To study the types of mechanical damage for castor seeds and their effects on germination, the image processing method was applied to detect the damage affecting germination. Two typical varieties of castor were selected for test. The type of mechanical damage of castor seeds was taken as the factor, the germination rate and germination vigor index were selected as indicators for one-way analysis of variance. The effects of mechanical damage on the germination of castor seeds were analyzed. Different algorithms were applied to extract the features of cracks and seed shell missing, and the corresponding defect parameters were calculated. The results showed that the effects of mechanical damage on the germination rate, germination potential, germination index, and vigor index of castor seeds were significant. The endosperm damage seriously affected the activity of castor seeds and seriously hindered seed germination. According to the analysis of the shell, some castor seeds cracked or there was incomplete shell damage at the same time, the internal endosperm being also damaged. The actual crack length was compared with the length measured by the ultra-depth of field microscope, which found that the margin of error was about 25% and the better error was 10%. Through the morphological processing, it could completely extract the characteristics of castor seed image without seed shells. The error between the extracted feature area and the measured object area function of the super depth of field microscope is about 10%.

Buckwheat crops are subjected to complex stress during harvest. And there are problems such as large deformation, severe brokenness, and high energy consumption of stems during the mechanical harvesting, such as cutting, transporting, threshing, separating and cleaning. In this study, the mechanical properties of buckwheat stem during mechanical harvesting were tested, including tensile, bending, shearing and dynamic cutting, and the effects of moisture content, stem position and working parameter on their mechanical properties were analyzed. The test results showed that the tensile strength, elastic modulus, cutting stress and unit area cutting energy of stem with higher moisture content were significantly greater than those of stem with lower moisture content (P<0.05). The flexural modulus and bending strength of stem with higher moisture content were significantly lower than those of stem with lower moisture content (P < 0.05). The flexural modulus, bending strength, shear strength, cutting stress and unit area cutting energy decreased gradually with the stem height increasing. The cutting parameters had significant effects on the mechanical properties of stem (P<0.05), and the cutting mechanical properties first decreased and then changed steadily with the average cutting speed increasing. The cutting stress gradually decreased with the blade oblique angle increasing, but the unit area cutting energy decreased first and then increased. The average cutting speed and blade oblique angle of buckwheat stem are recommended to be 0.75-1.0 m/s and 30o, respectively. This research can provide basic data for the design of the buckwheat harvesting machinery.

In view of high center of gravity and poor stability of traditional corn harvesters, a corn combine harvester frame is designed for hill and mountain operations based on TRIZ theory. The frame supports engine mode of middle engine rear drive, consisting of a front frame and a rear frame. The tail of the front frame is welded under the head of the rear frame. The front frame has reduced height and increased width to allow lower center of gravity and better stability of the whole machine. The left and right longitudinal beams of the front frame have different heights to allow better trafficability of the whole machine. A 3D model is established using Solidworks software and incorporated with ANSYS software to perform finite element analysis and modal analysis on the frame. It turns out that under full-load bending and full-load torsion conditions, the frame strength and stiffness meet the mechanical performance requirements, and the frame displays fine dynamic characteristics. According to the analysis results, the frame is optimized under the goal of light weight. While the frame strength and stiffness requirements are met, the frame mass is lowered by changing the frame component thickness. After optimization, the entire frame volume is reduced by 14.27%, with mass reduced by 14.3%, and the strength and stiffness conform to the requirements, thus achieving lightweight optimization of the frame.Moreover, The stability analysis of the corn combine harvester shows the overturning angle of uphill is 45.3°, the overturning angle of downhill is 45.7°, and the overturning angle of slopel is 40.2°.

According to the flow calculation, the basic structure of the sprinkler pipe of the integrated suction and drainage fertilizer truck was designed. Based on the 3D CAD / CAE Software SolidWorks / flow simulation platform, the structural models of three kinds of sprinkler pipes with different layout forms of outlet pipes were established, and the fluid analysis was carried out. According to the distribution of pressure, velocity and flow trace number in the tube, the optimal structure was obtained.

Tillage is the most energy-intensive soil operation. In the actual energy situation is important to explore and analyze the physical laws of soil cultivation processes, that demand large energy quantities, at the border of technical- and agricultural sciences. We studied the physical phenomenon’s occurring during the work with a rotary tiller and approximated the energy requirements with a computer simulation using Matlab Simulink environment. The model used was a simplified solid model of an FPP-1,3 type rotary tiller, used previously in real experiments to determine fuel consumption at various working parameters. The results obtained with the dynamic simulation were compared with the real measurements.

In the scene of paddy field rotary tillage, a real-time detection method of rotary tillage condition based on machine vision is proposed, and the quality of rotary tillage is evaluated by the index of residual stubble. The residual root stubble is selected as the research object, and the root stubble detection method based on the standard deviation of Y component in YCrCb space is proposed to determine the residual root stubble of soil after rotary tillage, which is divided into three levels: less root stubble, medium root stubble, and more root stubble. Finally, the accuracy of the algorithm is verified by field test and questionnaire survey. On the basis of manual evaluation, the accuracy rate of the working condition is 83.6 %, which provides a more accurate basis for the real-time adjustment of the control strategy for the unmanned operation of agricultural machinery in the field, and realizes the rotary tillage quality from qualitative evaluation to quantitative evaluation, and lays the foundation for the data of rotary tillage quality.

In order to solve the problems of crop residue clogging, poor soil crushing and low operation efficiency under the stalks mulching condition, the traction combined machine for subsoiling and land preparation was designed. The optimization test was carried out to optimize the stalk cutting device and the soil crushing device under stalk mulching condition. The optimization test used a randomized complete block design, consisting of 10 treatments, in a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement. Each treatment included the combination of coulter types (8W, 13W, 18W, 25W and NW) and soil crushing roller types (with blade angle and without blade angle). The results showed that the combination of the fluted coulters with 8 waves and the soil crushing roller with blade angle was optimal. Finally, the verification test of the whole machine was carried out to evaluate the performance, and the results showed that the average value of subsoiling depth was 35.8 cm, the stability coefficient of subsoiling depth was 93.9% and the soil crushing rate was 53.7%. This research provides an important reference for the structure design of the large multi-functional combined machine for conservation tillage.

