implements, three-point hitch dynamometers are used. In this research, an adjustable three-point hitch dynamometer with a draft capacity of 25 kN was designed and built which is made up from two frames that one of them placed inside the other. The force sensing elements were comprised of a loadcell that was installed between the frames. All mounted tillage implements were able to be tested by this measuring device excluding mounted implements which are powered by PTO and by using this dynamometer, the variations of implements draft force in the different tillage conditions consist of the various work depths and different forward speeds would be studied. After design and construction steps, dynamometer was calibrated, tested and evaluated. Field tests were done by using of four mounted tillage implements and obtained data were compared by obtained data from ASAE D497.5 standard formula. So with these data, the design of tines, their stems, equipment frames and the selection of the optimal size of the tillage equipments in regard of the soil type of the region and the power of the available tractors will be more scientific and reasonable.
M. Namdari; Sh. Rafiee; A. Jafari
Abstract
Farm management needs creative methods to success. FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is a new method to analyze potential reliability problems in the development cycle of the project, making it easier to take actions to overcome such issues, thus enhancing the reliability through design or process. ...
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Farm management needs creative methods to success. FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is a new method to analyze potential reliability problems in the development cycle of the project, making it easier to take actions to overcome such issues, thus enhancing the reliability through design or process. Anticipating these failure modes, being the central step in the analysis, needs to be carried on extensively, in order to prepare a list of maximum potential failure modes. Risk is measured in terms of Risk Priority Number (RPN) that is a product of occurrence, severity, and detection difficulty. This study attempted to improve clod mean weight diameter and soil inversion as indicators of tillage quality by FMEA methodology. The results showed that low soil moisture, slow speed of ploughing and great depth of ploughing is the most important factors that increase clod MWD with 900, 630 and 560 RPN, respectively. Also for soil inversion the slow speed of ploughing, not using coulter, low soil moisture and great depth of ploughing are important factors with 720, 648, 490 and 420 RPN. Using a split - split factorial experiment with 16 treatments and three replications also acknowledged the results of this method. After reforming the conditions and re-testing the experiment, results showed that clod MWD was reduced 20% and soil inversion increased 2% approximately. This study proposes the use of this technique in agricultural management.