Journal of Agricultural Machinery

Abstract Introduction
Nowadays, the best method for fertilizing trees is spot treatment via hole-digger. Conventional mechanical hole-diggers have several drawbacks such as auger’s non-continuous and limited speeds due to using a mechanical gearbox, and risks of getting stuck inside the hole and motor reaction force to the operator. On the other hand, a three-point hitch hole-digger has problems such as the lack of maneuverability in confined spaces and high prices. Meanwhile, preparation of these hole-diggers by most farmers and gardeners has no economic justification. Thus, in this research it has been aimed to handle the mentioned problems and to optimize the working quality of hole-diggers via designing and manufacturing a new hydraulic hole-digger.

Materials and Methods
To start design the machine, displacement volume and power requirement of the hydro-motor and consequently displacement volume requirement of a hydro-pump were calculated using the appropriate formulas (70.83 cm³, 2.3 kW & 7.5 cm³, respectively). According to available hydro-motors and hydro-pumps in the market and using obtained values of displacement volume, an orbital hydro-motor, BMR-80 model with the maximum torque of 220 N.m and an external gear pump REXPORT-2APF8 with displacement volume of 8 cm³ and flow rate of 12 L.min^-1 were chosen. In the following, hydro-pump’s parameters were used to select the internal combustion engine. The engine power requirement was 2.875 kW (3.85 hp); thus according to the available engines in the market, a single cylinder gasoline engine, WX168F-1 model that made in Kato company of China with 6.5 hp power and maximum speed of 3600 rpm was chosen. To transmit the power from the engine to the hydro-pump, a coupling DK-42 model was used. Also, two pressure gauges, LB-250 model with maximum pressure of 250 bars were used in the entrance and the exit of the hydro-motor. An hydraulic oil tank with total volume of 24 liters was made from a sheet metal with thickness of 3 mm. The helical auger used in this research, was made in china by LIONS Company with cone tip, total diameter of 200 mm and pitch of 180 mm. The fabricated digger has a working depth and diameter of 30 cm & 20 cm, respectively; rotational speed between 100-160 rpm and maximum power equal to 6.5 hp. In order to evaluate the stress distribution in the auger set, the static analysis based on maximum dynamic torque exerting on auger’s axle and maximum dynamic force exerting on auger’s blades, was used in SOLIDWORKS 2013 software. The maximum force 214.07 kgf (2100 N) proportional to the maximum exerting torque (210 N.m) from soil to the edge of the auger’s blade were considered in the modelling. Farm experiments were carried out in two citrus gardens with silty-clay and sandy-loam texture based on factorial test in Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Soil moisture content as high and low humidity levels (24.85% and 16.12% in sandy-loam and 25.95% and 16.48% in silty-clay) as the first factor and soil depth as the second factor varied in three levels of low, medium, and high (10, 20 and 30 cm), respectively. The measured parameters consisted of specific fuel consumption, machine efficiency, auger torque, auger power and used energy. To determine the auger’s torque, the oil pressure measurement method with two manometers was used in the entrance and the exit of the hydro-motor. After measuring the time and power needed to dig pits, for determining the used energy, the area under the power-time graph was calculated in Excel software. Also, to determine the fuel consumption during the experiments, the filled fuel tank method was used. Data analysis including analysis of variance (Anova), mean comparisons and interaction between the parameters were performed using the SPSS 22 software.

Results and Discussion
The numerical stress analysis results of the auger showed that the maximum von - Mises stress is occurred in the position of the blade-auger axis connections, with a magnitude of 86 MPa. The obtained experimental results in this study indicated that influence of soil depth and moisture content on the measured parameters were significant. in both soil textures and the influence of soil moisture on machine efficiency was non-significant in the silty-clay texture. With increasing soil depth, measured parameters excluding machine efficiency were increased in both soil textures. In high depth and also in low moisture, regarding to the increasing soil bulk density and shear strength, more torque was needed for the rotating auger in the soil that this has led to an increasing in specific fuel consumption of the device. Regarding the results obtained in this study, minimum specific fuel consumption value of the device (0.0014 liter pit-1) was obtained at the low working depth (10 cm) and the high soil moisture (25.95%) in the silty-clay soil. The hole-digger working capacity at 30 cm working depth and soil moisture content as high and low humidity levels in silty- clay obtained equal to90 and 88 pits per hour and in sandy-loam obtained equal to 101 and 95 pits per hour, respectively. Also, the maximum device’s power (2.548 kW) occurred in deep soil (30 cm) and low soil moisture in silty-clay texture.

Conclusion
Stress analysis and field qualitative observations results indicated that the fabricated device has sufficient resistance and strength against maximum torque from tested soils. Field evaluation of the fabricated machine showed that pit digging operations in soil is not appropriate in low moisture content because of the high fuel consumption and environmental pollution issues.

Abstract Introduction
It is common to use rod weeders for onion harvesting according to their prevention of root blocking in front of the machine and separation of onion bulbs from soil by shaking. Chesson et al., (1977), used a rod weeder for manufacturing an onion harvester. This machine had a rectangular rotor axis with 25mm×25mm cross section. The rotor power was provided by a hydro-motor. An investigation into onion losses during the harvesting operation showed that the majority of crop damages have been occurred due to the collision of rods with onion bulbs. Therefore, the objective of this study is to design and evaluate an onion harvester based on rod weeders with the capability of crop harvesting with minimum damage.

Materials and Methods
The main components of the examined onion harvester are chassis, furrower, and power transmission system and excrescence axes. Rectangular 100mm×100mm and 40mm×80mm profiles with 4mm profile thickness are used to fabricate the chassis. The furrowers were installed on each side of the chassis as the first parts of the harvester that comes into contact with the soil. Power transmission system provided rotation of two axes from both sides of the machine due to the lack of space for working of two chains on the one side. Therefore, a gearbox having one input shaft and two output shafts was selected for the machine. The gearbox output shafts turn the rotors with a reduction ratio of 1 to 3.5. The rotary motion of the excrescence axes cuts and moves the soil located under the onions bulbs upward and finally the onion bulbs are placed on the soil surface. Therefore, excrescence axes can be considered as the main part of the onion harvester. The excrescence shape of the axes were created by star wheels. Star wheels had a hole with a square section in center (30mm×30mm), for installing them on their shaft. Choosing this kind of the connection, dose not let star wheels to move freely. Also to limit the lateral movement of the star wheels on axis, metallic spacers were used between the adjacent pairs of them. To evaluate the machine performance three variable factors were defined: working depth (20 and 26 cm), forward speed (3, 4.5 and 6 km h^-1) and rotational speed of the excrescence axes (150, 220 and 290 rpm). The conducted experiments were analyzed in a complete randomized design with three replications.

Results and Discussion
The analysis of variance showed that the working depth and forward velocity of axis had significant effect (in 5% level) on the success rate of onion harvester. Also the interaction between depth and forward velocity and the interaction between rotational speed of axes and forward speed were significant. The interaction between depth and rotational speed of axes and the interaction between depth, rotational speed of axes and forward speed were not significant. Evaluation of the interaction between depth and forward velocity showed that the most success rate of onion harvesting was in 20 cm depth and forward velocity equal to 3 and 4.5 km h^-1. The least success was gained in 26 cm depth with 4.5 and 6 km h^-1 forward speed. Evaluation of the interaction between rotational speed of axes and forward speed showed that the most success in the onion harvesting was occurred with a machine having 3 km h^-1 forward velocity and 150 rpm rotational speed and also 4.5 km h^-1 forward velocity and 220 rpm rotational speed.

Conclusion
The success rate of the onion harvesting decreased by increasing the working depth of the machine and axes distance to the onion bulbs. Also with excessive forward velocity the success rate of onion harvesting decreased because of difficulties in controlling the tractor guidance in straight line. The best performance of this onion harvesting machine was in 20 cm depth, 4.5 km h^-1 forward velocity and 220 rpm axes rotational speed. Adjusting the machine working parameters according to these values, the ratio of the linear speed of the star wheel tips to the forward velocity of the machine (kinematic index) was equal to 0.82.

Abstract Introduction
In recent decays, the microwave heating treatment is one of the best ways for the pest control. It is difficult to determine temperature in different parts of materials by Thermometer, but we can solve this problem by Comsol Multiphysics Software. In a research, results of a farm test were consistent with laboratory data and high temperature area was belonged to the outer part of wooden piece (Massa et al., 2015). The numerical simulation of Microwave heating was successfully done for fruits and compared with experimental measurement in two cylindrically and spherically states by Zhao et al. (2011). The results indicated that, the temperature prediction in a wooden piece under heating of a Microwave system was in conformity with experimental infra-red rays data (Rattanadecho, 2006). The outer part of the piece was impressed by inspired heating and the inner part by transmission of heating (Massa et al., 2011). A high frequency structure simulator software, a radiant trumpet shaped antenna with 2.45GHz frequencies, 100 watt electric power were the tools that were used to predict the temperature at a Date Palm Wooden piece at 10, 12, 14 and 16 centimeters (Al Shwear and Remili, 2016). Microwave pretreatment was studied with two factors of Microwave radiation (170, 450, and 850 W) and Microwave duration (2, 6, and 10 min). It can be concluded that the Ozonolysis is the most effective pretreatment regarding to saccharification percentage of sugarcane bagasse (Eqra et al., 2015). This study has been done with the aim of fighting with Rhynchophorus ferrugineus blight by microwave and removing toxins in crops.
Materials and Methods
Samples features such as physical, mechanical and magnetic once were established in both Tehrans Material and Energy lab and Polymer and Petrochemical Research Center, Then it was simulated by Time_ Temperature profile software. For simulating research by Comsol Multiphysics software, at first sample and chamber sizes were determined and the type of material, meshing, 2.45GHz frequencies and the time duration of heating were measured, respectively. Finally the research was analyzed and Time‌_Temperature profile which was one of the outcomes of Multiphysics software was determined. A cubic piece of wood (103×86×78 mm) (Fig. 1), a Digital Thermometer and a Microwave are the tools which the researcher used in this sample. The temperature was measured at three different parts of cub diagonal by Thermometer. At first, the wooden sample was divided in two equal parts and a sensor was placed in the middle of it and then it was placed in the Microwave. The primary temperature of sample and Microwaves was 27°C. We turn the Microwave on for a period of 10 minutes, after that we check the wooden piece temperature by Thermometer at 20 seconds intervals.

Results and Discussion
T-test was used to compare statistical results achieved by simulated and experimental temperature of cubic diagonal. According to T mark at 5 percent level, we can say that there is a significant difference between simulated and experimental temperature at point1, however, there is no such a significant difference at 2 and 3 points. In the following phase, the temperature was compared at two simulated and experimental states by variance analysis test. There was significant difference at 1, 2 and 3 points according to data are shown at figure 4. Moreover, Duncan Post hoc test is shown at figures 5 and 7 that experimental temperature shows no difference at 1 and 3 points but it makes difference at 1, 2 and 2, 3 points.