When UAVs apply a pesticide at different speeds, droplet deposition area and canopy vortex area are not at the same location, which prevents droplets from depositing on the backside of leaves and lower part of plants in canopy vortex, and affects spray quality and pests and diseases control effect. To shorten the distance between the two areas and improve droplet penetration, a method for adjusting nozzle inclination angle based on droplet force analysis and tests was proposed in this paper. According to the obtained model, an automatic nozzle angle adjustment system was developed from hardware and software. The experimental results showed that the number of droplets deposited on the entire leaf increased by 21.58% when UAV spraying with the system mounted. The average number of droplets on the front side of the leaf increased by 14.44% while 66.05% was on the backside of the leaf with the system mounted. This indicates that the method and system proposed have a significant impact on improving the UAV spray penetration.

RockyDEM is used to simulate the conveying and soil-removing device to determine its optimal structural parameters in order to solve the problem of low soil removal rate and high straw loss rate of the conveying and soil-removing device of the corn straw picking and pelletizing machinery.Single-factor and multi-factor simulation tests were conducted with soil removal rate and straw loss rate as evaluation indexes, and blade to shell clearance, sieve aperture and pitch as influencing factors.The results from the experimental the soil removal rate and the straw loss rate and simulation data from the model showed good agreement. Therefore, the procedures of this study can be used for the design and optimisation of conveying and soil-removing device.

Based on the material characteristics of buckwheat, the cyclone separation and cleaning test bench were designed. The cleaning rate and loss rate of the buckwheat separation and cleaning by the influencing factors of the investigation were studied through single factor and orthogonal tests. The single-factor test results show that the cyclone separation and cleaning performance is better when the speed range of the suction fan is 800~1200 r/min, the speed range of the feeding fan is 600~1200 r/min, and the length range of the suction pipe is 100~250 mm. The regression equation model of the cleaning rate and loss rate was constructed, and the response surface analysis of the test influencing factors and their interaction was carried out. The results show that the speed of the suction fan has the most significant influence on the cleaning rate and loss rate, followed by the speed of the feeding fan and the length of the suction pipe in the separation cylinder has the least effect. By optimizing and solving multi-objective parameters of the regression equation model, reasonable experimental parameters are obtained. The appropriate speed of the suction fan is 1055 r/min, the appropriate speed of the feeding fan is 600 r/min, and the proper length of the suction pipe in the separation cylinder is 175 mm. The cleaning rate and the loss rate of the cyclone separation and cleaning system were 94.78% and 1.67%, respectively.

Aiming at the problems of large vibrations and noise of a working stalk rubbing machine, this paper took the 9R-60 rubbing machine as the research object and used the B&K modal test system and the vibration test system to analyse the modal and no-load conditions of the whole machine. Through analysing modal test data, it was concluded that the first five natural frequencies of the machine were 95.262 Hz, 144.386 Hz, 288.198 Hz, 313.719 Hz and 326.140 Hz. The results showed that spindle rotation had a more significant effect on the vibration than the feed chain rotation; the maximum vibration acceleration occurred at the small motor frame at a spindle speed of 1700 r·min-1 and a feed chain speed of 0.65 m·s-1, which was 135.539 m·s-2. The distribution of the amplitude statistical characteristics of the vibration signals follows the normal distribution and belongs to the stationary random process. The vibration was a self-excited vibration of the rotating machinery caused by the rotation of the main shaft and a forced vibration excited by the rotation of the same shaft. The research provides a direction for further research on the vibration characteristics of the rubbing machine under load conditions, and provides a theoretical basis for the subsequent vibration reduction design.

Within the current hemp cultivation technologies, the use of high-performance technical equipment is required for all applied works, and following the concerns regarding diversified and efficient ways of harvesting, INMA Bucharest has created and experimented an innovative technical equipment for harvesting and tying the stalks into sheaves. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of this equipment, the paper presents the experimental results obtained by INMA Bucharest regarding hourly fuel consumption and fuel consumption per hectare. These energetic indices are important in the evaluation of expenses per surface unit, constituting the basis of the economic efficiency evaluation. At the same time, at ARDS Secuieni, in 2021, research was carried out on the influence of the cuttings application and different sowing norms on the agro-productive capacity of the Ratza monoecious hemp variety for stalks and fibre. The obtained results constitute premises in order to optimize some technological links of cultivation at hemp for stalks and fibre, but they also confirmed the fact that fuel consumption per hectare recorded at hemp stalks harvesting was influenced both by the technical characteristics of the equipment used and by the characteristics of the experimented crop.

In order to improve air pressure utilization and working performance, the direct seed-metering device for rice was designed with spoiler blades embedded in the air cavity. The study was carried out using theoretical analysis and hydrodynamic methods to obtain the optimum structure of the spoiler blades. Taking the rotating speed of the air cavity, the negative pressure of the air cavity, and the filling height as the test factors, the multiple regression analysis and the response surface analysis were carried out to obtain the best working parameters of the seed-metering device with spoiler blades. The results showed that when the rotating speed of the air cavity was 23.56 r/min, the negative pressure of the air cavity was 4.97 kPa and the filling height was 12.82 cm, the qualified index was 95.21%, the missing index was 3.28% and the multiple index was 1.51%, which was the best seeding performance. Comparing the test with the seed-metering device without spoiler blades, the results showed that the installation of spoiler blades can improve the performance of the seed-metering device under the best working parameters. This study provide a reference for the design of direct seed-metering device for rice.

The phenotypic information of lettuce leaves can well reflect its health. In order to diagnose the nutrient deficiency types of hydroponic lettuce accurately, non-destructively and quickly in the mid-growth stage, a method for diagnosis of whole lettuce based on random forest algorithm (RF) was proposed. The images of lettuce under four different conditions, K-deficiency, Ca-deficiency, N-deficiency and Normal, were collected and segmented by Extra-green algorithm. Then, features of color, texture and shape were extracted. A RF classification model for the hydroponic lettuce nutrient deficiency diagnosis was constructed and compared with support vector machine (SVM) and back propagation neural network (BP). RF had the best classification effect among the three methods. The overall classification accuracy was 86.32%, Kappa coefficient was 0.82, and it can provide a basis for the prevention and remedies of lettuce deficiency and the scientific management of nutrient solutions.

