Search results for: impact during crop and post-crop

Authors: A. Aulinger, A. M. Backes, J. Bieser, V. Matthias, M. Quante

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High concentrations of particles pose a threat to human health. Thus, legal maximum concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 in ambient air have been steadily decreased over the years. In central Europe, the inorganic species ammonium sulphate and ammonium nitrate make up a large fraction of fine particles. Many studies investigate the influence of emission reductions of sulfur- and nitrogen oxides on aerosol concentration. Here, we focus on the influence of ammonia (NH3) emissions. While emissions of sulphate and nitrogen oxides are quite well known, ammonia emissions are subject to high uncertainty. This is due to the uncertainty of location, amount, time of fertilizer application in agriculture, and the storage and treatment of manure from animal husbandry. For this study, we implemented a crop growth model into the SMOKE emission model. Depending on temperature, local legislation, and crop type individual temporal profiles for fertilizer and manure application are calculated for each model grid cell. Additionally, the diffusion from soils and plants and the direct release from open and closed barns are determined. The emission data was used as input for the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Comparisons to observations from the EMEP measurement network indicate that the new ammonia emission module leads to a better agreement of model and observation (for both ammonia and ammonium). Finally, the ammonia emission model was used to create emission scenarios. This includes emissions based on future European legislation, as well as a dynamic evaluation of the influence of different agricultural sectors on particle formation. It was found that a reduction of ammonia emissions by 50% lead to a 24% reduction of total PM2.5 concentrations during winter time in the model domain. The observed reduction was mainly driven by reduced formation of ammonium nitrate. Moreover, emission reductions during winter had a larger impact than during the rest of the year.

Keywords: ammonia, ammonia abatement strategies, ctm, seasonal impact, secondary aerosol formation

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: Todor N. Penchev, Dimitar N. Karastoianov, Stanislav D. Gyoshev

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For compacting of iron powder are used hydraulic presses and high velocity hammers. In this paper are presented initial research on application of an innovative powder compacting method, which uses a hammer working with controlled impact. The results show that by this method achieves the reduction of rebounds and improve efficiency of impact, compared with a high-speed compacting. Depending on the power of the engine (industrial rocket engine), this effect may be amplified to such an extent as to obtain a impact without rebound (sticking impact) and in long-time action of the impact force.

Keywords: powder metallurgy, impact, iron powder compacting, rocket engine

Procedia PDF Downloads 496

Authors: Javed Kamal

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A proposed field study of wheat-based cropping systems was conducted at Faisalabad (Post-Graduate Research Station). We used 7 treatments and Jantar as a green manuring crop to increase the fertility status of soil; after the vegetative phases of wheat, rice, sorghum, and mungbean, the agronomic parameters of these crops were recorded. Hopefully, all increased with jantar treatment when compared with controls. The benefit: cost ratio and physicochemical characteristics of the soil before and after the crop harvest were also calculated.

Keywords: benifit cost ratio, jantar, sunflower, rice, wheat

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Authors: Shivangi Somvanshi

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Poor crop productivity in salt-affected environment in the country is due to insufficient and untimely canal supply to agricultural land and inefficient field water management practices. This could further degrade due to inadequate maintenance of canal network, ongoing secondary soil salinization and waterlogging, worsening of groundwater quality. Large patches of low productivity in irrigation commands are occurring due to waterlogging and salt-affected soil, particularly in the scarcity rainfall year. Satellite remote sensing has been used for mapping of areas of low crop productivity, waterlogging and salt in irrigation commands. The spatial results obtained for these problems so far are less reliable for further use due to rapid change in soil quality parameters over the years. The existing spatial databases of canal network and flow data, groundwater quality and salt-affected soil were obtained from the central and state line departments/agencies and were integrated with GIS. Therefore, an integrated methodology based on remote sensing and GIS has been developed in ArcGIS environment on the basis of canal supply status, groundwater quality, salt-affected soils, and satellite-derived vegetation index (NDVI), salinity index (NDSI) and waterlogging index (NSWI). This methodology was tested for identification and delineation of area of low productivity in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district (Uttar Pradesh). It was found that the area affected by this problem lies mainly in Dankaur and Jewar blocks of the district. The problem area was verified with ground data and was found to be approximately 78% accurate. The methodology has potential to be used in other irrigation commands in the country to obtain reliable spatial data on low crop productivity.

Keywords: remote sensing, GIS, salt affected soil, crop productivity, Gautam Buddha Nagar

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Biao Hu, Mark E. J. Cutler, Alexandra C. Morel