Conclusion
Results show that the simulation model can predict the temperature in different parts of a wooden sample. The temperature will be higher as much as the points will be closer to the wave producer resource. In order to control pests in the trunk of a tree, we should use several wave generator systems, instead of ones. It is recommended that cylindrical microwave should be simulated and designed instead cubic ones, because it is better adjusted with tree stock and the wave generator system is placed on this surface so that the temperature will be distributed symmetrically along the diagonal.

Abstract Introduction
One of the problems which considered in recent years for grain harvesting is loss of wheat during production until consumption and tenders the offers for prevention of its especially in harvesting times by combine harvesting machine. Grain harvesting combines are good examples of an operation where a compromise must be made. One would expect increased costs because of natural loss before harvesting, because of cutter bar loss, because of threshing loss, because of greater losses over the sieve and because of the reduced forward speed necessary to permit the through put material to feed passed the cylinder. The ability to recognize and evaluate compromise solutions and be able to predict the loosed grain is a valuable trait of the harvesting machine manager. By understanding the detailed operation of machines, be able to check their performance, and then arrive at adjustments or operating producers which produce the greatest economic return.
Voicu et al. (2007) predicted the grain loss in cleaning part of the combine harvester by using the laboratory simulator based on dimensional analysis method. The obtained model was capable to predict the grain loss perfectly.
Soleimani and Kasraei (2012) designed and developed a header simulator to optimize the combine header in rapeseed harvesting. Parameters of interest were: forward speed, cutter bar speed and reel index. The results showed that all the factors were significant in 5% probability. Also in the case of forward speed was 2 km h^-1, cutter bar speed was 1400 rpm and reel index was 1.5, the grain loss had minimum quantity.
The main purpose of this research was to develop an equation for predicting grain loss in combine header simulator. Modeling of the header grain loss was conducted using dimensional analysis approach.
Effective factors on grain loss in combine header unit were: forward speed, reel speed and cutter bar height.

Materials and Methods
For studying the effective parameters on head loss in grain combine harvester, a header simulator with the following components was built in Biosystems Engineering Department of Shiraz University.

Reel unit
The reel size was 120 cm length and 100 cm diameter. This reel was removed from an old combine header and installed on a fixed bed. For changing the rotational speed of the reel, an electrical inverter (N50-007SF, Korea) was used.

Cutter bar unit
The cutter bar length was 120 cm. Knifes were installed on this section. Reciprocating motion was transmitted to the cutter bar through a slider crank attached to a variable speed electric motor (1.5kw, 1400 rpm, Poland). The motor was fixed on the bed.

Feeder unit
This section was consisted of a rail and a virtual ground. This ground was a tray that the wheat stems were staying on it manually. The rail was the path of virtual ground.
Treatments consisted of three levels of rotational speed of reel (21, 25 and 30 rpm), three levels of forward speed of virtual ground (2, 3 and 4 km h^-1), three levels of cutter bar height (15, 25 and 35 cm) and three replications. In other words, 81 tests were done. The basis of choosing levels of treatments was combine harvester manuals and driver’s experiences.
The dependent variable (H.L) was calculated as below:
(1)
Where L.G is the mass of loss grains and H.G is the mass of harvested grains.

Results and Discussion
Generally results of ANOVA test showed that the cutter bar height, rotational speed of reel and forward speed had significant effect on head loss. Also interaction of rotational speed and forward speed, cutter bar height and forward speed had significant effect on head loss. These findings were based on Soleimani and Kasraei (2012) research. Therefore, the cutter bar height, rotational speed of reel and forward speed were three independent parameters on head loss as a dependent parameter.
By results of laboratory data, the equation for predicting grain loss by header simulator was obtained.

Conclusion
The statistical results of F- test in 5% probability showed that there were no significant difference between measured and predicted amounts for laboratory data.

Abstract Introduction
Soil compaction is one of the most destructive effects of machine traffic. Compaction increases soil mechanical strength and reduces its porosity, plant rooting and ultimately the yield. Nowadays, agricultural machinery has the maximum share on soil compaction in modern agriculture. The soil destruction may be as surface deformation or as subsurface compaction. Any way machine traffic destructs soil structure and as result has unfavorable effect on the yield. Hence, soil compaction recognition and its management are very important. In general, soil compaction is the most destructive effect of machine traffic. Modeling of ecological systems by conventional modeling methods due to the multitude effective parameters has always been challenging. Artificial intelligence and soft computing methods due to their simplicity, high precision in simulation of complex and nonlinear processes are highly regarded. The purpose of this research was the modeling of soil compaction system affected by soil moisture content, the tractor forward velocity and soil depth by multilayer perceptron neural network.
Materials and Methods
In order to carry out the field experiments, a tractor MF285 which was equipped with a three-tilt moldboard plough was used. Experiments were conducted at the Agricultural research field of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in five levels of moisture content of 11, 14, 16, 19 and 22%, forward velocity of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 km.h^-1, and soil depths of 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 cm as a randomized complete block design with three replications. In this study, perceptron neural network with five neurons in the hidden layer with sigmoid transfer function and linear transfer function for the output neuron was designed and trained.

Results and Discussion
Field experiments showed three main factors were significant on the bulk density (P<0.01). The mutual effect of moisture on depth and mutual binary effect of moisture on velocity and depth on velocity were significant (P<0.01). Mutual triplet effect of moisture on velocity on depth was significant (P<0.05). Maximum bulk density of 1362 kg/m³ was obtained at the highest moisture of 22% and the lowest forward velocity of 1 km/h at the depth of 20 cm. Whilst the minimum value of 1234.5 kg/m³ was related to the moisture, forward velocity and depth of 11%, 5 km/h and depth of 40 cm, respectively. Compaction increased as soil moisture content increased up to 22% which was critical moisture. In contrast, soil compaction decreased as the tractor velocity and soil depth increased. A comparison of neural network output and experimental results indicated a high determination coefficient of R² = 0.99 between them. Also, the mean square error of the model was 0.174, in addition, mean absolute percentage error of the system (MAPE) was equal to %0.29 which showed high accuracy of neural network to model soil compaction.
Conclusion
It was concluded that soil compaction increased as soil moisture content increased up to a critical value. Increasing soil moisture act as lubricant and soil layers compacted together. Hence knowledge of soil moisture can help us to manage soil compaction during agricultural operations. Increasing the tractor forward velocity reduced soil compaction. However, agricultural operations should be conducted at certain speeds to carry out the duty properly and increasing speed more that value decreases the efficiency of work.
Neural network of MLP with 5 neurons in hidden layer and sigmoid function in middle layer and one neuron with linear transfer function was found the most accurate and precise in prediction of the soil bulk density.  A high determination coefficient of R² = 0.99 was found between measured and predicted values.
 

Abstract Introduction
Sugarcane is an important plant in the world that cultivate for the production of sugar and energy. For this purpose, evaluation of Sugarcane (SC) and Energycane (EC) methods is necessary. Energy is vital for economic and social development and the demand for it is rising. The international community look toward alternative to fossil fuels is the aim of using liquid fuel derived from agricultural resources. According to calculations, about 47% from renewable energy sources in Brazil comes from sugarcane so as, the country is known the second largest source of renewable energy. Sugarcane in Brazil provides about 17.5% of primary energy sources. Material such as bagasse and ethanol are derived from sugarcane that provide 4.2% and 11.2 % consumed energy, respectively . In developing countries, the use of this product increase in order to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of starch and sugar and thus independence in bioethanol production. Evaluation of energy consumption in manufacturing systems, show the measurement method of yield conversion to the amount of energy. Many of products of Sugarcane have ability to produce bioenergy. Many materials obtain from sugarcane such as, cellulosic ethanol, biofuels and other chemical materials. Hence, Energycane is introduced as a new method of sugarcane harvesting. But, one of the problems of this method is high cost and high energy consumption of harvester. So that the total cost of Energycane method is 38.4 percent of production total costs, whereas, this cost, in Sugarcane method is 5.32 percent of production total costs.
In a study that was conducted by Matanker et al. (2014) with title “Power requirements and field performance in harvesting EC and SC”, the power requirements of some components of sugarcane harvester and its field capacity, in Sugarcane and Energycane methods were examined. The consumed power by basecutter, elevator and chopper was measured in terms of Mega grams per hour (Mg.h^-1)
Chopper energy consumption in Energycane method was 1.65 KJ more than Sugarcane method. The quantitative parameters including forward speed (km.h^-1), field capacity (ha.h^-1), the field performance (Mg.ha^-1) and reed output (Mg.h^-1) were also measured. Finally, statistical comparison was conducted between the two methods. The aim of this study is to provide Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method using the calculated parameters by the Matanker et al. This method provides decision-making ability for a manager.

Materials and Methods
In this study, quantitative parameters including fuel consumption (Lit.ha^-1), harvester power (kW), efficiency of engine torque (%), energy of used hydraulic oil in basecutter, chopper and elevator (Mj.Mg^-1), forward speed (km.h^-1), field capacity (ha.h^-1), the field performance (Mg.ha^-1) and reed output (Mg.h^-1 ) and qualitative parameters including the mean of average diameter of the stem (mm), stem height (m), number of stems on the meter (m^-1), the percentage of cut stems and intact, cut stems and partially damaged and strongly damaged stems. The average height of straw and the stubble (mm), average of bulk density (kg.m^-3), the average of moisture content, average of dry matter (biomass), (Mg.ha^-1) were measured. Data analysis was conducted with Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. Tables 1 and 2 in terms of qualitative and quantitative parameters for the two methods of A and B, to form of rij matrix and based on measured criteria (C) have arranged, respectively.
Conclusion
Choosing the appropriate method for sugarcane harvesting should be according to the purpose of harvesting. Energycane method has high energy consumption that it increases the operational costs. On the other hand, the quality of the obtained biomass from it is better, but Sugarcane method has high energy efficiency. But in terms of quality, the plant is not in good condition. For this reason, it is necessary, aim of harvesting and its type, be specified before crop planting.

