Optimization and evaluation of agricultural machinery and technical and engineering systems
Jafar Habibi Asl; Azarakhsh Azizi; Leila Behbahani
Abstract
The study was conducted to evaluate canola transplanting possibility and to compare this method with seeding method in Khuzestan province. In transplanting (TR) method, some 9 plants of 38-days old seedlings were transplanted in one m2. In seeding (SD) method, 6 kg/ha of canola seeds were planted in ...
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The study was conducted to evaluate canola transplanting possibility and to compare this method with seeding method in Khuzestan province. In transplanting (TR) method, some 9 plants of 38-days old seedlings were transplanted in one m2. In seeding (SD) method, 6 kg/ha of canola seeds were planted in furrow and ridge pattern at a distance of 60 cm. The results showed that there were no significant difference between two methods of plantation from the point of view of the yield, thousand- seeds weight, number of lateral stems, plant height, and the amount of extracted oil. Two-year average grain production in TR and SD were 2225.2 and 2391.8 kg/ha respectively. So, it can be concluded that Khuzestan province has the potential for canola TR, without any grain yield reduction, comparing to SD method. The results also showed that there was significant difference (P<0.01) between the treatments in terms of number of capsules per each lateral stem. More plant spacing cause to greater vegetative growth and then 64% more capsules per stem produced in TR as compared to SD. The diameter of main and lateral stems in TR method with 19.33 and 7.23 mm were 30 and 16.2 percent more than that of DS method respectively. Water use efficiency in TR and DS were calculated as 0.38 and 0.44 kg/m3 respectively. Benefit to cost ratio for one hectare of canola production in TR and DS were 0.98 and 3.02 respectively.
Jafar Habibi Asl; Hasan Kavoosi Balootaki
Abstract
Khuzestan province produces 120,000 tones rice every year and possesses the forth rank in rice production in Iran. Paddy rice must be dried before milling. In some regions in Khuzestan, paddy is dried in traditional bed driers, resulting high costs and high losses from the point of quantity and quality. ...
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Khuzestan province produces 120,000 tones rice every year and possesses the forth rank in rice production in Iran. Paddy rice must be dried before milling. In some regions in Khuzestan, paddy is dried in traditional bed driers, resulting high costs and high losses from the point of quantity and quality. An indirect cabinet solar dryer with three trays and grooved collector was constructed to use solar energy, a project that could help farmers to increase their income and to reduce paddy losses. To measure and to record drying air temperature and humidity at different places (collector air incoming and outgoing and the drying chamber), a Digital Data Logger was designed, fabricated and mounted on the solar dryer. The dryer performance was evaluated by drying two paddy varieties (Shafagh and Anboori) in three levels of mass density of 1, 2, and 3 trays at two different solar dryer types of collectors: simple grooved collector (collector A) and grooved filled by turnery iron chaff collector (collector B). The results showed that maximum and minimum drying period required in different solar dryer treatments were 4 and 6.1 hours for Shafagh with 1 tray and for Anboori with 3 trays respectively. Longer time required for drying paddy rice in upper trays as the air flowing decreased due to increase in mass density. Mean time required for drying Shafagh variety was 12.8% shorter than that of Anboori variety. Increasing in number of trays in the solar dryer resulted in less rice losses. Results showed that utilizing solar energy, as a clean renewable energy source and appropriate method for reducing costs of drying paddy rice, could be recommended to use in Khuzestan province condition.
Jafar Habibi Asl; Gh. A. Lotfalie-Ayeneh
Abstract
Performance of Terradisc stubble cultivator was evaluated in a field experiment during two years in Khuzestan agricultural research center with nine treatments. These treatments were also compared with traditional method. Corn planted in experimental field in summer and wheat cultivated after corn in ...
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Performance of Terradisc stubble cultivator was evaluated in a field experiment during two years in Khuzestan agricultural research center with nine treatments. These treatments were also compared with traditional method. Corn planted in experimental field in summer and wheat cultivated after corn in fall. Terradisc treatments consisted of three levels of forward speed namely: 8, 10, and 12 km/h and three levels of front and rear discs overlaps: 0, 30, and 60 percent. All treatments were replicated three times in this research. The measured and evaluated parameters were fuel consumption, time, effective field capacity, percentage of residue remained on the soil surface, wheat grain yield, and yield components. Two years ANOVA results showed that, tillage method, forward speed, and discs overlap had no significant effect on wheat yield and yield components. Variance analysis of technical parameters showed that effects of forward speed and discs overlap were significant on some of these parameters such as fuel consumption and time requirement. The results showed that amount of residue remained on the soil surface increased significantly, as discs overlap reduced. The highest and lowest remained residue was 88.6 and 64.7 percent in 60 and zero degrees of discs overlap, respectively. Mean weight diameter (MWD) reduced as forward speed increased. MWD calculated 31.6 mm and 33.6 mm in forward speeds of 12 and 8 km/h, respectively. Forward speed of 12 km/h had the minimum fuel consumption (11.8 lit/ha), while the maximum fuel consumption (15.5 lit/ha) belonged to forward speed of 8 km/h. According to obtained results, Terradisc can be recommended as an acceptable option for applying the minimum tillage in corn residue with higher forward speed and lower discs overlap.
Jafar Habibi Asl; Seyed Mohye Adin Goosheh
Abstract
In order to achieve a conservation agriculture, a new strip tillage implement was designed that could be pulled with a drill by tree point hitch attachment in order to make possible tillage and planting practices simultaneously. The developed drilling machine was then used and compared with other ...
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In order to achieve a conservation agriculture, a new strip tillage implement was designed that could be pulled with a drill by tree point hitch attachment in order to make possible tillage and planting practices simultaneously. The developed drilling machine was then used and compared with other tillage methods. An experiment was designed using Randomized Complete Block (RCB) with three replications. Main plots were: The four tillage and planting methods namely: moldboard plow + 2 passes of disc+ leveler+ drill (T1), 2 passes of disc+ leveler+ drill (T2), chisel packer+ drill (T3) and strip-till-drill (T4 or STD), and the subplots namely: seed density of 160 (S1), 200 (S2) and 240 (S3) kg.ha-1 were the experimental conditions.. Evaluated indices were fuel consumption rate, operation time, field capacity and residue pulverization rate. The results showed that T4 treatment had the lowest fuel consumption and time with 8.6 lit.ha-1 and 1.62 h.ha-1 rates, respectively. T1 and T4 treatments with 0.2 and 0.62 ha.h-1 had the highest and the least rates of field capacity. Residue pulverization was 46.47% in T4 treatment and was not significantly difference with T2. Crop yield in T4 treatment was 11% higher than average of other treatments. Finally it was found that tractors with medium power such as MF285 (with 53 kW engine power) could pull this implement.