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Global climate change introduces both opportunities and challenges for crop productivity, with differences in temperature stress across latitudes and crop types, one of the most important meteorological factors impacting crop productivity. The development and productivity of crops are particularly impacted when temperatures occur outwith their preferred ranges, which has implications for global agri-food sector. This study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of heat stress and cold stress on UK arable lands for rapeseed cropping between 1961 and 2020, using a 1 km spatial resolution temperature dataset. Stress indices, including heat stress index (fHS), cold degree days (CDD) and a normalized rapeseed production loss index (fRPL) were established, and stress values and percentages of days experiencing each stress investigated. Results found increasing fHS and the areas impacted by heat stress during flowering (from April to May) and reproductive (from April to July) stages over time, with the mean fHS being negatively correlated with latitude. This pattern of increased heat stress agrees with previous research on rapeseed cropping, which have been noted at global scale in response to changes in climate. The decreasing number of CDD and frequency of cold stress suggest cold stress decreased during flowering, vegetative (from September to March next year) and reproductive stages, and the magnitude of cold stress in the south of the UK was smaller to that compared to northern regions over the studied periods. The decreasing CDD matches observed declining cold stress of global rapeseed and of other crops such as rice in the northern hemisphere. Notably, compared with previous studies which mainly tracked the trends of heat stress and cold stress individually, this study conducted a comparative analysis of the rate of their changes and found heat stress of rapeseed crops in the UK was increasing at a faster rate than cold stress, which was seen to decrease during flowering. The increasing values of fRPL, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between regions of the UK, suggested an increasing loss in rapeseed due to heat stress in the studied period. The largest increasing trend in heat stress was observed in South-eastern England, where a decreasing cold stress was taking place. While the present study observed a relatively slowly increasing heat stress, there is a worrying trend of increasing heat stress for rapeseed cropping into the future, as the cases of other main rapeseed cropping systems in the northern hemisphere including China, European counties, the US, and Canada. This study demonstrates the negative impact of global warming on rapeseed cropping, highlighting the adaptation and mitigations strategies for sustainable rapeseed cultivation across the globe.

Keywords: rapeseed, UK, heat stress, cold stress, global climate change, spatiotemporal analysis, production loss index

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Authors: Piyush Sharma, Devi Prasad Sharma, Sulabh Bansal

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Diseases are fairly common in fruits and vegetables because of the changing climatic and environmental circumstances. Crop diseases, which are frequently difficult to control, interfere with the growth and output of the crops. Accurate disease detection and timely disease control measures are required to guarantee high production standards and good quality. In India, apples are a common crop that may be afflicted by a variety of diseases on the fruit, stem, and leaves. It is fungi, bacteria, and viruses that trigger the early symptoms of leaf diseases. In order to assist farmers and take the appropriate action, it is important to develop an automated system that can be used to detect the type of illnesses. Machine learning-based image processing can be used to: this research suggested a system that can automatically identify diseases in apple fruit and apple plants. Hence, this research utilizes the hybrid SVM-RBN model. As a consequence, the model may produce results that are more effective in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 Score, with respective values of 96%, 99%, 94%, and 93%.

Keywords: fruit plant disease, crop disease, machine learning, image processing, SVM-RBN

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Authors: Rafeza Begum, Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman, Safikul Moula, Rafiqul Islam

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Potassium (K) is crucial for healthy soil and plant growth. However, K fertilization is either disregarded or poorly underutilized in Bangladesh agriculture, despite the great demand for crops. This could eventually result in a significant depletion of the soil's potassium reserves, irreversible alteration of the minerals that contain potassium, and detrimental effects on crop productivity. Soil K mining in Bangladesh is a worrying problem, and we need to evaluate it thoroughly and find remedies. A pot culture experiment was conducted in the greenhouse of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) using eleven soil series of Bangladesh in order to see the depletion behaviour of potassium (K) by continuous cropping using rice (var. Iratom-24) as the test crop. The soil series were Ranishankhail, Kaonia. Sonatala, Silmondi, Gopalpur, Ishurdi, Sara, Kongsha, Nunni, Lauta and Amnura on which four successive rice plants (45 days duration) were raised with (100 ppm K) or without addition of potassium. Nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and zinc were applied as basal to all pots. Potassium application resulted in higher dry matter yield, increased K concentration and uptake in all the soils compared with no K treatment; which gradually decreased in the subsequent harvests. Furthermore, plant takes up K not only from exchangeable pool but also from non-exchangeable sites and a minimum replenishment of K from the soil reserve was observed. Continuous cropping has resulted in the depletion of available K of the soil. The result indicated that in order to sustain higher crop yield under intensive cultivation, the addition of potash fertilizer is necessary.

Keywords: potassium, exchangeable pool, depletion behavior., Soil series

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Authors: Nanh Lovanh, John Loughrin, Kimberly Cook, Phil Silva, Byung-Taek Oh

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In the era of sustainability, utilization of livestock wastes as soil amendment to provide micronutrients for crops is very economical and sustainable. It is well understood that livestock wastes are comparable, if not better, nutrient sources for crops as chemical fertilizers. However, the large concentrated volumes of animal manure produced from livestock operations and the limited amount of available nearby agricultural land areas necessitated the need for volume reduction of these animal wastes. Composting of these animal manures is a viable option for biomass and pathogenic reduction in the environment. Nevertheless, composting also increases the potential loss of available nutrients for crop production as well as unwanted emission of anthropogenic air pollutants due to the loss of ammonia and other compounds via volatilization. In this study, we examine the emission of ammonia and nitrous oxide from swine manure windrows to evaluate the benefit of biomass reduction in conjunction with the potential loss of available nutrients. The feedstock for the windrows was obtained from swine farm in Kentucky where swine manure was mixed with wood shaving as absorbent material. Static flux chambers along with photoacoustic gas analyzer were used to monitor ammonia and nitrous oxide concentrations during the composting process. The results show that ammonia and nitrous oxide fluxes were quite high during the initial composting process and after the turning of each compost pile. Over the period of roughly three months of composting, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) decreased by about 90%. Although composting of animal waste is quite beneficial for biomass reduction, composting may not be economically feasible from an agronomical point of view due to time, nutrient loss (N loss), and potential environmental pollution (ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions). Therefore, additional studies are needed to assess and validate the economics and environmental impact of animal (swine) manure composting (e.g., crop yield or impact on climate change).