Abstract Introduction
One of the most important agricultural crops is rape seed oil as its special features can play an important role in the agricultural region. Due to the presence of more than 40% oil and 25% protein in the grain can play an important role in the supply of edible oil. After determining of various factors such as uniformity of planting depth, evenness between shrub, plant height and grain yield concluded that Nordsten drill along the seeding density of 75 cm for mechanized planting is acceptable yield. Afzali nia et al. (1999) in one study aimed to assess the performance of common grain drills in Iran in Zarghan area in Fars Province showed that differences between treatments in terms of seed distribution uniformity factor, plant population per unit area and yield product is not significant. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and select the most suitable types of canola planter and variable seed rate planting density and aims to increase the canola cultivated area by the highest yield.
Materials and Methods
Moghan Plain, located in the north areas of Ardebil province, is considered as an important areas of canola planting in Iran. This study was performed in the agricultural research center of Ardabil Province (Moghan) (39°39´N; 48°88´E; 78 m a.s.l.) in Northwest of Iran. To evaluate different planters with varied seed rates on canola yield. The experimental design was carried out in a randomized complete block design with strip splits (varied seed rates 6, 8 and10 kg per hectare and different drills consist of B1: Barzagar Hamadani drill (conventional method) B2: Amazon drill pals teeth harrow, B3: Gaspardo drill pals teeth harrow and B4: Agromaster drill) and four replications. To investigatethe different treatments in the experiment, various parameters such as percent germination, seeding uniformity of width and depth intervals, plant establishment, effective field capacity, fuel consumption rate andgrain yield were measured.
Results and Discussion
The evaluation of results of drill types showed that there was significant difference between the planters type and other performance parameters. Different planters with varied seed rates also had significant effects on germination at 1% probability level and B4 had maximum percentage of seed germination (89.45%). Uniformity of seed distribution was found to be the highest for B4 in vertical distribution uniformity (72.62%) and inter-row uniformity (84.25%). The analysis of variance for two years showed that the grain yield and establishment of seed were significantly affected by year. Result of variance analysis for yield indicated that there was a significant difference between planting machines in 1% of probability level. Therefore, maximum yield in this experiment related to B4 with 2672 kg ha^-1. The results of technical and economic comp ration indicate that the added net income of B4, was 4940 thousand Rails per hectare compared to the conventional method.
Conclusion
Results showed that the average of yield of the first year was significantly greater than that of the second year. Results indicated that use of B4 lead to the highest of yield 2672 kg ha^-1. But in terms of plant height no significance was found. The results of technical and economic comp ration comparison indicated that the added net income from B4, was 4940 thousand Rails per hectare compared to the conventional method. Therefore, considering many factors, the Agromaster drill tested in this study was found to be the best suited planter and therefore is recommended for canola planting in the region.

Abstract Introduction
Sugarcane, a plant which sugar is extracted from, is planted in vast areas with hot and humid climate. Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing order, are India, China, Thailand, Pakistan and Mexico. Sugarcane is a tropical, perennial grass that forms lateral shoots at the base to produce multiple stems, typically three to four meters high and about 5 cm in diameter. The total area under sugarcane plantation in Iran (Khozestan Province) is about 80,000 hectares with an average yield of 100 tons per hectare. To increase the yield per unit of land and reduce production costs and move toward sustainable agriculture, mechanization of agricultural operations seems inevitable. Planters are the most important of farm machinery among the mechanization equipment. Sugarcane cultivation is done both by hand and machine. Hand planting operations is laborious and painstaking work and work efficiency is so low and culture costs are so high. In Iran farms, the sugarcane plantation process is carried out manually by the farmers. Considering the climatic conditions, the agricultural soil composition and constitution, and the different plantation pattern used in Iran, the imported planting machines are not suitable for the farming conditions in the country. Moreover, the domestically produced machines, which are mostly based on the imported versions, do not provide adequate performance. Therefore, fabrication of a machine, capable of continuously lifting the sugarcane scions from a container and sending them to a dropper pipe, uniformly and in conformance with the climatic conditions of the sugarcane farms in the country, is of great importance.
Materials and Methods
In this research, initially, a field study was carried out to identify the problems and shortcomings of imported and copied planting machines in sugarcane farms, such as jamming of the scions conveying mechanism and the existence of unplanted sections in the farm. Subsequently, a new compound seeding unit with unique capabilities for solving the above mentioned problems was fabricated, with the aim of application in sugarcane planting machines. The various components of the system include:
1- Tank split in two pieces and connected to each other by two hinges through the middle and it can adjust to different angles. 2- Tube fall for cuttings scions. 3- Two rows of chain on a conveyor screwed on belt. 4- Number of 9 cups (channels) to receive and transmit cutting scions from the tank and guided them to the falls duct. 5- 18 pcs of metal preservative, the chain screwed to conveyor. 6- Four Number of gears on two shafts in order to drive the conveyor chain. 7- Two shafts, one on top and one another on the bottom of the anchor-conveyors chain. 8- The mechanism of driven Endless belt as a mobile bed to showing the steady rate of falling the scions from the fallen channel. 9- Two variable speeds electromotor to provide the movement of complex distributer and planter’s mobile bed belt. 10- Controlling mechanism of falling number of scion.
After preparing and manufacturing the different machine’s pieces, they were installed on the chassis and then different units were prepared and the machine are run.
Results and Discussion
Therefore, fabrication of a mechanism, capable of continuously lifting the sugarcane scions from a container and sending them to a dropper pipe, uniformly and in conformance with the conditions of the sugarcane farms is of great importance. In the new mechanism, as opposed to the existing seeding units in which the seeding operation is performed lengthwise, planting of the scions is performed in a widthwise pattern. Using the manufactured machine had a great effect on method of tillage and planting. The farm field was changed to a smooth surface in tillage then in planting the scions with installing the two diagonal plate the soil putted on scions and the made furrows for irrigating.
Conclusion
This mechanism reduces the number of planted scions per hectare, results in a more uniform planting and growth of the scions, and reduces the number of machine trips in the farm, increasing the planter productivity. The seeding unit was fabricated and is presently ready for use in the sugarcane planters.

Abstract Introduction
In recent years due to lack of water resources in our country, planting of bare root seedlings of onion has been welcomed by farmers. Considering the desired high dense planting of Iranian farmers, lack of proper transplanting machine has appeared as the main problem. To overcome this problem, some researchers tested a few methods, but none of them reached to complete successfully. As the one of last efforts, Taki and Asadi (2012) developed a semi-automatic transplanting machine with 9 planting units. This machine requires to 9 men to separate and single out a bunch of seedlings. Usage of this machine is very time-consuming and labor intensive. In Iran, transplanting of bare root seedlings is practically performed by hand with a density of 700-800 thousand plants at hectare. The main purpose of this study was designed, manufacture, and evaluation of an automatic metering device that with the separation and singulars of bare root seedlings of onion could get a high density planting.
Materials and Methods
Fig. 1 shows the main employed idea of this research for separation and single out a bunch of seedlings.
As shown in Fig. 1, the metering device consisted of two carrying and separating belts with different teeth forms. Placing seedling bunches between the two belts, the belts move at different speeds in opposite directions and separate seedlings from their bunch.
For proper design of metering device system, measurement of some physical properties were necessary. The obtained information was used to select two belts form. A belt with flexible plastic teethes with a height of 6 mm and the distance of 4mm was selected as separator while for carrier, two types of belts were selected: the first was the same as a separator and the second was made of metal teethes.
Based on the average thickness of seedling bunch and some pre-tests, the horizontal angle of separator belt determined as α=20 degrees. Theoretical calculations were done to computatingof the needed force of the system. In this section, seedlings were modeled as some solid cylinders with a length of 200 and a diameter of 10 mm. In the mentioned system, it was necessary that the speed of separator belt is more than the speed of carrier belt. Thus, ratio of two linear velocities ( ) of 1.67 and 2.32 were considered for evaluation of the system. For evaluation of manufactured metering device, the effects of three factors, i.e., carrier belt type, ratio of linear velocities of the belts, and number of seedlings in a bunch (n = 30 and n =60), on qualitative planting parameters were studied in a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications. The studied qualitative planting parameters were miss index, consumed seedlings, miss length, quality of feed index, multiple index, mean, and damaged seedlings.
Results and Discussion
The results of analysis of variance showed that, except of belt type, effects of the two studied factors and all interactions are statistically non-significant on consumed seedlings and miss length indexes. The results indicated significant differences between miss index (P<0.01), multiple index (P<0.05), and mean (P<0.05) as affected by belt type. None of the studied variable had a significant effect on damaged seedlings. Interactions of belt type and ratio of linear velocities significantly affected the quality of feed index (P < 0.01). An increase in ratio of linear velocities in plastic toothed belt lead to decrease of mean and miss indexes, whereas in case of metal toothed belt there is no significant effect on this two indexes. The results also showed that increase of linear velocities for the two types of carrier belt lead to increase of consumed seedlings and decrease of miss length. At the two ratios of linear velocities, miss length in metal toothed is less than plastic toothed belt.
Conclusions
Commercial transplanting machines are not suitable for dense planting of onion. In this research an automatic metering device for separation and singularize of bare root seedlings of onion was manufactured and evaluated. The results indicated that the carrier belt with long and rigid teeth, having an angle of attack, could separate seedlings more efficiently. The results also showed a 80 percent increased in uniformity of plant seedlings distances is reachable using the metering system.

Abstract Introduction
Maximum efficiency of natural resources, reduced risk of production, improved fertility of soil, and increased production per area enjoyment have made intercropping a preferential practice compared with cropping. One of the fundamental problems in this kind of cropping is non-existence of suitable machines. In this research, a new intercropping machine has been designed and built for intercropping of corn and bean with precise ratios and different planting patterns.
Materials and Methods
The experiments were conducted at the Badjgah Research Station, Shiraz University, located in NW Shiraz, Iran. The soil texture was clay loam (16% sand, 48% silt, and 35% clay). The plot size was 9 m wide and 12 m long. The total number of the plots were 9. The basic components of intercropping machine were an adjustable frame to adjust row spacing for each unit planter about 550 mm horizontally independently (the row spacing between corn and bean planting lines was considered 375 mm), a hinged frame for adjustment of seeding depth and possible poor emergence of plants due to very deep or shallow planting, metering case frames for installing the vacuum metering disk units around which the seed drums have a row of 36 holes of 4.5 and 5.5 mm diameter for corn and bean, respectively, seed delivery tubes, a suction fan, shovel openers used for bedder planting for corn and lister planting for bean, a knife covering attachment, seed-firming wheels, interchangeable gears which are mechanical chain drives for 43 varying seeding rates driven by carrying wheel drives, two metal seed hoppers whose lower side walls’ slope can be adjust at a maximum level of 45 . A front wheel assist, Massey Ferguson tractor (MF-399) (ITM, Tabriz, Iran) with a maximum engine power of 81 kW was used for field test of intercropping machine. Moldboard plow was used for primary tillage and the depth of plowing was 25 cm. Next, by an offset disk harrow, the field was disked twice for pulverizing lumps, mulching the surface and firming the underneath soil to provide a smooth uniform seedbed. In this study, the common bean seed (var. Derakhshan) and corn hybrid seed (SC-704) with 93 and 83 percent of germination and 97 and 98 percent of purity, respectively, were used. This machine was operated in five different distance patterns between corn and bean seeds on each row: 55 mm and 215 mm in the first pattern, 85 mm and 185 mm in the second pattern, 110 mm and 150 mm in the third pattern, 130 mm and 120 mm in the fourth pattern, and 160 mm and 100 mm in the fifth pattern for corn and bean, respectively. For all patterns, the depth of planting for corn and bean seeds was chosen as 20, 40, and 60 mm. In addition, the forward speed was assumed to be constant (4 km h-1). By using split plots with three replicates and SAS software (2002), the results were analyzed.
Results and Discussion
The multiple index, miss index, precision index, and quality of feed index was evaluated. The analysis of variance for bean planting unit showed that difference distance between seeds and various planting depth were significantly higher for multiple index (P< 0.01), but their interactions were not significant (P 0.05). Also, with decreasing the seeds distances, the multiple index was increased (P< 0.05). Moreover, comparing the results of the average multiple index in different levels of planting depth indicated that the multiple index was decreased when at higher depths of planting (P< 0.05). The seeds distance and planting depth were significantly higher for miss index and quality of feed index (P< 0.01), but their interactions were not significant for either index (P> 0.05). The precision index was significant was affected by different levels of seeds distance (P< 0.05) and was higher for different levels of seeds planting depths (P< 0.01), but their interactions were not significant. In corn planting unit, the results showed that the different distances between seeds and planting depths were significantly higher for multiple index, miss index, quality of feed index, and precision index (P< 0.01). Also their interactions were significant for multiple index (P< 0.05), but the other indices showed no significant interactions (P> 0.05).
Conclusions
The data suggested a higher quality index once corn and bean were respectively plated at 160 and 215 mm seed distance with a planting depth of 60 mm being optimum for each corn and bean.