In this paper, BP neural network is used to collect header height, AMEsim is used to simulate and analyze header height adjustment hydraulic system, and fuzzy PID control is used to adjust header lifting hydraulic cylinder to stabilize header height. The experimental results of harvesting different crops show that under the header height automatic control system, the error between the actual height of crop harvesting and the set height is within 15 mm, and the harvesting effect is good, which can meet the automatic regulation requirements of the header height of the multi crop combine harvester.

Farmland area data is one of the important agricultural basic data, which provides parameter basis for the precise operation of agricultural equipment. In order to meet the technical needs of farmers and agricultural machinery operation service billing for acquiring basic information of farmland, this study proposes a farmland area measuring instrument based on the Beidou Navigation Satellite System. Firstly, the overall design scheme of the measuring instrument, the hardware circuit design scheme and the algorithm design scheme are introduced, and the triangulation area measurement algorithm is emphatically analyzed. Finally, the design of this research is applied. The farmland area measuring instrument measures the area of different shapes of farmland and verifies the measurement accuracy. The results show that the average relative error of the measuring instrument for measuring the area of irregularly shaped farmland is 0.7%, which realizes the rapid and high-precision measurement of the area of arbitrarily shaped farmland. It is hoped that this study can provide some reference for the research on the area measurement of farmland in my country.

With the aim of revealing the effects of low temperature on the vibration impact comminution performance of wheat bran, the impact dynamic performance of wheat bran at different temperatures was simulated by using LS-DYNA. According to the impact collision relationship between grinding medium and wheat bran, a three-component numerical calculation model was established. The impact collision dynamic essence of the model was analyzed, and a solution method based on LS-DYNA was proposed. On this basis, the finite element model of the numerical calculation model was obtained. By adjusting the mechanical parameters of wheat bran in the finite element model, the vibration impact comminution performance of wheat bran at different temperatures were analyzed. It is found that the contact force, contact deformation and comminution energy of wheat bran increase with the decrease of temperature, which indicates that low-temperature comminution of wheat bran is more advantageous than room temperature comminution. However, when the temperature drops from - 40 ? to - 80 ?, the above index parameters almost remain, which indicats that it is more economical to apply low-temperature comminution at the temperature range from - 40 ? ~ 0 ?. This research provided a foundation for the analysis, prediction and optimization of vibration impact comminution performance of wheat bran.

A sunken solar greenhouse has a good heat preservation environment. The influence of the general indoor temperature on the temperature of the roots was evaluated. A wireless sensor and U disk recorder were used to determine the indoor temperatures of a single section and multiple sections in a sunken solar greenhouse. Results showed that the rate of temperature change from in the vertical, horizontal and longitudinal sections in descending order at the opening moment and at the strong light moment. The temperatures in the single cross-section and multiple cross-sections were approximately equal during winter from 00:00 to 8:00 in the morning. These values can be used for calculating theoretically the heat loss in a greenhouse.

Aiming at the problems of the low efficiency of manual pesticide application in the greenhouse, the narrow operating space of plant protection machinery, and the possibility of poisoning the pesticide applicators due to the closed space, a high-pressure atomization spraying equipment for the greenhouse was designed. The spraying equipment adopts two-way communication between PLC and HMI to realize the adjustment of atomization pressure and atomization flow, and the control equipment completes automatic spraying. To determine the best working parameters of the spraying equipment, orthogonal tests were conducted with atomization pressure and atomization nozzle aperture as the test factors and the coefficient of variation of the fog volume distribution as the evaluation index. The optimum combination after parameter optimization was determined to be as follows: atomization pressure of 4 MPa, atomization nozzle aperture of 0.4 mm. The test results under the optimal parameters showed that the spray distribution coefficient of variation was 10.5%, and the uniformity of fog volume distribution was good to meet the requirements of spraying in greenhouses.

To enable the accurate detection of grain moisture content and improve the efficiency of the drying process, a parallel-plate moisture content detection device (PPMCDD) was developed in this study. Firstly, the detection principle and influencing factors of this device are analyzed. Then the effects of three key factors as distance, thickness, relative area on the accuracy of the device were determined through simulation, and the optimal combination of parameters was obtained through analysis of variance of a regression model and response surface methodology. Finally, a simple test bench is built to verify the effectiveness of PPMCDD by comparative experiment. Through simulation and response surface analysis, the optimal combination parameters are as follows: thickness =1 mm, pacing =19.54 mm, relative area =4023.17 mm2, corresponding to the measured capacitance value of 37.676 pF. By comparative experimental analysis, it is found that the maximal relative error of the moisture content detection device evaluated in this study was 1.58%. The detection error is small, and the device exhibits high accuracy and stability and meets the design requirement.

In order to obtain the discrete element contact parameters of wet and viscous paddy field mud particles, an accurate numerical simulation model was constructed. Firstly,, the paddy field mud with an average particle size of 0.2 mm was taken as the research object, and the basic physical parameters and rheological behavior laws were obtained through physical measurements and rotational rheological tests. Based on the slump test, combined with the particle scaling theory and Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) model, and the slump and slump-flow values were taken as response values, the Plackett-Burman test, the steepest climb test and the Box-Behnken test were designed by Design-Expert software to complete the simulation parameters calibration. The optimal significance parameters are as follows: 0.096 J/m2 for the JKR surface energy of mud, 0.13 for the mud-mud restitution coefficient and 0.6 for the mud-steel static friction coefficient. Finally, the mud slump and fluidity verification tests showed that the relative errors between the simulation values and the physical values of slump and slump-flow are 1.73% and 0.42%, and the average error of torque is 2.47%, and the parameters are accurate and reliable. The calibration method can accurately construct the discrete element model of wet-viscous particles, which provides basic data and technical guidance for the coupling mechanism of paddy machinery-mud.

To improve the operating effect of buckwheat classifying equipment and meanwhile reduce the dependence on tests in the process of operating parameter optimization of the equipment, this paper designed a three-level classifying screen for buckwheat, confirmed the structure and parameters of upper and lower sieves, established a three-level screening discrete element model for buckwheat with the EDEM software, and conducted the numerical simulation for the sieving processes at an amplitude of 24 mm, 28 mm and 32 mm, respectively. The results indicated that when the inclination angle of screen surface was 3°, the vibrational direction angle was 30° and the vibrational frequency was 4.5 HZ, as the amplitude increased, the conveying capacity of the classifying screen increased and at the same time the seed loss rate also increased, of which at 16 s, the loss rate was 0.03%, 0.37% and 1.42%, respectively; the proportion of medium particles in the collecting box of screen overflow was 2.88%, 8.65% and 17.65%, respectively; and the proportion of small particles in the collecting box of screen residue was 0.58%, 6.06% and 19.14%, respectively. Through comprehensive analysis of conveying capacity, screening loss and classifying effect, when the amplitude of the classifying screen was 28 mm, the classifying operating effect was good. This study can provide reference for the design and operating parameter optimization of buckwheat classifying equipment.