Keywords: windrow, swine manure, ammonia, nitrous oxide, fluxes, management

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: R. N. Pateriya, T. K. Bhattacharya

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In India, rice-wheat cropping system occupies the major area and contributes about 40% of the country’s total food grain production. It is necessary that production of rice and wheat must keep pace with growing population. However, various factors such as degradation in natural resources, shift in cropping pattern, energy constraints etc. are causing reduction in the productivity of these crops. Seedbed for rice after wheat is difficult to prepare due to presence of straw and stubbles, and require excessive tillage operations to bring optimum tilth. In addition, delayed sowing and transplanting of rice is mainly due to poor crop residue management, multiplicity of tillage operations and non-availability of the power source. With increasing concern for fuel conservation and energy management, farmers might wish to estimate the best cultivation system for more productivity. The widest spread method of tilling land is ploughing with mould board plough. However, with the mould board plough upper layer of soil is neither always loosened at the desired extent nor proper mixing of different layers are achieved. Therefore, additional operations carried out to improve tilth. The farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the need for minimum tillage by minimizing the use of machines. Soil management can be achieved by using the combined active-passive tillage machines. A study was therefore, undertaken in wheat-harvested field to study the impact of conventional and modified tillage practices on paddy crop cultivation. Tillage treatments with tractor as a power source were selected during the experiment. The selected level of tillage treatments of tractor machinery management were (T1:- Direct Sowing of Rice), (T2:- 2 to 3 harrowing and no Puddling with manual transplanting), (T3:- 2 to 3 harrowing and Puddling with paddy harrow with manual transplanting), (T4:- 2 to 3 harrowing and Puddling with Rotavator with manual transplanting). The maximum output was obtained with treatment T1 (7.85 t/ha)) followed by T4 (6.4 t/ha), T3 (6.25 t/ha) and T2 (6.0 t/ha)) respectively.

Keywords: crop residues, cropping system, minimum tillage, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Xiping Wang，Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

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Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

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Authors: Aziz Larbi, Widad Sadok

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In Morocco, the mountainous regions extend over about 26% of the national territory where 30% of the total population live. They contain opportunities for agriculture, forestry, pastureland and mining. The production systems in these zones are characterised by crop diversification. However, these areas have become vulnerable to the effects of climate change. To understand these effects in relation to the population living in these areas, a study was carried out in the zone of Taliouine, in the Anti-Atlas. The vulnerability of crop productions to climate change was analysed and the different ways of adaptation adopted by farmers were identified. The work was done on saffron, the most profitable crop in the target area even though it requires much water. Our results show that the majority of the farmers surveyed had noticed variations in the climate of the region: irregularity of precipitation leading to a decrease in quantity and an uneven distribution throughout the year; rise in temperature; reduction in the cold period and less snow. These variations had impacts on the cropping system of saffron and its productivity. To cope with these effects, the farmers adopted various strategies: better management and use of water; diversification of agricultural activities; increase in the contribution of non-agricultural activities to their gross income; and seasonal migration.

Keywords: climate change, Taliouine, saffron, perceptions, adaptation strategies

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Authors: Nathenal Thomas

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In the food chain and in many other agricultural products, corn, also known as maize, which goes by the scientific name Zea mays subsp, is a widely produced agricultural product. Corn has the highest adaptability. It comes in many different types, is employed in many different industrial processes, and is more adaptable to different agro-climatic situations. In Ethiopia, maize is among the most widely grown crop. Small-scale corn farming may be a household's only source of food in developing nations like Ethiopia. The aforementioned data demonstrates that the country's requirement for this crop is excessively high, and conversely, the crop's productivity is very low for a variety of reasons. The most damaging disease that greatly contributes to this imbalance between the crop's supply and demand is the corn disease. The failure to diagnose diseases in maize plant until they are too late is one of the most important factors influencing crop output in Ethiopia. This study will aid in the early detection of such diseases and support farmers during the cultivation process, directly affecting the amount of maize produced. The diseases in maize plants, such as northern leaf blight and cercospora leaf spot, have distinct symptoms that are visible. This study aims to detect the most frequent and degrading maize diseases using the most efficiently used subset of machine learning technology, deep learning so, called Image Processing. Deep learning uses networks that can be trained from unlabeled data without supervision (unsupervised). It is a feature that simulates the exercises the human brain goes through when digesting data. Its applications include speech recognition, language translation, object classification, and decision-making. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for Image Processing, also known as convent, is a deep learning class that is widely used for image classification, image detection, face recognition, and other problems. it will also use this algorithm as the state-of-the-art for my research to detect maize diseases by photographing maize leaves using a mobile phone.

Keywords: CNN, zea mays subsp, leaf blight, cercospora leaf spot

Procedia PDF Downloads 45

Authors: Jason West

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Low profitability in agriculture production along with increasing scrutiny over environmental effects is limiting food production at scale. In contrast, the mining sector offers access to resources including energy, water, transport and chemicals for food production at low marginal cost. Scalable agricultural production can benefit from the nexus of resources (water, energy, transport) offered by mining activity in remote locations. A decision support bioeconomic model for controlled environment vertical farms was used. Four submodels were used: crop structure, nutrient requirements, resource-crop integration, and economic. They escalate to a macro mathematical model. A demonstrable dynamic systems framework is needed to prove productive outcomes are feasible. We demonstrate a generalized bioeconomic macro model for controlled environment production systems in minesites using systems dynamics modeling methodology. Despite the complexity of bioeconomic modelling of resource-agricultural dynamic processes and interactions, the economic potential greater than general economic models would assume. Scalability of production as an input becomes a key success feature.