Abstract Introduction
Researchers frequently include multiple cultivars and fertility levels in field experiments. Therefore, the experiments sowing operation must represent a considerable saving in time and labor, compared to hand sowing. Greater flexibility in experimental design and setup could be achieved by equipment that enables quick changes in the cultivar and fertilizer rates from one plot to the next. A satisfactory seed drill must distribute a given quantity of seed evenly over a predetermined length of coulter row, the coulters must be spaced at exact intervals and depth of sowing must be uniform. In a self-propelled type of plot seeder, no coulter should run in a wheel track as the compaction of the soil can cause observable differences in vigor between plants in such a row and those in un-compacted rows. The machine should sow in succession from a try in which a series of seed pocket separated clearly and must be put into distributer funnel by an assistant operator. The length of gap being varied according to the nature and purpose of the plot.
The objectives of this experiment were 1- to design and construct a local self-propelled plot seeder and 2- To compare it with the imported (Wintersteiger) plot seeder in cereal breeding programs.
Materials and Methods
A small-plot seeder was designed and constructed to meet this objective. The unit consists of the following basic components: a toolbar for pulling a set of six blade coulter, an air compressor for lifting and putting down the openers and metering transmission drive wheel, an operators chair and work rack, one belt seed distribution. A cone-celled and rotor seed distributor is used for seed distribution to the openers. The cone system is connected to the gearbox and allows for great flexibility in changing cultivars, crop species, and plot length. This is driven by the separate drive wheel. The cone-celled distributor sows all the seed of the sample in making one complete turn. The spinner can be equipped with a 4 or 6 outlet delivery head, depending on row spacing. The planter is fitted with hoe openers. Alternatively, spear-point openers have sometimes been used under conventional tillage systems. Seeding depth control was achieved by an adjustment screw handle. The plot seeder is being moved by a 9.6 kW engine, and has been successfully used in applications. Field experiment established by using 4 plot length (2, 3, 4 and 6) with 4 replication by the constructed plot seeder and imported plot seeder. Crop measurements were planted height, spike m-2, seeds/spike, Thousand kernel weight, Biological and grain yield, harvest index and drill measurements were seeding depth, uniformity of row spacing in action, seed counter performance, power requirement, slippage evenly of rows after planting.
Results and Discussion
Results showed that there were significant differences between the plant emergences. The emergencies were higher in plots, which planted by the new plot seeder. The differences between seed distribution of openers were insignificant, but the variances of new plot seeder and imported plot seeder were 0.267 and 1.05 respectively. Mean planting depth of plots planted by the Wintersteiger plot seeder was 0.8 cm shallower than the adjusted planting depth while mean planting depth in plots planted by constructing machine had only 0.01 cm variation.
Results of variance analysis revealed that effect of treatments on wheat grain yield and yield components was significant. So that, highest grain yield (4216 kgha-1), biological yield (8704 kgha-1), number of spikes per square meter (649spike), obtained from a plot which planted by constructed plot seeder. Increasing yield of treatments which planted by constructed plot seeder might be because of increasing the number of spikes per square meter in those treatments. The mean of spike per square meter in plots of new planter was 691 spikes which were116 spike more than plots planted by imported plot seeder.
Conclusions
The constructed plot seeder had up to 18500$ cost reduction. The seeder was able to distribute the different type of seed to the seed tubes uniformly in laboratory tests, nevertheless it is necessary to test the constructed plot seeder in field condition by using different seed type and conducting new research project. Advantages of this planter include less variation of seed fall down in different coulters, perfect planting depth control, separate wheel for adjusting planting length, minimize the slippage of planter driven wheel and proper utility in different field condition. According to effects on crop parameters the constructed plot seeder had relative priority to imported one. In addition easily accessories supply and cheaper prime cost are profit of the designed and constructed plot seeder.

Abstract Introduction
The efficiency and cost effectiveness of orchard pest management programs are influenced by the skills of managers and sprayer operators who evaluate orchard conditions and alter machine settings and operating techniques to optimize performance of sprayers. A combination of operational skill, equipment performance, timing and chemical selection is necessary for optimal results. Research and development of electrostatics, air-assisted, low-volume spraying and other technologies for agriculture and horticulture was studied by biological and agricultural engineering in order to decrease of pesticide consumption. The main objective of charged liquid or powder form of the pesticide spread is increasing the percentage of poison meeting on plant surfaces. The first sprayer with rotary plate became available in 1970. The amount of solution was less and had uniform spray droplets. Apple orchards in West Azerbaijan province, Iran, are sprayed mainly with tractor-mounted lance sprayers but there is large national, regional and farm to farm variation in spray volumes applied with such sprayers. Traditionally, high spray volumes (> 2000 l.ha-1) were used in many places. Reduction in spray volume has been driven largely by the need to improve spraying equipment. West Azerbaijan province has 117000 hectare fruit orchards and 1.2 million ton fruit production that the most of them are apple and grape. However, it is necessary for reduction of pesticide application in order to produce economic and safe fruits.
Materials and Methods
In the present study the tractor-mounted lance sprayer in control of apple pest (Carpocasa pomonella L) was evaluated and compared with electrostatic and Micronair sprayers. This research was implemented in an apple orchard (Golden Delicious variety) with row spacing of 66 meter. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Statistical analysis was performed using MS-TATC software and mean comparisons were conducted by Duncan’s multiple range test. The location of the research was in an orchard around the city of Urmia with geographical coordinates of 10-45' and 24-37' north latitude and east longitude, average rainfall of 380 mm, average temperature of 10°C, relative humidity of 60% and an average wind speed of 3.4 m.s-1. Average altitude of 1450 meters above sea level and has very high soil fertility and texture of silt loam class was the first class. In this experiment the following variables were measured: solution consumption, droplet distribution uniformity, pest control and economical comparison. Distribution uniformity was evaluated by use of water sensitive papers with dimension of 7×3 centimeter that installed in front and behind of leaves.
Results and Discussion
During the two-years study, results showed that uniform droplets on leaves in electrostatic and micronair sprayers with 30 drops per square centimeter were better than lance sprayer and in behind of leaves and electrostatic sprayer with 16 drops per square centimeter had better coverage. In lance type, large droplets and non-uniform distribution on the front and back of the leaves were observed. The mean comparison of solution consumption of treatments showed that electrostatic and microner sprayers with 157 and 134 liters per hectare, respectively, were in the range of low volume spraying (from 50-200 liters per hectare) and lance sprayer with 1629 liters per hectare was in the high volume spraying (more than 200 liters per hectare). Economically, the results showed that the micronair sprayer with high cost-benefit ratio (315.7) was recommended. Low volume spraying of apple trees is achievable by the use of spray technology such as micronair sprayers and provides considerable advantages in spray volume reduction.
Conclusions
Pesticides are active substances and instead of drenching of targets with lance sprayers we can change this poor and high expensive method with effective and environmental friendly methods. The technical evaluation showed that electrostatic and micronair sprayers were significantly better with more spray uniformity, higher performance, and lower consumption of solutions. Replacing the traditional methods with minimal use of chemicals and new equipment can improve the quality of agricultural and horticultural crops in national production contribution.

Abstract Introduction
The main producers of lentil are Canada, India, Nepal and China, respectively and Iran is the ninth producer in the world. The hand pulling is the usual method of lentil harvesting. Use of conventional combine because of short leg varieties, wide combine head in dry land and grain losses by cutter bar vibrations is impossible. So a mechanism should be designed to harvest the lentil plants with minimum damage. This mechanism should be evaluated under different tests of crop and machines such as forward speed (FS), grain moisture content (GMC), different varieties and other parameters. Some researchers studied the effects of GMC (Andrews and et al., 1993; Huitink, 2005; Adisa, 2009; Abdi and Jalali, 2013) and FS on grain losses (Geng et al., 1984; Swapan et al., 2001; Mostafavand and Kamgar, 2014; Hunt, 1995). Field tests were conducted at three levels of FS 1.5, 3 and 4.5 km.h-1; three levels of cutting height (CH) 4, 8 and 13 cm and two levels of GMC, 8 and 14% on two varieties of lentils including Flip and Shiraz with three replications.
Materials and Methods
The feeder and cutter mechanism for chickpea harvesting that was the base design of device which is notched wheel and counter shear, was used. The other components of device were dividers, slat and chain feeders, belt and pulleys, chassis, elevator conveyor and storage. Two split plot design based on a randomized complete design was used to determine the effects of above treatments on lentil losses.
Results and Discussion
The ANOVA results indicated that the all studied factors; FS of feeder and cutter mechanism, CH and GMC had significant effect on losses of Shiraz variety (P0.05). The ranges of losses of Flip variety at 8% GMC were 8.6 to 10% for FS of 1.5 km.h-1, 9.1 to 10.4% for FS of 3 km.h-1and 10.4 to 11.4% for FS of 4.5 km h-1. These ranges at 14% GMC were 7.9 to 8.9% for FS of 1.5 km.h-1, 8.4 to 9.2% for FS of 3 km.h-1and 8.5 to 10% for FS of 4.5 km h-1. The ranges of losses of Shiraz variety at 8% GMC were 8.3 to 10.9% for FS of 1.5 km.h-1, 9 to 12.4% for FS of 3 km h-1and 10.7 to 13.6% for FS of 4.5 km h-1. These ranges at 14% GMC were 8.3 to 9.1% for FS of 1.5 km h-1, 8.3 to 9.9% for FS of 3 km h-1and 9.2 to 11.5% for FS of 4.5 km h-1. The comparison between two varieties at different levels of FS, GMC and CH indicated that the lentil losses of Shiraz variety were more than the other variety at 8 cm CH at 8 and 14% GMC. The difference of losses between two varieties was 0.8% at FS of 4.5 km.h-1 at 14% GMC where this value was 2% at 8% GMC and same FS and at 14% GMC and 8 cm CH from FS of 3 to 4.5 km h-1 was 0.3% and 1% for Flip and Shiraz varieties, respectively. Also at 14% GMC and 13 cm CH, the differences within group were 0.8 and 1.4% where at 8% GMC and 13 cm CH were 1 and 1.2% for Flip and Shiraz varieties, respectively. The results of the study of field evaluation of cutter and feeder mechanism of chickpea harvester for lentil harvesting showed that FS, CH and GMC at 1% probability for Shiraz variety and FS and GMC at 1% probability had significant effect on lentil losses but CH at 5% probability for Flip variety had no significant effect. The lentil losses were increased by increase in FS, CH and decreasing of GMC for both varieties. There was no significant difference from 1.5 to 3 km.h-1 and 4 to 8 cm CH in Flip variety while significant difference was at all levels of FS and CH in Shiraz variety.
Conclusions
At studied varieties, Flip variety because of more performance and minimum of losses was better than Shiraz variety. Also to achieve the lowest of losses by feeder and cutter mechanism, FS of 3 km h-1, GMC of 14%, CH of 8 cm and variety of Flip was recommended.