Uneven drying is a prominent problem in the performance of Flatbed type grain dryer. An effort to move around the materials during the drying process is needed in order to get a uniformed drying rate. This paper investigates the conditions of an evenly distributed reduction of materials water content during drying, using a flatbed dryer and a stirring mechanization system. It is found that = 4rpm stirring rotation produces a relatively even drying result after 1 hour, and that there exists a second airflow that leaked due to the stirring process moving around with the motion of the stirrer.

Aiming at the current problem of the high rate of impurity and loss in the cleaning device of corn seed harvesters in China, this paper took the cleaning device of 4YZL-6 self-propelled corn seed harvester as a sample and analyzed the movement law of the material on the sieve. Box-Behnken response surface experimental design theory was used for the orthogonal tests. Wind inlet angle, airflow velocity, and crank angular velocity were selected as influencing factors, and the impurity rate and loss rate as the evaluation index of operation quality. A regression mathematical model between each influencing factor and indicator was established, and the model was also integrated and optimized. The optimal parameter combination was obtained as follows: the wind inlet angle was 37.95o, the airflow velocity was 11.3 m/s, and the crank angular velocity was 4.1 r/s. The corresponding impurity rate was 0.87% and the loss rate was 0.34%. Verification tests were conducted on the optimization results, and the test results showed that under the optimal combination of parameters, the impurity rate was 0.89% and the loss rate was 0.35%. The relative errors of each evaluation index and its model prediction were 2.29% and 2.94%, respectively.

The pneumatic conveying metering technology is used to enhance the filling and clearing capacity of the seed metering device by forming a rotary air flow field inside the airflow distribution. The simulation test results show that the increase of the number of fan blades, the velocity of flow field at different outlets of the seed cleaning area decreases linearly, but the average velocity basically remains unchanged. The flow field velocity in the seed filling area decreased significantly with the increase of fan angle, and the difference between seed filling area and clearing area remains unchanged. When the blade angles in the filling area are the same, the fan blades size has no effect in flow field velocity.

Intelligent agricultural vehicles have been widely used in the process of farming and harvesting in the field, which has brought great convenience to agricultural production. However, there are also safety issues such as accidental collision of agricultural vehicles or other agricultural machinery during operation. The use of sensing technology for the timely and accurate detection and pre-warning of obstacles during the operation of agricultural machinery is critically important for ensuring safety. In this paper, a two-dimensional lidar is used to detect obstacles in front of tractors with the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise(DBSCAN) algorithm and the Minimum Cost Maximum Flow algorithm(MCMF). A method to judge whether the obstacle is static or dynamic and a classification model of different security warning levels for obstacles in different states is proposed. Actual vehicle tests were conducted, with static obstacles tested repeatedly, and dynamic obstacles tested at different directions and speeds. The results showed that the overall average warning accuracy rate is 89.95%. Prediction results were robust for obstacles in different states, indicating that this system is able to ensure the safety of agricultural vehicles during their operation and promoted the development of agricultural mechanization.

Intelligent agricultural vehicles have been widely used in the process of farming and harvesting in the field, which has brought great convenience to agricultural production. However, there are also safety issues such as accidental collision of agricultural vehicles or other agricultural machinery during operation. The use of sensing technology for the timely and accurate detection and pre-warning of obstacles during the operation of agricultural machinery is critically important for ensuring safety. In this paper, a two-dimensional lidar is used to detect obstacles in front of tractors with the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise(DBSCAN) algorithm and the Minimum Cost Maximum Flow algorithm(MCMF). A method to judge whether the obstacle is static or dynamic and a classification model of different security warning levels for obstacles in different states is proposed. Actual vehicle tests were conducted, with static obstacles tested repeatedly, and dynamic obstacles tested at different directions and speeds. The results showed that the overall average warning accuracy rate is 89.95%. Prediction results were robust for obstacles in different states, indicating that this system is able to ensure the safety of agricultural vehicles during their operation and promoted the development of agricultural mechanization.

In order to solve the problems of crop residue clogging, poor soil crushing and low operation efficiency under the stalks mulching condition, the traction combined machine for subsoiling and land preparation was designed. The optimization test was carried out to optimize the stalk cutting device and the soil crushing device under stalk mulching condition. The optimization test used a randomized complete block design, consisting of 10 treatments, in a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement. Each treatment included the combination of coulter types (8W, 13W, 18W, 25W and NW) and soil crushing roller types (with blade angle and without blade angle). The results showed that the combination of the fluted coulters with 8 waves and the soil crushing roller with blade angle was optimal. Finally, the verification test of the whole machine was carried out to evaluate the performance, and the results showed that the average value of subsoiling depth was 35.8 cm, the stability coefficient of subsoiling depth was 93.9% and the soil crushing rate was 53.7%. This research provides an important reference for the structure design of the large multi-functional combined machine for conservation tillage.

This research was geared towards analyzing the factors that influence the social sustainability of rubber farmers from an individual perspective. The research was driven by the fact that in Thailand, rubber farmers are still underprivileged and lack knowledge of marketing, finance, technology, business, and economic opportunities. The research adopted a model that evaluated the relationship between study variables with a focus on their effect on social sustainability. A quantitative methodology was adopted, where the data was collected from 436 individual rubber farmers in Thailand. The proposed model and constructs were evaluated using reliability and validity tests and CFA fitness. The data analysis utilizes structural equation modeling. The findings indicated that social sustainability was directly and significantly influenced by brand image and loyalty factors. Additionally, it was found to be indirectly influenced by satisfaction and trust. The research recommended that improvement in the brand image of the rubber farmers in states both locally and internationally would result in increased business sustainability.