Keywords: crop production systems, mathematical model, mining, agriculture, dynamic systems

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Authors: E. Kharaishvili

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The paper shows the necessity of farm diversification in accordance with the current trends in agricultural sector of Georgia. The possibilities for the diversification and the corresponding economic policy are suggested. The causes that hinder diversification of farms are revealed, possibilities of diversification are suggested and the ability of increasing employment through diversification is proved. Index of harvest diversification is calculated based on the areas used for cereals and legumes, potatoes and vegetables and other food crops. Crop and livestock production indexes are analyzed, correlation between crop capacity index and value-added per one worker and one ha is studied. Based on the research farm diversification strategies and priorities of corresponding economic policy are presented. Based on the conclusions relevant recommendations are suggested.

Keywords: farm diversification, diversification index, agricultural development policy

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Authors: Aswathaman Vijayan, Manish Jha, Ullas Theertha

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Climate change and Global warming have become an issue for both developed and developing countries and perhaps the biggest threat to the environment. We at ITC Limited believe that a company’s performance must be measured by its Triple Bottom Line contribution to building economic, social and environmental capital. This Triple Bottom Line strategy focuses on - Embedding sustainability in business practices, Investing in social development and Adopting a low carbon growth path with a cleaner environment approach. The Agri Business Division - ILTD operates in the tobacco crop growing regions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka province of India. The Agri value chain of the company comprises of two distinct phases: First phase is Agricultural operations undertaken by ITC trained farmers and the second phase is Industrial operations which include marketing and processing of the agricultural produce. This research work covers the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) management strategy of ITC in the Agricultural operations undertaken by the farmers. The agriculture sector adds considerably to global GHG emissions through the use of carbon-based energies, use of fertilizers and other farming operations such as ploughing. In order to minimize the impact of farming operations on the environment, ITC has a taken a big leap in implementing system and process in reducing the GHG impact in farm value chain by partnering with the farming community. The company has undertaken a unique three-pronged approach for GHG management at the farm value chain: 1) GHG inventory at farm value chain: Different sources of GHG emission in the farm value chain were identified and quantified for the baseline year, as per the IPCC guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories. The major sources of emission identified are - emission due to nitrogenous fertilizer application during seedling production and main-field; emission due to diesel usage for farm machinery; emission due to fuel consumption and due to burning of crop residues. 2) Identification and implementation of technologies to reduce GHG emission: Various methodologies and technologies were identified for each GHG emission source and implemented at farm level. The identified methodologies are – reducing the consumption of chemical fertilizer usage at the farm through site-specific nutrient recommendation; Usage of sharp shovel for land preparation to reduce diesel consumption; implementation of energy conservation technologies to reduce fuel requirement and avoiding burning of crop residue by incorporation in the main field. These identified methodologies were implemented at farm level, and the GHG emission was quantified to understand the reduction in GHG emission. 3) Social and farm forestry for CO2 sequestration: In addition, the company encouraged social and farm forestry in the waste lands to convert it into green cover. The plantations are carried out with fast growing trees viz., Eucalyptus, Casuarina, and Subabul at the rate of 10,000 Ha of land per year. The above approach minimized considerable amount of GHG emission at the farm value chain benefiting farmers, community, and environment at a whole. In addition, the CO₂ stock created by social and farm forestry program has made the farm value chain to become environment-friendly.

Keywords: CO₂ sequestration, farm value chain, greenhouse gas, ITC limited

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Girish Chavadappanavar

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The impact of climate on agriculture could result in problems with food security and may threaten the livelihood activities upon which much of the population depends. In the present study, the development of a statistical yield forecast model has been carried out for sugarcane production over Belagavi district, Karnataka using weather variables of crop growing season and past observed yield data for the period of 1971 to 2010. The study shows that this type of statistical yield forecast model could efficiently forecast yield 5 weeks and even 10 weeks in advance of the harvest for sugarcane within an acceptable limit of error. The performance of the model in predicting yields at the district level for sugarcane crops is found quite satisfactory for both validation (2007 and 2008) as well as forecasting (2009 and 2010).In addition to the above study, the climate variability of the area has also been studied, and hence, the data series was tested for Mann Kendall Rank Statistical Test. The maximum and minimum temperatures were found to be significant with opposite trends (decreasing trend in maximum and increasing in minimum temperature), while the other three are found in significant with different trends (rainfall and evening time relative humidity with increasing trend and morning time relative humidity with decreasing trend).