Abstract Introduction
Olive (Oleo europaea) includes about 20 species of small trees from Oleaceae family. This point should be considered that Iran has allocated only a small universal market to its olive products in spite of having high production potentials; so that about 23 provinces of this country can produce olive products. Therefore mechanizing of olive production and encouraging to develop olive trade are among the effective methods for development of this market. On the basis of IOOC report, the production of olive oil in 2008-2009 in Iran and all over the world has been 3 and 2866.5 thousand tons, respectively. Currently, harvesting olive product is done by hand in Iran. The expensiveness of work force and providing the needed workers are considered as the biggest problem in olive harvesting. While harvesting the tall trees, the workers use beating method by wood sticks which causes the fruits to be damaged and their quality to be decreased. The harvesting method which the quality and quantity of the olive final products is under its effect and also high expenses of harvesting by hand are considered as the two important factors in developing the mechanical harvesting of olive. For this purpose, the mechanized harvesting of olive should be considered for producing olive conserve and olive oil and decreasing expenses of harvesting. Considering the conducted studies on one hand and shortage of informational resources in the country on the other hand, a research was designed and performed with the following purposes:
Designing and fabricating of a portable pneumatic branch shaking system.
Determining the best frequency and oscillation duration for harvesting olive by the constructed system.
Materials and Methods
The branch shaking system is made of two general parts:
(a) The set of branch shaker driving unit.
(b) The portable vibration arm.
For constructing the set of vibrating arm, two experiments “elasticity and inflectionˮ of tree branches were conducted and the maximum force of 362.40 N was registered and it was considered as the base of computations. Then a double-action pneumatic jack with the internal diameter of 32 mm and the rod diameter of 12mm with the stroke length of 200 mm was selected. An electronic circuit was designed and developed for ordering the solenoid valve to control the flow. The system was transferred to one of the olive garden’s located in kilometer 5 of Sarvestan – Fasa road in Fars province in order to be evaluated. The effects of three oscillation frequencies of 12, 16 and 20 Hz and three oscillation durations of 5, 10 and 15 seconds at constant amplitude of 5 cm on detachment percentage of olive fruit was investigated through a factorial 3×3 experiment based on completely randomized design with four replications. Then the most suitable frequency and vibration duration was selected for harvesting olive by this system.
For measuring the static detachment force of the fruits, a tensile force dynamometer system model FG-5100 made by Lutron Company was used with the accuracy of 0.1 N and a maximum capacity of 980 N.
Results and Discussion
The variance analysis of the investigated features on the basis of the factorial experiment based on completely randomized designs was conducted through using SPSS software. The results showed that both frequency of vibration and oscillation duration had significant effect on the shaker performance; with no significant interaction effects which implies the independence of the debated variables. Comparing the means by using Duncan test at 1% significance level for features of oscillation frequency and duration of shaking showed that at any constant duration of oscillation, increasing of oscillation frequency significantly increases the percentage of the olive fruit detachment. This increase is due to the increase of dynamic force with the second power of oscillation frequency compared to the static separating force (Murphy, 1950).
It was observed that the calculated dynamic force is larger than the static force for separating the fruit in frequencies of 16 and 20 Hz, but since the dynamic force is variable at each point of the branch, 84.50 percent of fruits are separated from branches at frequency of 16 Hz and 87.25 percent of the fruits are separated from branches at frequency of 20 Hz.
Conclusions
At the end, the frequency of 20 Hz with 5 second duration of oscillation was selected as the most suitable treatment for this branch– shaker in harvesting oil-type olives.

Abstract Introduction: Since the application of pneumatic planters for seeds with different physical properties is growing, it is essential to evaluation the performance of these machines to improve the operating parameters under different pressures and forward speeds. To evaluate the performance of precision vacuum seeders numerous procedures of laboratory and field have been developed and their feed mechanism evaluation is of great importance. The use of instrumentation is essential in laboratory procedures. Many systems have been designed, using instrumentation, to be able to monitor seed falling trajectory and as a result, in those systems the precise place of falling seed in the seed bed could be determined. In this study, the uniformity of seed spacing of a seed drill was determined using of high speed camera with a frame rate of 480 frames s-1. So that, the uniformity of planting was statistically significant under the influence of the speed of seed metering rollers (Karayel et al., 2006). Singh et al. (2005) studied the effects of disk rotation speed, vacuum pressure and shape of seed entrance hole on planting spacing uniformity using uniformity indices under laboratory and field conditions. They reported miss index values were reduced as the pressure was increased but they were increased with increasing of the speed. The multiple indices on the other hand were low at higher speed but they were increased as the pressure was increased. Ground speed was affected by changes in engine speed and gear selection, both of which effect on amount of fan rotation speed for different pressures. The aim of this study was to identify and determine the effects of forward speed and optimum vacuum pressure amount of the pneumatic seeder.
Materials and Methods: The pneumatic planter (Unissem) was mounted on a tractor (MF399) and passed over the soil bin. Thus, the acquired data would be more reliable and practical. To do so, the tractor was equipped with electronic devices for online measurement of various parameters, including: the actual forward speed, wheel sleep percent, drawbar pull, motor RPM, and fuel consumption. Wheel drive of the seed metering mechanism was equipped with Rotary Encoder model S48-8-0360ZT (TK1) to determine the seed disk rotation. For more precise vacuum pressure monitoring, a Vacuum Transmitter model BT 10-210 was used to measure relative pressure from 0 mbar to -1000 mbar. Investigation of seed falling trajectories was conducted using the AVI video acquisition system consisted of CCD (charge-coupled device) camera (Fuji F660EXR) capable of capturing images with a constant speed of 320 frames per second and a spatial resolution of 320×240 pixels. All data were transmitted to a data logger and displayed online on the PC's screen.
For optimization of the factors affecting the performance of the pneumatic planter, the experiments were conducted with: two ranges of forward speeds [3 to 4 km h-1, and 6 to 8 km h-1; three levels of vacuum pressure [-2.5kPa, -3.5kPa and -4.5 kPa]; and two types of seed [cucumber and watermelon], keeping a three-factor factorial experimental design. The tests were replicated three times. The uniformity of seed spacing was measured with indicators described by kachman and smith (1995) which are defined as:
I_miss=N_1/N×100 (1)
I_mul=N_2/N×100 (2)
I_qf=100-(I_mul+I_miss) (3)
P=s_d/x_ref (4)
Which for planting distance of 45 cm, N1 is number of spacing > 1.5Xref; N2 is number of spacing ≤ 0.5Xref and N is total number of measured spacings, Sd is standard deviation of the spacing more than half but not more than 1.5 times, the set spacings Xref, Imiss is the miss index, Imul is the multiple index, quality of feed index Iq is the percentage of spacings that are more than half but not more than 1.5 times, the set planting distance and P is error index.
Results and Discussion: According to the studies on both watermelon and cucumber, the ‘quality of feed index’ value in forward speed rang of 6 to 8 km h-1 was less than one in forward speed rang of 3 to 4 km h-1. Also, the ‘error index’ value in forward speed rang 3 to 4 km h-1 was little rather than forward speed rang of 6 to 8 km h-1, but it was desirable.
For watermelon and cucumber seeds, the ‘quality of feed index’ were the maximum with mean of 97% and 87% under vacuum pressures of -2.5 kPa and -4.5 km h-1, respectively and forward speed of 3 to 4 km h-1; so that for cucumber seed in the mention treatment, the ‘miss index’ was lowest with mean of zero.
The ‘multiple index’ was highest with mean of 6% at 3 to 4 km h-1 forward speed and vacuum pressures of -4.5 for watermelon seed. Values of this index at both forward speed and three levels of vacuum pressures, for cucumber seed was more than watermelon seed.
Miss index values were reduced as the pressure was increased but increased with increasing of speed. With lower vacuum pressure and at higher speeds, the metering disc did not get enough time to pick up seeds, resulting the higher miss indices. On the other hand, the multiple indices were low at higher speed but were increased as the pressure was increased (Panning et al. 2000; Zulin et al. 1991).
Conclusions: It was observed that seed spacing uniformity was affected by both speed and pressure but not equally. Extracted regression models showed that the best uniformity of spacing for watermelon seed obtained at the rang of speed of 3 to 4 km/h and pressure of -3.5 kPa with a error in spacing of 7% in laboratory condition. Furthermore, in field condition the best uniformity of the seed space occurred at the pressure of -2.5 kPa and rang of speed of 6 to 8 km/h with a 9% error. Similarly, for cucumber seed results showed that the best uniformity obtained at the rang of speed of 3 to 4 km.h-1 and pressure of -4.5 kPa in laboratory condition, and at the low speed and pressure of -2.5 kPa in the field.