A layered fertilizer shovel is designed to achieve double layer fertilization in response to the current problem of large fertilizer efficiency loss in one-time banding application. The key structural parameters of the layered shovel were designed and the working speed V, the distance L1 between the banding fertilizer discharging pipe and the point-applied fertilizer discharging device and the distance L2 between the fertilizer distribution plate and the point-applied fertilizer discharging device were determined as the main factors affecting the layered distance h. A quadratic regression model between factors and indicators was established by single-factor test and response surface analysis. With the layered distance h=10 cm as the optimization target, the predicted value of layered distance h is 10 cm when V, L1 and L2 are 2.7 km/h, 15.3 cm and 18.2 cm, respectively, and the simulation test is conducted to verify the combination of the parameters obtained from the optimization solution, and the simulated value of layered distance h is 9.9 cm, which is a small error compared with the predicted value. The field test was conducted under the optimal combination of parameters, and the results showed that the layered distance h was 9.1 cm at the working speed V of 2.7 km/h, and the relative error was 8.1% compared with the simulation value, which can be considered as a high reliability of the simulation test, and the simulation test can accurately simulate the distribution of fertilizer particles in the real environment in the field. When the working speed V is 1.8-5.4 km/h, the distribution range of layered distance h is 8.0-9.5 cm, which can meet the agronomic requirements of fertilizer layered application.

Sewage sludge is used as a fertilizer in agriculture to rehabilitate deteriorated soils and replace artificial fertilizers. Sludge can be utilized to improve soil characteristics, promote microbial life, and increase plant production where it includes the primary nutrients and organic matter. The current study investigated the impact of the treatment of sewage sludge on the physico-chemical characteristics of the soil, and also on the growth of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The experiment consists of using a sludge-soil mixture, with different fractions of sewage sludge: soil control (0% sludge) and 20%, 40%, 60%, 100% of sludge. Biometric measurements (height, stem diameter and number of leaves) were performed on the tomato. The results showed good fertilizing properties of a sludge/soil mixture with the 60% sludge fraction. However, the tomato that grew on the 40% fraction had better growth and high foliage compared to the plants on the other fractions. The spreading of sludge provides a soil amendment and an additional supply of nutrients for tomatoes. The use of 40% fraction of sludge spreading for the cultivation of this plant can maintain better soil fertility while reducing the risk of heavy metal accumulation. Indeed, the 40% fraction of sludge has concentrations which are: 86±0.40 mg/kg for copper, 294 ±0.40 mg/kg for zinc and 50±5.9 mg/kg for lead, lower than the limits recommended by the European directives.

In view of the problem of plant entanglement threshing roller in the process of mechanized flax harvesting, a comb-brush air-suction composite flax capsule harvesting test stand was designed based on the harvesting method of harvesting capsules independently and then breaking the capsules to thresh them. The following four parameters were selected as experimental factors: the shape of comb tooth cross-section, the rotational speed of comb roller, the relative speed of machine travel and the air volume of centrifugal fan. The following four indicators were chosen as the experimental indicators: capsule removal rate, capsule breakage rate, capsule collection rate and plant winding rate. A four-factor and three-level orthogonal test was conducted. The results showed that the optimal combination of test factors was as follows: the shape of comb tooth cross-section was rectangular, the rotational speed of the brush roller was 90 rad/min, the speed of machine travel relative to the plant was 80 mm/s and the air volume of centrifugal fan was 6000 m3/h. Under the condition of better experiment parameters combination, the capsule removal rate was 96.45%, capsule shell breaking rate was 98.79%, capsule collection rate was 95.65% and flax plants winding rate was 2.52%. The comb-brush air-suction composite flax capsule harvesting test bench provided the feasibility scheme for the problem of plant winding thresher roller and capsule collection.

Lack of sufficient knowledge about the physical and mechanical properties of onion can result in higher waste during harvesting and post-harvesting. The objective of this work was to determine some physical and mechanical properties of onion cultivated in China. These properties include linear dimensions, mass, shape index, pull-out force, compression and shear forces. The mean longitudinal diameter of bulb (BLD), transverse diameter of bulb (BTD), bulb weight (BW), pull-out force of bulb (BPF), depth of the bulb buried in the soil (BSD), bulb shape index (BSI), diameter of cauloid (CD), circumferential distribution of root systems (RCD), longitudinal length of root systems (RLL) and weight of root systems (RW) were 78.1±9.6 mm, 89.6±10.1 mm, 333.0±101.7 g, 43.9±21.6 N, 35.7±8.7 mm, 1.2±0.1, 15.3±3.7 mm, 89.2±19.7 mm, 42.9±10.0 mm and 0.8±0.4 g. In the study of mechanical properties of onions, the maximum compression force (MCF) required for compression deformation 10mm of bulb was 462.2N, and the maximum shear failure force (MSF) required for shearing of cauloid was 113.8 N. The results of the research will be very useful in the design and optimization of harvest and postharvest machines with reduced waste and damage.

Individual identification and behavioural analysis of pigs is a key link in the intelligent management of a piggery, for which the computer vision technology based on application and improvement of deep learning model has become the mainstream. However, the operation of the model has high requirements to hardwares, also the model is of weak interpretability, which make it difficult to adapt to both the mobile terminals and the embedded applications. In this study, it is first put forward that the key facial features of pigs can be extracted by PCA method first before the eigen face method is adopted for verification tests to reach an average accuracy rate of 74.4%; the key features, for which the most identifiable ones are in turn, respectively, face contour, nose, ears and other parts of pigs, can be visualized, and this is different from the identification features adopted in manual identification. This method not only reduces the computational complexity but also is of strong interpretability, so it is suitable for both the mobile terminals and the embedded applications. In some way, this study provides a systematic and stable guidance for livestock and poultry production.