Keywords: climate impact, regression analysis, yield and forecast model, sugar models

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Authors: Alfonso Unceta, Javier Castro-Spila

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This paper offers a conceptual and empirical exploration between the organizational performance and the impact of social innovation. The paper contributes on the social innovation field in three domains: a) It provides analytical and empirical evidence linking organizational performance to the impact of social innovation; b) it provides a first outline of impact assessment of social innovation when it is developed by a diversity of heterogeneous actors (systemic social innovation); c) it provides a first outline for the development of innovation policies to support social innovations according to a typology of organizations and a typology of impact.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, social innovation impact, organizational performance, RESINDEX, Basque Country

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Authors: Ahmad Aridah, Maria Fay Rola-Rubzen, Zora Singh

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This study investigated the effectiveness of various types of irrigation systems in regards to the impact that these have on the productivity of date palms in the semi-arid and arid region of Sebha, Southwest Libya. The date palm is an economically important crop in Libya and contributes to the agriculture industry, foreign exchange earnings, farmers’ income, and employment in the country. The date palm industry relies on large amounts of water for growing the crop. Farmers in Southwest Libya use a variety of irrigation systems, but the quality and quantity of water varies between systems and this affects the productivity and income of farmers. Using survey data from 210 farmers, this study estimated and assessed the pros and cons of different types of irrigation systems for date palm production under various irrigation systems currently used in Sebha, Libya. The number of years farmers have used irrigation, the area, irrigation water consumption, time of irrigation, number of farm workers (including family labour) and inputs used were measured for surface, sprinkler and drip irrigation methods. Findings from this research provide new insights into the advantages and disadvantages of the various irrigation systems, problems encountered by farmers and the factors that affect the quality and quantity of the irrigation system. The paper discussed proposed solutions to deal with the problems including timing of irrigation, canal maintenance, repair of wells and water control.

Keywords: Libya, factors, irrigation method, date palm

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Authors: Gobena D. Bayisa, A. Mekonen, Megersa O. Dinka, Tilahun H. Nebi, M. Boja

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Crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia is largely limited by water availability. Changing climate conditions and declining water resources increase the need for appropriate approaches to improve water use and find ways to increase production through reduced and more reliable water supply. In the years 2021/22 and 2022/23, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of limited irrigation water use on bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, water use efficiency, and financial benefits. Five irrigation treatments, i.e., full irrigation (100% ETc/ control), 85% ETc, 70% ETc, 55% ETc, and 40% ETc, were evaluated using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates in the semi-arid climate condition of Awash basin of Ethiopia. Statistical analysis showed a significant effect of irrigation levels on wheat grain yield, water use efficiency, crop water response factor, economic profit, wheat grain quality, aboveground biomass, and yield index. The highest grain yield (5085 kg ha⁻¹) was obtained with 100% ETc irrigation (417.2 mm), and the lowest grain yield with 40% ETc (223.7 mm). Of the treatments, 70% ETc produced the higher wheat grain yield (4555 kg ha⁻¹), the highest water use efficiency (1.42 kg m⁻³), and the highest yield index (0.43). Using the saved water, wheat could be produced 23.4% more with a 70% ETc deficit than full irrigation on 1.38 ha of land, and it could get the highest profit (US$2563.9) and higher MRR (137%). The yield response factor and crop-water production function showed potential reductions associated with increased irrigation deficits. However, a 70% ETc deficit is optimal for increasing wheat grain yield, water use efficiency, and economic benefits of irrigated wheat production. The result indicates that deficit irrigation of wheat under the typical arid and semi-arid climatic conditions of the Awash Basin can be a viable irrigation management approach for enhancing water use efficiency while minimizing the decrease in crop yield could be considered effective.

Keywords: crop-water response factor, deficit irrigation, water use efficiency, wheat production

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Authors: Vijay Shankar

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In the era of water scarcity, effective use of water via irrigation requires good methods for determining crop water needs. Implementation of irrigation scheduling programs requires an accurate estimate of water use by the crop. Moisture depletion from the root zone represents the consequent crop evapotranspiration (ET). A numerical model for simulating soil water depletion in the root zone has been developed by taking into consideration soil physical properties, crop and climatic parameters. The governing differential equation for unsaturated flow of water in the soil is solved numerically using the fully implicit finite difference technique. The water uptake by plants is simulated by using three different sink functions. The non-linear model predictions are in good agreement with field data and thus it is possible to schedule irrigations more effectively. The present paper describes irrigation scheduling based on moisture depletion from the different layers of the root zone, obtained using different sink functions for three cash, oil and forage crops: cotton, safflower and barley, respectively. The soil is considered at a moisture level equal to field capacity prior to planting. Two soil moisture regimes are then imposed for irrigated treatment, one wherein irrigation is applied whenever soil moisture content is reduced to 50% of available soil water; and other wherein irrigation is applied whenever soil moisture content is reduced to 75% of available soil water. For both the soil moisture regimes it has been found that the model incorporating a non-linear sink function which provides best agreement of computed root zone moisture depletion with field data, is most effective in scheduling irrigations. Simulation runs with this moisture uptake function result in saving 27.3 to 45.5% & 18.7 to 37.5%, 12.5 to 25% % &16.7 to 33.3% and 16.7 to 33.3% & 20 to 40% irrigation water for cotton, safflower and barley respectively, under 50 & 75% moisture depletion regimes over other moisture uptake functions considered in the study. Simulation developed can be used for an optimized irrigation planning for different crops, choosing a suitable soil moisture regime depending upon the irrigation water availability and crop requirements.