Abstract Introduction: Monitoring and management of soil quality is crucial for sustaining soil function in ecosystem. Tillage is one of the management operations that drastically affect soil physical quality. Conservation tillage methods are one of the efficient solutions in agriculture to reduce the soil erosion, air pollution, energy consumption, and the costs, if there is a proper management on the crop residues. One of the serious problems in agriculture is soil erosion which is rapidly increased in the recent decades as the intensity of tillage increases. This phenomenon occurs more in sloping lands or in the fields which are lacking from crop residues and organic materials. The conservation tillage has an important role in minimizing soil erosion and developing the quality of soil. Hence, it has attracted the attention of more researchers and farmers in the recent years.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the effect of different tillage methods has been investigated on the crop residues, mechanical resistance of soil, and the stability of aggregates. This research was performed on the agricultural fields of Urmia University, located in Nazloo zone in 2012. Wheat and barley were planted in these fields, consecutively. The soil texture of these fields was loamy clay and the factorial experiments were done in a completely randomized block design. In this study, effect of three tillage systems including tillage with moldboard (conventional tillage), tillage with disk plow (reduced tillage), chisel plow (minimum tillage) and control treatment on some soil physical properties was investigated. Depth is second factor that was investigated in three levels including 0-60, 60-140, and 140-200 mm. Moreover, the effect of different percentages of crop residues on the rolling resistance of non-driving wheels was studied in a soil bin.
The contents of crop residues have been measured by using the linear transects and image processing methods. In the linear transects method, the experiments were replicated three times in each block due to increasing the accuracy and mean of datawas calculated. The tests were randomly performed in each block. Then, the number of nodes, which are located on crop residues of size 25 mm, longitudinally, was counted. So the percentage of crop residue in each block was calculated through the percentage of nodes. The experiments of rolling resistance were also performed in three levels, 10, 50, and 90% of crop residues, inside the soil bin.
Results and Discussion: Result showed that, in comparison with control treatment, tillage operation significantly decreased bulk density (p<0.01), penetration resistance (p<0.01), and aggregates stability (p<0.01), in the soil surface (0-10 cm). Also, the results showed that penetration resistance of soil was increased by depth.
The results of variance analysis in crop residue dataset showed that there were significant differences among the treatments in the terms of crop residues (P<0.05). Because of increasing the intensity of tillage and also the different performance of various tillage tools would mix crop residues with the soil and lead to reduce the crop residues. The consequences revealed that the treatments had significant differences in the terms of mechanical resistance of soil at the confidence level of 5%. The mechanical resistance of soil in three levels of depth had the most and the least contents in chisel and disk plows treatments, respectively. Because of disk plows can powder soil more than other treatments and chisel plows can only make narrow in the soil. The results of investigating the effect of crop residues on rolling resistance of wheels showed that there were not any significant differences between the treatments.
Conclusions: It can be concluded that increasing the tillage intensity would reduce the stability of aggregates. Thus, the least stability of aggregates was obtained when using moldboard plows. However, the most stability was achieved using chisel and disk plows. Finally, disk plough is recommended as an appropriate tool in this research due to the high percentage of crop residues, lower mechanical resistance, lower bulk density, and higher stability of aggregates in the soil. Generally, in short-term period, conservation tillage (reduced tillage and minimum tillage) results the improvement of soil physical quality in comparison with tillage operation. Further studies on long-term effects of various tillage systems are suggested in order to select and implement of optimum tillage method in the region.

Abstract Introduction: Rolling resistance is one of the most substantial energy losses when the wheel moves on soft soil. Rolling resistance value optimization will help to improve energy efficiency. Accurate modeling of the interaction soil-tire is an important key to this optimization and has eliminated the need for costly field tests and has reduced the time required to test.
Rolling resistance will change because of the tire and wheel motion parameters and characteristics of the ground surface. Some tire design parameters are more important such as the tire diameter, width, tire aspect ratio, lugs form, inflation pressure and mechanical properties of tire structure. On the other hand, the soil or ground surface characteristics include soil type; moisture content and bulk density have an important role in this phenomenon. In addition, the vertical load and the wheel motion parameters such as velocity and tire slip are the other factors which impact on tire rolling resistance. According to same studies about the rolling resistance of the wheel, the wheel is significantly affected by the dynamic load.
Tire inflation pressure impacted on rolling resistance of tires that were moving on hard surfaces. Studies showed that the rolling resistance of tires with low inflation pressure (less than 100 kPa) was too high.
According to Zoz and Griss researches, increasing the tire pressure increases rolling resistance on soft soil but reduces the rolling resistance of on-road tires and tire-hard surface interaction. Based on these reports, the effect of velocity on tire rolling resistance for tractors and vehicles with low velocity (less than 5 meters per second) is usually insignificant.
According to Self and Summers studies, rolling resistance of the wheel is dramatically affected by dynamic load on the wheel.
Artificial Neural Network is one of the best computational methods capable of complex regression estimation which is an advantage of this method compared with the analytical and statistical methods.
It is expected that the neural network can more accurately predict the rolling resistance. In this study, the neural network for experimental data was trained and the relationship among some parameters of velocity, dynamic load and tire pressure and rolling resistance were evaluated.
Materials and Methods: The soil bin and single wheel tester of Biosystem Engineering Mechanics Department of Urmia University was used in this study. This soil bin has 24 m length, 2 m width and 1 m depth including a
single-wheel tester and the carrier.
Tester consists of four horizontal arms and a vertical arm to vertical load. The S-shaped load cells were employed in horizontal arms with a load capacity of 200 kg and another 500 kg in the vertical arm was embedded. The tire used in this study was a general pneumatic tire (Good year 9.5L-14, 6 ply)
In this study, artificial neural networks were used for optimizing the rolling resistance by 35 neurons, 6 inputs and 1 output choices. Comparison of neural network models according to the mean square error and correlation coefficient was used. In addition, 60% of the data on training, 20% on test and finally 20% of the credits was allocated to the validation and Output parameter of the neural network model has determined the tire rolling resistance. Finally, this study predicts the effects of changing parameters of tire pressure, vertical load and velocity on rolling resistance using a trained neural network.
Results and Discussion: Based on obtained error of Levenberg- Marquardt algorithm, neural network with 35 neurons in the hidden layer with sigmoid tangent function and one neuron in the output layer with linear actuator function were selected. The regression coefficient of tested network is 0.92 which seems acceptable, considering the complexity of the studied process. Some of the input parameters to the network are speed, pressure and vertical load which their relationship with the rolling resistance is discussed.
The results indicated that in general trend of changes, the velocity is not affected by rolling resistance. Rolling resistance increases when tire pressure decreases. This is due to energy consumption for creating deflection on the body of the tire at the lower levels of tire inflation pressure. Another variable parameter is the vertical load on the wheel and its logical relation with rolling resistance using neural network. The results showed that increasing the vertical load increases the rolling resistance.
Conclusions: The major purpose of this study was the feasibility of using learning algorithms for interaction between wheel and soil. The parameters of the wheel when clashes with soil are not stochastic and in spite of their complexity follow a specific model, certainly. Artificial neural network trained with a correlation coefficient of 0.92 relatively had a good performance in education, testing and validation parts. To validate the network results, the impact of some factors on the extraction process such as velocity, load and inflation pressure was simulated. The main objective of this article is comparing the network performance with basic principles and other scientific reports.
In this regard, the predictions by trained neural network indicated that rolling resistance is independent of the velocity of the wheel. On the other hand, rolling resistance decreases by increasing tire inflation pressure which is a general trend similar to other studies and reports in the same mechanical condition of the soil tested. Rolling resistance changes are directly proportional to load vertical variations on the wheel in terms of quantity and quality, similar to experimental models such as Wismer and Luth.

Abstract Introduction: Iran is one of the major producers of almonds. According to the statistics released by FAO (2011), Iran with more than 110000 tons of almonds is the third in rank throughout the world. However, most Iranian almonds are presented as an unsorted and unpackaged product. Some producers sort their products by hand which is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. So, there is an essential need for suitable grading and packaging machines especially for the export of almond kernels.Grading, which is sometimes called sorting, is basically separating the material in different homogenous groups according to its specific characteristics like size, shape, color and on the basis of quality. Weighing is one of the best methods for grading agricultural products based on size, but due to its high cost and complexity of operations, usage of weigh size sorting machines is practically limited. So, sizing of most agricultural products is accomplished based on their dimensional attributes such as diameter, length, thickness or a combination of them. Field study shows that recently vibrating sizing machines are used for grading almond kernels. This type of sizing machine is huge, expensive, noisy and it consumes a lot of energy. Thus, the main objective of the present study was the design, development and evaluation of a new prototype of an almond kernel sizing machine.
Materials and methods: It is important that the machine could resolve defects of existing vibrating machines. It should provide efficient and cost effective sizing for a wide range of kernel sizes and shapes. Furthermore, it should be of simple construction and be able to accept manual feeding. Previously conducted experiments showed that the thickness of the kernel is the most appropriate dimension for its sizing. Among the different types of dimensional sizing machines, the divergent roller grader which grades the products based on their thickness is considered to be one of the simplest options. So, a divergent roller grader was developed and built in this research. The prototype consisted of two diverging rotating rollers which were made of mild steel with an outside diameter of 95 mm and a length of 700 mm. They were mounted to provide an adjustable slope towards the wide opening end. These roller beds were fixed on a box shaped frame of size 500×1000×1200 mm. The slope and counter-rotating action of the rollers encouraged the kernels to continue moving toward the end where the gap between the rollers was the widest. A tray was fixed at the feeding end of the machine for feeding the kernels. A provision was given to adjust the gap from a minimum to a maximum level. Based on the required activate torques of the rollers, an electric 74 W motor was selected to drive the machine. The power transmission mechanism consists of two pulleys 150 and 250 mm diameters and a V belt type A with a length of 1448 mm. The center distance of the pulleys is calculated to be 410 mm. Standard criterions of weighted sorting error index (C ̅_R), weighted sorting efficiencies index (EW) and operation capacity (Q) were used to evaluate the machine. Practical analysis showed that the machine’s performance is influenced mainly by the slope of the rollers, the rotation speed of the rollers, and the feeding rate of the product. In order to evaluate the performance of the prototype, a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications for each test was done. The performance evaluation was carried out for three levels of feeding rates (600, 1000, and 1400 kg 8h-1, three levels of slopes (2, 7, and 12 degree), and three rotation speeds of rollers (50, 80, and 110 rpm). Spreadsheet software MSTATC and SPSS were used to analyze the data and the Duncan's multiple range tests were used to compare the means.
Results and discussion: Analysis of variance showed that all three studied factors have significant effects on evaluating standard criterions of C ̅_R, EW, and Q at the 1% level of confidence. In this work, an increase in the slope of rollers led to a decrease in C ̅_R, whereas at the same time an increase in EW and Q was observed. It may be because at a higher level of slope the almond kernels slip more effectively on rollers surface. This condition restrains the aggregation of kernels on the first part of the gap between the rollers. So, they have enough time to drop through all of the gap. Experimental results show that as the feeding rate increases, C ̅_R and Q increase, whereas EW decreases. Based on the results of the experiments, with an increase of rotation speed of rollers from 50 to 110 rpm, the C ̅_R decreases up to %6.5, and EW decreases about %6. Study of interactions showed effects among which only the interaction of slope and rotation speed of rollers significantly affects all standard criterions. The results also showed that the operation capacity (Q) was significantly affected (P≤0.01) by the interaction effects between the feeding rate and the slope of rollers, and the feeding rate and the rotation speed of the rollers. The mechanical damage to almond kernels in the form of external damage such as cracks and scuffing was almost zero, which is a very important advantage of this machine in comparison with the other sizing machines.
Conclusions: In this research, a divergent roller sizer was designed, developed and evaluated for almond kernels.The results showed that the best machine operation is obtainedat a feeding rate of 1000 kg 8h-1, slope of 9 degrees and rotation speed of 110 rpm. In this situation, the prototype could reach weighted sorting efficiencies index of 80% and operation capacity of 830 kg in an 8 hour work shift with weighed sorting error index of 23%.