The mechanism of furrow opener-soil interaction plays an important role in analyzing the process of no-till planting furrow opener. In order to study the disturbance effect of the furrow opener on the loam soil, firstly, the three-dimensional model of the furrow opener was established by using SolidWorks. Secondly, the 3D discrete element model of furrow opener-soil interaction was established by EDEM software. Combined with the indoor soil bin test bench and high-speed camera technology, the micro-disturbance and macro-disturbance behavior of the furrow opener on soil at different positions, speeds and operating depths were compared and analyzed. The results showed that, the disturbance range of soil was decreased with the increase of the distance between the furrow opener and the soil. At different locations, the disturbance range of soil from large to small was the surface layer, the shallow layer and the middle layer. Under the conditions of three different layouts of furrow openers, through the comparison of the soil trench test and the simulation test, it was determined that the furrow openers in a staggered layout would be beneficial to reduce the degree of soil disturbance. In the trenching process, the soil movement velocity was decreased with the increase of the distance between the soil and the furrow opener, and the distribution curves of the same-speed soil particles were basically consistent with the curves of the furrow opener. The average velocities of soil particles with different velocities and depths in different directions were the surface layer, the shallow layer and the middle layer. However, there were differences in the maximum velocities of soil particles in different directions. By comparing the data obtained from the simulation test and the soil bin test, it was found that the parameters obtained from the simulation and the test were basically consistent, and it was determined that the discrete element simulation could simulate the soil disturbance behavior of the furrow opener more accurately. The relative errors of cross-sectional area of the front furrow opener and the rear furrow opener were 2.48 % and 5.2 %, respectively. The relative errors of the dynamic soil rate of the front furrow opener and the rear furrow opener were 0.25 % and 5.12 %, respectively.

Aiming at the trouble of low survival rate of cantaloupe seedling in hyperthermia, drought and dry land in Turpan region of China, the existing transplanting machine is the key to mechanized and non-destructive transportation and planting of large plants of young tender melon seedlings, root water injection, and precise soil piling in planting holes,and other technical difficulties. The design of mulch film planting cantaloupe transplanter for laying pipes belts and membranes, watering and transplanting, which can complete rotary tillage, spreading drip irrigation belts, laying mulch and covering the soil around the membrane, transplanting pot seedlings on the membrane, and water injection at the bottom. This machine puts the water injection pipeline under the inner side of the transplanter, and through the multi-point linkage electric control, the seedling preservation water is injected into the bottom of the seedlings pot while the seedlings are transferred, which not only ensures the survival rate of the melon seedlings, but also an accurate piling of the planting hole is realized. The technology of transplanting with water and piled soil for planting holes effectively solved the technical problems of mechanized transplanting of cantaloupe under high temperature and arid climate conditions in Turpan. After the cantaloupe seedlings were transplanted in dry land, the probability of survival was more than 96.9% after seven point five hours of drip irrigation. Operating efficiency can reach 0.067 hectares per hour, eight times as much as manual transplanting. The speed of transplanting machine is about 1.1 m/s, the quality of transplanting rate was 93.26 percent. The operating standards of these transplanters meet the agronomic requirements for transplanting cantaloupe.

With depleting resources, it is essential to increase the application of Agriculture 4.0 principles and technologies. Blueberry cultivation includes various operations, one of them being fertilization. To precisely discharge the correct amount of fertilizer, a volumetric dispenser utilizing a straight fluted roller could be considered as an option. The aim of this research is to verify whether such a dispenser could be used for precision fertilization with solid granular fertilizers. The output of the dispenser was measured on different conditions with three NPK fertilizers. Based on statistical analysis, the required 10% discharge uniformity cannot be achieved and it is necessary to modify the dispenser or use another one.

In order to solve the problem of citrus full growth cycle identification in complex scenes, this paper proposed a multi-scale detection model of citrus whole growth cycle in orchard environment. The weighted bi-directional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) is used to combine multiple feature information of high resolution and low- resolution feature layers, and the feature information is extracted by the depth-separable convolution and lightweight New-C3 module. The results show that the average accuracy of the multi-scale detection model proposed in this paper was 91.35%, 92.89%, 94.12%, 90.39% in the young citrus, expanding citrus, ripe citrus and full growth cycle citrus, and the average detection time was 92.60 FPS/s under 1920×1080 image pixels, which meets the real-time detection requirements of citrus orchard.

For the peanut combine harvester excavation process resistance, poor soil crushing effect and poor reliability of the problem, the excavation shovel optimization needs improvement. Firstly, a mechanical model of the resistance of the excavation shovel was established to investigate the key factors affecting the degree of resistance of the excavation shovel. Next, the design of the main parameters of the excavation shovel was done to determine the range of values of the main factors affecting the peanut excavation shovel. EDEM software was used to simulate and analyse the excavation process and to explore the influence law of excavation shovel parameters on the resistance. Improvements were made to the excavation shovel, discrete element simulation tests were used to demonstrate that the optimized excavation device had better resistance reduction and soil crushing than the original device. By designing a three-factor, three-level orthogonal simulation test, the best parameters for the excavation shovel were obtained: the shovel surface inclination is 20°, the excavation depth is 131mm, and the shovel surface width is 277mm. Field trials were conducted under the optimal combination of parameters to test the reliability of the improved digging shovel. Compared with the operating effectiveness of the original machine, the result was improved to some extent. It proves that the optimized design of excavating shovel is reasonable and can improve the operation effect of peanut harvester.

In order to enrich the apple quality evaluation system, TPA mechanical tests were carried out on Fuji, Guoguang and Golden delicious apple pulp at 10 loading speeds of 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 9, 13 and 17mm/s, and the mechanical characteristic parameters of pulp were obtained. The effects of loading speed on pulp hardness, elasticity, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience were analyzed. The microstructure of pulp of different varieties pulp was observed by laser confocal microscope. Based on the Voronoi model of pulp tissue structure, the compression test was simulated to construct the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties. The results showed that the loading speeds had a certain effect on the cohesiveness and chewiness, and had a linear relationship with the cohesiveness of Guoguang variety and the chewiness of Golden delicious. The microstructure of pulp directly determines its mechanical properties, the smaller the roundness of cells and pores, the greater the hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience. Using Abaqus for compression test simulation, the maximum deviation of stress is 4.3%, which proves that the model is effective and the accuracy is improved. The results provides technical parameters for mechanical system improvements for apple during harvesting, storing and transporting and perfect evaluation system of apple texture.

In the harvest of lodged corn in hilly areas, the low position of corn ears and the large slope of the land caused severe losses. The comprehensive performance of loss reduction and terrain adaptability was studied on three small corn harvesters. The tested harvesters were 4-row 4YZP-4Y wheeled harvester, 2-row 4YZLP-2C crawler harvester and 2-row 4YZLP-2C-AF crawler harvester equipped with spiral lifers. The results showed that the all-speed corn ear loss and grain loss of the 4YZP-4Y harvester were 55.6% and 57.6% lower than those of the 4YZLP-2C harvester, while those of the 4YZLP-2C-AF harvester was 23.2% and 17.3%, lower than in the case of the 4YZLP-2C harvester. The all-height corn ear loss and grain loss of the 4YZP-4Y harvester were 35.2% and 56.6% lower than those of the 4YZLP-2C harvester, those of the 4YZLP-2C-AF harvester were 19.9% and 24.9% lower than in the case of the 4YZLP-2C harvester. The smaller header width and larger roller compacted area of the 4YZLP-2C harvester were the main factors that caused harvest loss. Wider harvester header, auxiliary feeding devices and smaller roller compacted area were key methods to reduce the harvest loss of lodged corn in hilly areas. This study provides technical scheme and design references for harvesters on lodged corn in hilly areas.