Keywords: irrigation water, evapotranspiration, root uptake models, water scarcity

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Authors: Dorothy Kagazi

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The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) remains one of the most crop-damaging species around Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Elephant crop raiding deprives communities of food and incomes, consequently impacting livelihoods, attitude, and support for conservation. It also attracts an aggressive reaction from local communities including the retaliatory killing of a species that is already endangered and listed under Appendix I of the Convention on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). In order to mitigate against elephant crop raiding and minimize conflict, a number of interventions were devised by the government of Uganda such as physical guarding, scare-shooting, excavation of trenches, growing of unpalatable crops and fire lighting all of which have over the years been implemented around the park. These generated varying degrees of effectiveness but largely never solved the problem of elephants crossing into communities to destroy food and shelter which had a negative effect onto sustainable tourism of the communities who often resorted to killing these animals and hence contributing the falling numbers of these animals. It was until government discovered that there are far more effective ways of deterring these animals from crossing to communities that it commissioned a study to deploy the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) as a deterrent against elephant crop raiding and income enhancement for local people around the park. These efforts led to a number of projects around Kibale National Park where communities were facilitated to keep bees for human-elephant conflict mitigation and rural income enhancement through the sale of honey. These projects have registered tremendous success in reducing crop damage, enhance rural incomes, influence positive attitude change and ultimately secure community support for elephant and park conservation which is a clear manifestation of sustainable tourism development in the area. To address the issue of sustainability, the project was aligned with four major objectives that contributed to the overall goal of maintaining the areas around the parks and the national park itself in such a manner that it remains viable over an infinite period. Among these included determining deterrence effects of bees against elephant crop raiding, assessing the contribution of beekeeping towards rural income enhancement, determining the impact of community involvement of park conservation and management among others. The project deployed 500 improved hives by placing them at specific and previously identified and mapped out elephant crossing points along the park boundary. A control site was established without any intervention to facilitate comparison of findings and data was collected on elephant raiding frequency, patterns, honey harvested, and community attitude towards the park. A socio-economic assessment was also undertaken to ascertain the contribution of beekeeping to incomes and attitude change. In conclusion, human-wildlife conflicts have disturbed conservation and sustainable tourism development efforts. Such success stories like the beekeeping strategy should hence be extensively discussed and widely shared as a conservation technique for sustainable tourism.

Keywords: bees, communities, conservation, elephants

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Iyabode A. Kehinde, Joshua O. Oyekanmi, Jumoke T. Abimbola, Olajumoke E. Ayanda

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African yam bean (AYB), (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) is a leguminous crop that provides nutritionally rich seeds, tubers and leaves for human consumption. AYB potentials as an important food security crop is yet to be realized and thus classified as underutilized crop. Underutilization of the crop has been partly associated with scarce information on the incidence and characterization of fungal endophytes infecting vascular parts of AYB. Accurate and robust detection of these endophytic fungi is essential for diagnosis, modeling, surveillance and protection of germplasm (seed) health. This work aimed at isolating and identifying fungal endophytes associated with leaves, stems and roots of AYB in Ogun State, Nigeria. This study investigated both cultural and molecular properties of endophytic fungi in AYB for its characterization and diversity. Fungal endophytes were isolated and culturally identified. DNA extraction, PCR amplification using ITS primers and analyses of nucleotide sequences of ribosomal DNA fragments were conducted on selected isolates. BLAST analysis was conducted on consensus nucleotide sequences of 28 out of 30 isolates and results showed similar homology with genera of Rhizopus, Cunninghamella, Fusarium, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Diaporthe, Nigrospora, Purpureocillium, Corynespora, Magnaporthe, Macrophomina, Curvularia, Acrocalymma, Talaromyces and Simplicillium. Slight similarity was found with endophytes associated with soybean. Phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood method showed high diversity among the general. These organisms have high economic importance in crop improvement. For an instance, Purpureocillium lilacinum showed high potential in control of root rot caused by nematodes in tomatoes. Though some can be pathogens, but many of the fungal endophytes have beneficial attributes to plant in host health, uptake of nutrients, disease suppression, and host immunity.

Keywords: molecular characterization, African Yam Bean, fungal endophyte, plant parts

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Authors: E. Ghasemi Ardi, K. J. Dong, A. B. Yu, R. Y. Yang

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In current work, a numerical model based on the discrete element method (DEM) was developed which provided information about particle dynamic and impact event condition inside a laboratory scale impact mill (Fritsch). It showed that each particle mostly experiences three impacts inside the mill. While the first impact frequently happens at front surface of the rotor’s rib, the frequent location of the second impact is side surfaces of the rotor’s rib. It was also showed that while the first impact happens at small impact angle mostly varying around 35º, the second impact happens at around 70º which is close to normal impact condition. Also analyzing impact energy revealed that varying mill speed from 6000 to 14000 rpm, the ratio of first impact’s average impact energy and minimum required energy to break particle (Wₘᵢₙ) increased from 0.30 to 0.85. Moreover, it was seen that second impact poses intense impact energy on particle which can be considered as the main cause of particle splitting. Finally, obtained information from DEM simulation along with obtained data from conducted experiments was implemented in semi-empirical equations in order to find selection and breakage functions. Then, using a back-calculation approach, those parameters were used to predict the PSDs of ground particles under different impact energies. Results were compared with experiment results and showed reasonable accuracy and prediction ability.