Abstract Introduction: In conventional farming, the soil and crop are considered uniform in different locations of the farm and the fertilizers are applied according to the average of soil needs with an additional percentage for safety (Loghavi, 2003). Non-essential chemical fertilizers in the field have harmful effects and social, economic and environmental concerns will increase. Many fertilizers go into the surface waters and ground waters and cause poisoning and environmental pollution without being absorbed by the plants. In variable rate technology, the soil fertilizer needs a map of all parts of the farm which is prepared with the GIS system. This map is uploaded on the computer before variable rate fertilizer machine starts. The computer continually controls the fertilizing rate for each part of the farm using a fertilizing map and global positioning system. The purpose of this study is to construct and evaluate a map-based variable rate fertilizer system that can be installed on a common fertilizer in Iran to be used as a variable rate system.
Materials and methods: In common variable rate fertilizers, the rotational speed change of the distributor shaft is used to apply fertilizers. In this way, a DC motor is assembled on the main shaft of all distributors, which reduces the fertilizing accuracy. The reason for this is that there is no separation for units along the width of the fertilizer. Therefore, we used one DC motor for each distributor and another motor to rotate the agitator in the tank.
System Set up: To design and select a suitable engine, the required torque for the rotation distributor shaft was measured by a torque meter and the amount of 2.1 Nm was acquired for that. With regard to the maximum rate of nitrogen fertilizer for land and tractor speed at the time of fertilizing, the order of 350 kg per hectare and 8 km per hour, the maximum distributor shaft speed and power required to rotate distributor shaft were calculated to be 55 rpm and 6.9 watts, respectively. The selected motor was rated 27.5 watts, 24 volts and 7.5 amperes (Since there were no 6.9 watts motors in the market, a more powerful motor was selected). According to the gear ratio and motor speed, the speed of the distributor shaft was adjustable in the range of 0 to 65 rpm. To determine the speed and position with respect to the direction, a central encoder (E50S8-600-6-L-5 model manufactured by Autonix Korea) was used on the ground wheel. The encoder had 600 pulses per revolution of the axis.
Performance evaluation of the system: Performance evaluation of the system consists of two parts; static and moving tests. In static tests, the purpose was the determination of the fertilizer loss (in grams), due to changes in distributor speed as well as the accuracy of the electromechanical control system according to the command values sent to the device. Results of this part were used for the calibration of the device.
In motion tests: In motion tests, the assessment of fertilizer loss was due to values set in a given situation and the accuracy of planted fertilizer in place (delay and acceleration) is reviewed. The delay is found by the determination of the distance that the fertilizer was placed after the desired location on the ground and the acceleration is found by the determination of the distance that the fertilizer is placed before the desired location on the ground.
Results and discussion: The distributor flow rate on F0 valve position was measured for different rotation speeds. The correlation (linear regression) between the planted fertilizer and rotation speed of distributor shaft (rpm) were 0.99 for y=71.636x+75.182. So, it can be deduced that these two parameters have a good linear correlation. The results achieved from diagrams and regression model were used in the programming of the system control unit. Thus, by reading the distributors motor speed, the amount of fertilizer can be calculated and the amount of used fertilizer according to the need of the farm in each part is controlled. The effect of plot length on the amount of fertilizing on 25% need level was not significant, but it was significant on 50% need level. This is due to stopping and starting fertilizer flow during the test, changes in motors speed and error of these on fertilizer output at a certain amount of fertilizing so that at the 25% need level, the error resulting from these factors had less share on the amount of plant fertilizer and the effect of plot length was not significant according to the system default. On the other hand, the effect of forward speed was significant on the 50% need level and insignificant on the 25% need level.
Conclusions: In order to calculate the accuracy of the system, the error from the application amount of fertilizer was measured at different fertilizing rates. The correlation between the adjusted fertilizing rate and the measured fertilizing rate was 0.98 with regression model of y=1.0475x which shows the good accuracy of the system.

Abstract Introduction: Tire tractive parameters of the driving wheel are of the most substantial factors for the evaluation of the performance of agricultural tractors. Great tractive efficiency has called the attention of vehicle designers to attain economic efficiency owing to the minimization of fuel consumption. At terrain-tire interface, some soil physical-mechanical changes occur that lead to unwanted soil compaction. Of the influential parameters for the creation of soil compaction is the soil stresses formed owing to the wheeled vehicle trafficking. While the increase of tractive efficiency is desired, minimization of soil stresses should also be considered with the same importance to make a trade-off between the aforementioned parameters. There are numerous studies documented in the literature that deal with the measurement of soil stress/strain data due to the wheeled vehicle trafficking and also those works that address the correlation between the soil stress and soil compaction. It is recognized that in order to reduce soil compaction both at topsoil and subsoil levels, the soil stress at the soil-tire interface should be reduced. There are various parameters that affect the tractive efficiency and the soil stress creation such as wheel load, slip, tire inflation pressure, velocity, etc. On the other hand, the wheel is subjected to the torques and forces exerted to the vehicle and the vehicle dynamics are significantly affected by the soil-wheel interactions. Survey of the literature shows that numerous studies have focused on the evaluation of tractive efficiency both in field test and controlled conditions in laboratories with the intention of increasing tractive efficiency. The studies dedicated to the soil mechanical strength are more engaged with the approaches to minimize the soil stress propagation. The present study considers both factors and considers the most influential tire parameters such as wheel, velocity and slip to assess the relationship between traction and the soil vertical stress in a soil profile using a single-wheel tester and a soil bin facility.
Materials and methods: The soil bin in Department of Mechanical Engineering of Urmia University was used in this study. This soil bin is featured 24 m in length, 2 m in width and 1 m in depth including a single-wheel tester and the carriage. A chain system was used for the power transmission from the electromotor to the carriage. The carriage was able to move alongside the soil bin through four ball bearings which also hold the weight of the carriage. The utilized tire in the study was a 220/65R21 driving wheel. One load cell was situated vertically to measure the wheel load and four S-shaped load cells were horizontally situated between the single-wheel tester and the carriage to measure the traction force. An electric motor was used to empower the carriage while another electric motor was used to empower the wheel tester. The difference between the linear velocities of the carriage and the wheel-tester provided the desired levels of slip. A housing including four load cells situated at the distances of 12.5 cm was used to measure the soil vertical stress transmission in the soil profile. The system was buried at the desired depth in the path of wheel traversal. Under the aforesaid treatments, the experiments were undertaken with the purpose of simultaneous measurement of soil stress propagation and traction force and finally the correlation between these parameters.
Results and discussion: The results were analyzed using the statistical analysis at 1% significance level. The results showed that an increase in traction force leads to an increment of vertical soil stress. It was also recognized that the reduction in the velocity leads to the increase in soil stress which is due to the greater contact duration between the soil and the tire. Also, an increase in wheel load results in an increase of soil stress which has a linear correlation with the traction force. Furthermore, it was deduced that the increase in depth leads to a reduction of soil vertical stresses.
Conclusions: The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of net traction force on the imposed vertical stress under the 220/65R21 driving wheel. Hence, velocity at three levels (i.e. 0.8, 1, 1.2 m s-1), wheel load at three levels (i.e. 2, 3, and 4 kN) and slippage at three levels (i.e. 8, 12, and 15%) were considered to obtain traction force and soil vertical stress at three depths of 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 m. Experiments were carried out in the complete randomized block design with three replicates on clay loam soil at 12% moisture content. The vertical stress was measured using a manufactured soil stress transducer where the net traction was measured using four horizontally installed load cells between the tester rig and the carriage. A correlation was developed between soil stress and traction force. The results revealed that vertical stress increases with respect to increase of wheel load and slippage, whereas vertical stress decreases by increase in depth and velocity. Additionally, it was found that wheel load and slippage bring about increased traction force while velocity has no significant effect on traction force at 1% significance level. Finally, it was deduced that an increase of traction force results in an increase of vertical stress transmission.

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 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.

Abstract Introduction: In recent years, production techniques and equipment have been developed for conservation of tillage systems that have been adopted by many farmers. With proper management, overall yield averages for conventional and reduced tillage systems are nearly identical. Sometimes, field operations can be combined by connecting two or more implements. Combined operations reduce both fuel consumption, and time and labor requirements by eliminating at least one individual trip over the field. Light tillage, spraying, or fertilizing operations can be combined with either primary or secondary tillage or planting operations. Tillage helps seed growth and germination through providing appropriate conditions for soil to absorb sufficient temperature and humidity. Moreover, it helps easier development of root through reducing soil penetration resistance. Tillage is a time-consuming and expensive procedure. With the application of agricultural operations, we can save substantial amounts of fuel, time and energy consumption. Conservation tillage loosens the soil without turning, but by remaining the plant left overs, stems and roots. Bulk density reflects the soil’s ability to function for structural support, water and solute movement, and soil aeration. Bulk densities above thresholds indicate impaired function. Bulk density is also used to convert between weight and volume of soil. It is used to express soil physical, chemical and biological measurements on a volumetric basis for soil quality assessment and comparisons between management systems. This increases the validity of comparisons by removing the error associated with differences in soil density at the time of sampling. The aim of conservation tillage is to fix the soil structure. This investigation was carried out considering the advantages of conservation tillage and less scientific research works on imported conservation tillage devices and those which are made inside the country, besides the importance of tillage depth and speed in different tiller performance.
Materials and methods: This investigation was carried out based on random blocks in the form of split plot experimental design. The main factor, tillage depth, (was 10 and 20cm at both levels) and the second factor, tillage speed, (was 6, 8, 10, 12 km h-1 in four levels for Bostan-Abad and 8,10,12,14 km h-1 for Hashtrood) with four repetitions. It was carried out using complex tillage made in Sazeh Keshte Bukan Company, which is mostly used in Eastern Azerbaijanand using Massey Ferguson 285 and 399 tractors in Bostab-Abad and Hashtrood, respectively. In this investigation, the characteristics of soil bulk density were studied in two sampling depths of 7 and 17 centimeters. Bulk density is an indicator of soil compaction. It is calculated as the dry weight of soil divided by its volume. This volume includes the volume of soil particles and the volume of pores among soil particles. Bulk density is typically expressed in g cm-3.
Results and Discussion: In this study, the effect of both factors on the feature of the soil bulk density at the sampling depth of 5-10 and 15-20 cm was examined. In Bostan-Abad, regarding tillage speed effect for studies characteristics at 1% probability level on soil bulk density was effective. The effect of tillage depth on the soil bulk density was significant at 5% probability level . The interaction effect of tillage speed and depth on soil bulk density was significant at probability level of 1%. Regarding sampling depth effect, the soil bulk density was significant at 5% probability level, respectively. In Hashtrood, the effect of tillage speed on soil bulk density at probability level of 1%, and also tillage depth effect on soil bulk density was significant at 5% level of probability. The interaction effect of tillage speed and depth on soil bulk density was significant at 5% level of probability. Regarding the depth of sampling it was significant on soil bulk density at probability level of 1%. Through an increase in tillage speed, soil bulk density reduces at unit level.
Conclusions: In this study, the effect of both factors on the feature of the soil bulk density in the sampling depth of 5-10 and 15-20 cm was examined. In Bostan-Abad and Hashtroud, on the whole, the results indicated that the increase in the speed of tillage, soil bulk density, was reduced and the speed of 10 kilometers per hour was the best for this to implement work. Also, with an increasing depth of tillage, the bulk density increased. Through an increase in tillage speed, soil bulk density reduced at unit level. Moreover, the optimum speed was concluded 10km per hour. Through an increase in tillage depth, bulk density and soil humidity increase accordingly. The best tillage depth using this machine is 10cm.