Aiming at the poor performance and low efficiency of moist fertilizers, a cam-linkage self-cleaning fertilizer apparatus is designed. The cam-linkage mechanism matched with the self-cleaning device is applied to scrape off the residuals, and the structural parameters of flute cam in the wheel are obtained by using the polar equations. The physical characteristics of Stanley compound fertilizer, Kingenta compound fertilizer and Kingenta dual-effect nitro-fertilizer are analyzed to build the discharging model and obtain the key parameters, such as the wheel diameter, the groove number. The trajectory of fertilizer is introduced for the scraper plate. To evaluate the performance, a full factorial experiment including fertilizer types, moisture content and rotating speed is conducted, taking the discharging and coefficient of variation as the evaluation indicators. The results show that in the rotation of 10-50 r/min, the cam-linkage self-cleaning fertilizer apparatus could discharge compound fertilizers with a moisture content less than 8%, and the coefficient of variation is 0.12% -8.21%. In addition, the relationship between the rotating speed and the discharging has the linear relationship, and the determination coefficient R² are more than 0.974. This study helps promoting the deep fertilization technology and equipment in southern rice region.

Equipment and methods for microfabrication and micromeasurements are under constant development. There are a multitude of possibilities to connect and control equipment for control and measurements adapted with the development of Industry 4.0. Using the terms Internet of Things, 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality, collaborative robots, microfabrication, etc. and related applications are common in daily research and innovation activity. This paper presents the construction of a mechatronic system and the measurement procedures used in the working mode. Experimental results and their interpretation as well as the final conclusions of this paper are presented. The mecatronic system is intended for use in the main fields such as automotive, aeronautics, robotics, agriculture and others.

In order to improve the reliability of wireless sensor networks and reduce the power consumption in the monitoring process, the low power consumption monitoring method of agricultural greenhouse environment based on wireless sensor networks is studied. The terminal node of wireless sensor network is constructed by using CO2 sensor, temperature and humidity sensor and illumination sensor. In the sensor network layout stage, in order to reduce the node power consumption, considering the number of nodes and network coverage, the cuckoo search algorithm is used to optimize the node layout model. The communication module uses LEACH protocol to transmit the environmental data collected by the terminal node to the monitoring center. The cluster head link is selected in LEACH protocol to save energy. After receiving the environmental data collected by the terminal node, the monitoring center uses multi-dimensional data to identify and locate abnormal environmental data according to the correlation between multi-modal data streams in the same node, so as to realize the environmental monitoring of agricultural greenhouse. The experimental results show that the data transmission of the research method is stable and reliable, and the node’s power consumption in the process of internal environment monitoring of the research object is effectively reduced.

The productivity of machine-tractor units depends on the length of the idle move performed in the headland. Analytical dependences for determining the length of the idle move when making T-turns by a machine-tractor unit with a mounted machine in a field of irregular shape have been specified in the article. Five types of T-turns have been considered in two variants – open turn and closed turn. Each of them is carried out in two directions of motion. A total of 20 variants of turns have been described. The methodology for determining the idle move length for a specific machine-tractor unit consisting of a tractor and a mounted row seeder has been demonstrated. It has been established that the idle move of the machine-tractor unit had the smallest length when the direction of making the turn is from right to left. For three of the studied turns, the idle move length in open and closed turns is the same when travelling from right to left. Right-to-left open and closed T-turns have been shown to provide the same idle move length of the unit in the headland, which is the smallest compared to the other turns.

For negative effects minimization generated by agriculture on the environment, there were established a series of measures regarding the reduction of the amount of fertilizers and phytosanitary substances used. Thus, one of the innovative technologies appeared on the market is represented by the usage of some automated equipment for selective spraying of targeted plants, this way significantly reducing the amount of active substances used. The paper presents the usage of a technique specific to artificial intelligence for identification of target crops and their proper treatment. Thus, was developed a convolutional neural network formed of six neuron layers, which was used for analysis of crop field images recorded with a LOGITECH HD Pro C92.0 video camera. The network was developed in C++ programming language, using function libraries from OpenCV, and has run on a Dell laptop, with Intel i8 processor. Following images analysis and targeted plants identification, from laptop there are sent ON/OFF commands through an Arduino microcontroller toward the electrical microvalves mounted on the nozzles of a self-propelled electric spraying machine having a working width of 8 m, with the purpose of spot-spraying the crop plants and reducing the amount of used substances. In this paper are presented the experiments done for testing the neural network efficiency.

Accurate spatial distribution of grassland degradation indicator species is of great significance for grassland degradation monitoring. In order to realize the intelligent remote sensing grassland degradation monitoring task, this paper collects remote sensing data of three degradation indicator species of desert grassland, namely, constructive species, dominant species, and companion species, through the UAV hyperspectral remote sensing platform, and proposes a multi-feature fusion (MFF) classification model. In addition, vertical convolution, horizontal convolution, and group convolution mechanisms are introduced to further reduce the number of model parameters and effectively improve the computational efficiency of the model. The results show that the overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of the model can reach 91.81% and 0.8473, respectively, and it also has better classification performance and computational efficiency compared to different deep learning classification models. This study provides a new method for high-precision and efficient fine classification study of degradation indicator species in grasslands.