Keywords: single particle breakage, particle dynamic, population balance model, particle size distribution, discrete element method

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Authors: Wondmnew Derebe Yohannis

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The enhanced utilization of modern beehives holds significant potential to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who heavily rely on mixed crop-livestock farming for their income. Recognizing this, the distribution of improved beehives has been implemented across various regions in Ethiopia, including the Bugina district. However, the precise impact of these improved beehives on farmers' income has received limited attention. To address this gap, this study aims to assess the influence of adopting upgraded beehives on rural households' income and asset accumulation. To conduct this research, survey data was gathered from a sample of 350 households selected through random sampling. The collected data was then analyzed using an econometric stochastic frontier model (ESRM) approach. The findings reveal that the adoption of improved beehives has resulted in higher annual income and asset growth for beekeepers. On average, those who adopted the improved beehives earned approximately 6,077 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) more than their counterparts who did not adopt these beehives. However, it is worth noting that the impact of adoption would have been even greater for non-adopters, as evidenced by the negative transitional heterogeneity effect of 1792 ETB. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that the decision to adopt or not adopt improved beehives was driven by individual self-selection. The adoption of improved beehives also led to an increase in fixed assets for households, establishing it as a viable strategy for poverty reduction. Overall, this study underscores the positive effect of adopting improved beehives on rural households' income and asset holdings, showcasing its potential to uplift smallholder farmers and serve as an alternative mechanism for reducing poverty.

Keywords: impact, adoption, endogenous switching regression, income, improved beehives

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Authors: M. Stelmachowski, M. Wojtczak

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The aim of the work was to assess the environmental impact of the selected small and medium-sized companies supplying heat and electricity to the cities with a population of about 50,000 inhabitants. Evaluation and comparison of the impact on the environment have been carried out for the three plants producing heat and two CHP plants with particular attention to emissions into the atmosphere and the impact of introducing a system of trading carbon emissions of these companies.

Keywords: CO2 emission, district heating, heat and power plant, impact on environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 447

Authors: R. S. Giraddi, C. M. Poleshi

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Organic cultivation of crops is gaining importance consumer awareness towards pesticide residue free foodstuffs is increasing globally. This is also because of high costs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, making the conventional farming non-remunerative. In India, organic manures (such as vermicompost) are an important input in organic agriculture.  Though vermicompost obtained through earthworm and microbe-mediated processes is known to comprise most of the crop nutrients, but they are in small amounts thus necessitating enrichment of nutrients so that crop nourishment is complete. Another characteristic of organic manures is that the pest infestations are kept under check due to induced resistance put up by the crop plants. In the present investigation, deoiled neem cake containing azadirachtin, copper ore tailings (COT), a source of micro-nutrients and microbial consortia were added for enrichment of vermicompost. Neem cake is a by-product obtained during the process of oil extraction from neem plant seeds. Three enriched vermicompost blends were prepared using vermicompost (at 70, 65 and 60%), deoiled neem cake (25, 30 and 35%), microbial consortia and COTwastes (5%). Enriched vermicompost was thoroughly mixed, moistened (25+5%), packed and incubated for 15 days at room temperature. In the crop response studies, the field trials on chili (Capsicum annum var. longum) and soybean, (Glycine max cv JS 335) were conducted during Kharif 2015 at the Main Agricultural Research Station, UAS, Dharwad-Karnataka, India. The vermicompost blend enriched with neem cake (known to possess higher amounts of nutrients) and vermicompost were applied to the crops and at two dosages and at two intervals of crop cycle (at sowing and 30 days after sowing) as per the treatment plan along with 50% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF). 10 plants selected randomly in each plot were studied for pest density and plant damage. At maturity, crops were harvested, and the yields were recorded as per the treatments, and the data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools and procedures. In the crops, chili and soybean, crop nourishment with neem enriched vermicompost reduced insect density and plant damage significantly compared to other treatments. These treatments registered as much yield (16.7 to 19.9 q/ha) as that realized in conventional chemical control (18.2 q/ha) in soybean, while 72 to 77 q/ha of green chili was harvested in the same treatments, being comparable to the chemical control (74 q/ha). The yield superiority of the treatments was of the order neem enriched vermicompost>conventional chemical control>neem cake>vermicompost>untreated control.  The significant features of the result are that it reduces use of inorganic manures by 50% and synthetic chemical insecticides by 100%.

Keywords: humic acid, azadirachtin, vermicompost, insect-pest

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Authors: A. H. Nanher, N. P. Singh, Shashidhar Yadav, Sachin Tyagi

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Agricultural production system is an outcome of a complex interaction of seed, soil, water and agro-chemicals (including fertilizers). Therefore, judicious management of all the inputs is essential for the sustainability of such a complex system. Precision agriculture gives farmers the ability to use crop inputs more effectively including fertilizers, pesticides, tillage and irrigation water. More effective use of inputs means greater crop yield and/or quality, without polluting the environment the focus on enhancing the productivity during the Green Revolution coupled with total disregard of proper management of inputs and without considering the ecological impacts, has resulted into environmental degradation. To evaluate a new approach for site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). Large variation in initial soil fertility characteristics and indigenous supply of N, P, and K was observed among Field- and season-specific NPK applications were calculated by accounting for the indigenous nutrient supply, yield targets, and nutrient demand as a function of the interactions between N, P, and K. Nitrogen applications were fine-tuned based on season-specific rules and field-specific monitoring of crop N status. The performance of SSNM did not differ significantly between high-yielding and low-yielding climatic seasons, but improved over time with larger benefits observed in the second year Future, strategies for nutrient management in intensive rice systems must become more site-specific and dynamic to manage spatially and temporally variable resources based on a quantitative understanding of the congruence between nutrient supply and crop demand. The SSNM concept has demonstrated promising agronomic and economic potential. It can be used for managing plant nutrients at any scale, i.e., ranging from a general recommendation for homogenous management of a larger domain to true management of between-field variability. Assessment of pest profiles in FFP and SSNM plots suggests that SSNM may also reduce pest incidence, particularly diseases that are often associated with excessive N use or unbalanced plant nutrition.