Abstract Introduction: Nowadays, the tractor mounted boom sprayer is used in many agricultural fields. These sprayers have many advantages compared to other sprayers, but in Iran, their field efficiency is much lower than that of the developed countries, because the tank volume and consumption of pesticides per hectare is often so highthat spraying per hectare takesa long time for handling the solutions and transporting the sprayers. Also spray droplet size is ordinarily high and its distribution is unknot uniform. So, often spraying and dropping top parts of plants on the earth is inevitable. According to studies carried out in the country during the years 2005-2008 in the agricultural research centers in several provinces such as Khuzestan, four types of sprayers including tractor mounted sprayer, atomizer, microner, and electrostatic atomizer were studied and some of the results obtained include the following. From the point of view of percentage of crash crop, tractor mounted sprayer has the highest percentage, but microner sprayer had the lowest. From the point of view of the solution of consumption amount and spraying cost per hectare, the operation of the tractor mounted sprayer and electrostatic sprayer had the highest and the lowest ranks, respectively. Atomizer sprayer had the highest effect on the percentage amount of weed control, but it requires a high amount of water consumption, high drift and low operation (Safari and Lovaimi, 2010).
Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out during 2012-2013 in the field of agricultural research located in the Mollasani city located 20 km near Ahvaz. In this study, tractor mounted spinning disk sprayer (mounted microner sprayer) was evaluated in comparison with conventional boom sprayer on weeds control. The treatments included medium (3500 rpm) and low (2000 rpm) speed rotation disk sprayer and two types of nozzle in conventional boom sprayer. One of them was an Italian tee jet nozzle and the other one was flowage nozzle and they were compared with control treatment. Experiment design was Randomized Completed blocks Design (RCBD) with seven replications. Parameters such as spraying quality, diameter, volume mean diameter and numerical mean of droplets, spray quality factor, the percentage of crash crop, weeds dry weight and number, percentage of weed control and the drift were measured. The results were compared with a control treatment. For comparative tests between the sprayers, the measured parameters were compared with each other using SAS software.
Results and Discussion: Volume mean diameter and numerical mean diameter in tractor mounted microner sprayer with medium and low speed rotation disk treatment and also tractor mounted boom sprayer with Italian fan nozzle treatment were metered 162.5, 461 and 635.5 micron, and 138.5, 355 and 452.5 micron, respectively. Volume mean diameter related to numerical mean diameter was obtained to be 1.17 and 1.3 for tractor mounted microner sprayer with medium and low levels of speed rotation disk, and 1.4 for tractor mounted boom sprayer with Italian fan nozzle, respectively. Whenever the spray quality coefficient is closer to one, the spray quality is better. So microner sprayer treatment with 1.17 coefficient has the best spray quality. The results about weeds control numbers showed all treatments had significant difference with control treat in 1% levels (Table 3). Evaluating all treatment results showed the flowage nozzle with 22.57 weeds number and 27.26 g. weeds dry weight had significant difference with other treatments in 1% levels that was the best operation (Table 4). In comparison of sprayers’ technical evaluation, all treatments had significant difference in 1% levels, so the flowage nozzle with 191.66 l.ha solution consumption and microner treatment with medium speed rotation disk with 44.38 l.ha solution consumption were the most and the least treatments. And they have significant difference in 1% levels (Table 5). The most percent of crop loss belonged to sprayer boom tractor with flowage nozzle (27.03%) and the least belonged to microner boom sprayer tractor (6%). The most percent of drift belonged to microner boom sprayer tractor with medium speed of rotation disk (76.19%) and the least belonged to sprayer boom tractor with flowage nozzle (23.81%). The best spraying quality (1.17) was for microner with medium rotation disk treat (Table 6).
Conclusions: Performance of a sprayers mostly depends upon the working of its nozzle. In this research, two different sprayers with three typical nozzles were used to control wheat crop weeds. In general, the tractor sprayer of microner (40 million Rials) is more expensive than the typical boom sprayer, and because most farmers owntractor mounted boom sprayers the most convenient and least expensive method is to use Italian fan nozzle (standard) due to lower cost and higher performance. However, there are many effectiveness parameters to select a suitable sprayer for the field. But on the bases of the sprayer's technological specifications, weed control parameters, economical parameters and etc., technical methods such as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) or other ones are proposed to choose the better sprayer for pesticide applications.

Abstract Introduction: Encountering soil from the viewpoint of management and product manufacturing has always been considered important, and an attempt is always made hat the tools and contrasting methods of soil be designed in such a way that itself prevents, as much as possible, the destructive consequences or energy waste that include economical or environmental limitations. Enhancing the soil encountering methods, quality reformation, and its related equipment, requires performing reliable tests in actual soil conditions. Considering the complexity and variety of variables in soil and machine contrast, this is a hard task. Hence, the numeral simulations are the key of all optimizations that illustrate efficient models by removing the costly farm tests and reducing research time. Tire is one of the main factors engaged with soil, and it is one of those tools that are discussable in both farms, and software environments. Despite the complexities in soil behavior, and tire geometry, modeling, tire movement on the soil has been the researchers’ objective from the past.
Materials and methods: A non-linear finite element (FE) model of the interaction of a non-driving tire with soil surface was developed to investigate the influence of the forward speed, tire inflation pressure and vertical load on rolling resistance using ABAQUS/Explicit code. In this research numerical and experimental tests were done under different conditions in order to estimate tire rolling resistance. In numerical tests, the soil part was simulated as a one-layer viscous-elastic material with a Drucker-Prager model by considering realistic soil properties. These properties included elastic and plastic properties which were obtained in the soil laboratory using relevant tests. The soil samples were prepared from the soil which was inside the soil bin. The same soil was utilized in experimental tests. Finite strain hyper elasticity model is developed to model nearly incompressible rubber materials for the tire. Tire model consisted of three components: tread, rubber and ring. Using a soil bin and one wheel tester with their related equipment, experimental tests were carried out in the workstation of mechanics of bio system engineering department of the Urmia University. This system includes various sections such as soil storage in dimensions of 22×2×1 meter, tools carrier or tracker, soil processing equipment, dynamic system, evaluation tools and controlling systems. In order to launch the collection and supply required power for wheel carrier, an industrial three phase electromotor with 22 kW (30 hp) was used. Both numerical and experimental tests were done at three levels of wheel dynamic load (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) kN, tire inflation pressure (100, 200 and 300) kPa and four levels of speed (0.25, 0.45, 0.65, 0.9 and 1.15) m s-1 to obtain the rolling resistance of the tire.
Results and discussion: In order to evaluate the performance of final non driving tire-soil model to estimate the rolling resistance, numerical results were compared with preliminary experimental data obtained from the soil-bin tests. The comparison showed reasonably good agreement between the computed and measured general pattern of the rolling resistance at the tire-soil interface under different speeds, vertical loads and inflation pressures. In both tests, a specified relation was not seen between tire velocity and its rolling resistance, as it was not seen in empirical models such as Wismar and Luce. Correlation coefficient between experimental and numerical data, in the minimum and maximum value of tire inflation pressure was computed to be 0.06 and 0.016 percent, respectively. The amount of tire rolling resistance significantly increased with increase of tire vertical load. Correlation coefficient between experimental and numerical data, in the minimum and maximum vertical loads was computed to be 80 and 87 percent, respectively. Gent and Walter obtained the same results. The tire inflation pressure and rolling resistance variables had inverse relation to each other in both numerical and experimental tests. Correlation coefficient between experimental and numerical data was computed to be 97 and 73 percent in the minimum and maximum tire inflation pressure, respectively. The gradient of changes in tire inflation pressure - rolling resistance diagram was less in numerical tests. This was because of differences between real properties and the properties entered into the software.
Conclusions: To conclude, in this investigation a new 3D tire-soil model was simulated which has specific features. The experimental results showed that the numerical data of estimation of non-driven tire rolling resistance were reliable. In both tests, the effect of changes in tire forward speed on rolling resistance was not significant.The amount of the tire rolling resistance significantly increased with increasing tire vertical load. Changes in tire inflation pressure and rolling resistance had an inverse relation with each other in both numerical and experimental tests. The slope of rolling resistance - inflation pressure diagram in numerical tests was less than the same diagram in the experimental tests.

Abstract About 60% of the mechanical energy consumed in mechanized agriculture is used for tillage operations and seedbed preparation. On the other hand, unsuitable tillage system resulted in soil degradation, affecting soil physical properties and destroying soil structure. The objective of this research was to compare the effects of three types of secondary tillage machines on soil physical properties and their field performances. An experiment was conducted in a wheat farm in Jouybar area of Mazandaran as split plots based on randomized complete block design with three replications. The main independent variable (plot) was soil moisture with three levels (23.6-25, 22.2-23.6 and 20.8-22.2 percent based on dry weight) and the subplot was three types of machine (two-disk perpendicular passing harrow, Power harrow and Rotary tiller). The measured parameters included: clod mean weight diameter, soil bulk density, specific fuel consumption, machine efficiency and machine capacity. The effects of treatments and their interactions on the specific fuel consumption, machine efficiency and machine capacity and also the effects of treatments on bulk density were significant (P