Keywords: nutrient, pesticide, crop, yield

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Authors: M. Al-Farttoosi, M. Y. Rafiq, J. Summerscales, C. Williams

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Structures can be subjected to impact loading from various sources like earthquake, tsunami, missiles and explosions. The impact loading can cause different degrees of damage to concrete structures. The demand for strengthening and rehabilitation of damaged structures is increasing. In recent years, Car0bon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) matrix composites has gain more attention for strengthening and repairing these structures. To study the impact behaviour of the reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened or repaired using CFRP, a heavy impact test machine was designed and manufactured .The machine included a newly designed support system for beams together with various instrumentation. This paper describes the support design configuration of the impact test machine, instrumentation and dynamic analysis of the concrete beams. To evaluate the efficiency of the new impact test machine, experimental impact tests were conducted on simple supported reinforced concrete beam. Different methods were used to determine the impact force and impact response of the RC beams in terms of inertia force, maximum deflection, reaction force and fracture energy. The manufactured impact test machine was successfully used in testing RC beams under impact loading and used successfully to test the reinforced concrete beams strengthened or repaired using CFRP under impact loading.

Keywords: beam, concrete, impact, machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: Muhammad Naveed Tahir, Wang Yingkuan, Huang Wenjiang, Raheel Osman

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Numerous models used in prediction and decision-making process but most of them are linear in natural environment, and linear models reach their limitations with non-linearity in data. Therefore accurate estimation is difficult. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) found extensive acceptance to address the modeling of the complex real world for the non-linear environment. ANN’s have more general and flexible functional forms than traditional statistical methods can effectively deal with. The link between information technology and agriculture will become more firm in the near future. Monitoring crop biophysical properties non-destructively can provide a rapid and accurate understanding of its response to various environmental influences. Crop chlorophyll content is an important indicator of crop health and therefore the estimation of crop yield. In recent years, remote sensing has been accepted as a robust tool for site-specific management by detecting crop parameters at both local and large scales. The present research combined the ANN model with satellite-derived chlorophyll indices from LANDSAT 8 imagery for predicting real-time wheat chlorophyll estimation. The cloud-free scenes of LANDSAT 8 were acquired (Feb-March 2016-17) at the same time when ground-truthing campaign was performed for chlorophyll estimation by using SPAD-502. Different vegetation indices were derived from LANDSAT 8 imagery using ERADAS Imagine (v.2014) software for chlorophyll determination. The vegetation indices were including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (CARI), Modified Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (MCARI) and Transformed Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio index (TCARI). For ANN modeling, MATLAB and SPSS (ANN) tools were used. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) in MATLAB provided very satisfactory results. For training purpose of MLP 61.7% of the data, for validation purpose 28.3% of data and rest 10% of data were used to evaluate and validate the ANN model results. For error evaluation, sum of squares error and relative error were used. ANN model summery showed that sum of squares error of 10.786, the average overall relative error was .099. The MCARI and NDVI were revealed to be more sensitive indices for assessing wheat chlorophyll content with the highest coefficient of determination R²=0.93 and 0.90 respectively. The results suggested that use of high spatial resolution satellite imagery for the retrieval of crop chlorophyll content by using ANN model provides accurate, reliable assessment of crop health status at a larger scale which can help in managing crop nutrition requirement in real time.

Keywords: ANN, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll indices, satellite images, wheat

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Authors: Nour Elhouda Abed, Bedj Mimi, Wahid Slimani, Mourad Atif, Abdelhakim Ouzzane, Hocine Irekti, Abdelkader Bekki

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The most frequent system of cereal production in Algeria is fallow-wheat. This is an extensive system that meets only the half needs some cereals and fodder demand. Resorption of fallow has become a strategic necessity to ensure food security in response to the instability of supply and the persistence of higher food prices on the world market. Despite several attempts to replace the fallow by crop cultures, choosing the best crop remains. Today, the agronomic and economic interests of legumes are demonstrated. However, their crop culture remains marginalized because of the weakness and instability of their performance. In the context of improving legumes and cereals crops as well as fallow resorption, we undertook to test, in the field, the effect of rhizobial inoculation of Phaseolus vulgaris in association with Zea Mays. We firstly studied the genetic diversity of rhizobial strains that nodulate P.vulgaris isolated from fifteen (15) different regions. ARDRA had shown 18 different genetic profiles. Symbiotic characterization highlighted a strain that highly significantly improved the fresh and dry weight of the host plant, in comparison to the negative control (un-inoculated) and the positive control (inoculated with the reference strain CIAT 899). In the field, the selected strain increased significantly the growth and yield of P.vulgaris and Zea Mays comparing to the non-inoculated control. However, the mix inoculation (selected strain+ Ciat 899) had not given the best parameters showing, thus, no synergy between the strains. These results indicate the replacing fallow by a crop legume in intercropping with cereals crops.

Keywords: fallow, intercropping, inoculation, legumes-cereals

Procedia PDF Downloads 335