Amaranth grain is a promising pseudocereal, and milled amaranth grain products as ingredients may improve the nutritional value of food products. Twenty amaranth products from different Ukrainian varieties such as Kharkivs’kyi-1, Liera, Sem (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.), Ultra (Amaranthus hybridus L.), and different milled fractions (flour, middling, coarse seed coat, and fine seed coat) were analysed in this study. Amaranth whole grain has 2-3- and 20-fold content of manganese, iron, copper, zinc, and calcium respectively in comparison to wheat. Flour fractions of the amaranth grain presented a reduced content of magnesium, potassium, calcium, manganese, and iron compared to their content in the whole grain. Studied amaranth grain and the milled products of different varieties revealed a significant (p>0.05) positive (0.47…0.90) correlation between all analysed essential minerals, except molybdenum, which demonstrated 0.46…0.56 correlations with calcium, zinc, potassium, iron, and copper. Milled amaranth grain products such as ingredients in bread, pasta, or cookies formulations at 10…50% substitution of wheat flour, might fulfil the daily requirements in magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, and molybdenum enhancing the nutrition value of the products.

In the article it is substantiated the value of the angular speeds of rotation of the auger screw, which leads to the breakdown of its lateral vibrations. The dependences describing the law of change of amplitude or natural frequency at slowly variable length of the telescopic screw are deduced. Based on the Van der Paul’s method, in the developed system differential equations are obtained that determine the laws of change of amplitude and frequency of the wave process in the system of a telescopic propeller. It is established that for nonresonant oscillations for this system the main parameters of bending oscillations are a continuous flow of bulk medium - the screw does not depend on its small torsional oscillations and external periodic perturbation. The analysis of the given regression equations shows that to reduce the torque of the auger it is necessary to reduce the frequency of its rotation and the angle of the conveyor. The constructive diagram and the results of theoretical calculations for assessing the influence of constructive-kinematic parameters on the torque indicators of the telescopic screw conveyor are presented.

Aiming at the lack of accurate and reliable discrete element simulation parameters in the study of the soil-machine interaction mechanism and the design of machinery in the planting areas of rhizomes in hilly mountainous areas, EDEM software was used to calibrate the parameters. The soil angle of repose test was used to calibrate the contact parameters between soil particles, and the soil sliding test was used to calibrate the contact parameters between soil and machinery. The Box-Behnken optimization method was used to establish the multiple regression model of the angle of repose and the sliding angle, and the optimal contact parameters between soil particles were obtained by solving the model. The optimal combination of contact parameters was used to conduct tests on the angle of repose and soil sliding angle and the errors between the simulation and physical tests were 3.94% and 3.66%, respectively. In order to further verify the accuracy of the calibrated and optimized discrete element model parameters, the rotary tillage ridge field test and the simulation test were used for comparative analysis, and the relative errors of the simulated test results and the field test results for ridge height, ridge top width, and ditch bottom width were obtained, respectively. 4.45%, 6.96%, 8.56%, the error is within the acceptable range. The rotary tillage and ridging effects are consistent in simulation and field tests, confirming the accuracy and reliability of the calibration of soil parameters.

The cultivation of salt-tolerant rice (sea rice) along beaches has become an effective measure for the restoration and utilization of saline-sodic land, so this paper studies the effects of irrigation and nitrogen fertilization on soil Na+ in root zone and sea rice yield, and provides a scientific basis for planting sea rice. A pot experiment (two-factor split plot) of sea rice with salt stress (10 g NaCl/kg soil) was carried out. The main plot consists of three types of irrigation methods: flooding irrigation (F), intermittent irrigation (I), and controlled irrigation (C). The subplots are three types of nitrogen fertilizers: urea (U), controlled-release urea (R), and mixed fertilizer (M) with U and R. The results showed: (1) The soil water-soluble Na+ of MI was significantly smaller than that of other treatments with NaCl, but the Ca2+/Na+ and Mg2+/Na+ were opposite. (2) The nitrogen uptake and dry weight of rice of MI were significantly larger than those of other treatments with NaCl, and were respectively 23% and 32% higher than UI, 49% and 16% higher than MF, 56% and 38% higher than UF, 75% and 61% higher than RI, 76% and 50% higher than RF. (3) The sea rice yield of MI was increased by 105%, 154%, 262%, 338%, and 428% compared with MF, RF, UF, RI, and UI, respectively. Therefore, the MI can effectively reduce the Na+ and increase the Ca2+/Na+ and Mg2+/Na+ in root layer soil, and promote the nitrogen absorption and production of sea rice. So the article recommends that M and I methods should be adapted to plant sea rice on coastal saline-sodic soil.

To realize the integrated technology of biochar return to the soil, the key components of the biochar discharge system applicable to the biochar return machine were designed, and the force analysis of the return shovel was carried out to obtain the main working parameters affecting the effect of biochar return. Single factor and multi factor simulation tests were conducted with the coefficient of variation of biochar content uniformity as evaluation indexes, and outlet distance, conduit diameter, baffle angle as influencing factors. The data were processed and parameters were optimized using Design-Expert, and the results were optimized and experimentally verified. The results from the experimental the coefficient of variation of biochar content uniformity and simulation data from the model showed good agreement. Therefore, the procedures of this study can be used for the integrated technology of biochar return.

In view of the problems of the output power and operation, when the multi-function machine in hilly and mountainous areas driving in the field, the hydraulic control drive system of small multi-function agricultural hydraulic chassis is designed. The key components of the hydraulic drive system were selected and matched. The hydraulic system simulation model was established in AMESim simulation analysis software, and the dynamic analysis of the hydraulic system operation under different conditions is carried out. The simulation analysis results show that the hydraulic system has a large impact and vibration when it is started instantaneously, and the hydraulic system has smaller impact and vibration when it is started stably. It is consistent with the actual working state of the hydraulic chassis. Under the two starting controls, the maximum flow of the hydraulic pump is 50L/min, the motor torque is about 440N • m, and the motor stable pressure is 6Mpa, the motor speed is 96 r/min, which is within the bearing range of the hydraulic components. The simulation output parameters are basically consistent with the theoretical calculation results, and meeting the design requirements. The chassis performance test results show that the maximum crossing height of the chassis is 200mm, the crossing width is 300mm, the maximum deviation of high-speed straight driving is 2.57m, it can stably pass 20° slope, and the operation is stable and the steering is flexible. All performance parameters can better meet the requirements of chassis operation in hilly and mountainous areas.

Aiming at the problems of poor applicability of traditional header height detection mechanism, poor stability and large lag of automatic control system of combine harvesters, an automatic control system of header height of combine harvester was designed, which mainly included the profiling mechanism, controller, proportional valve, manual operation handle and display module. The profiling detection mechanism was composed of angle sensor, profiling plate, torsion spring and other structures. The key structural parameters of the profiling mechanism were determined by using the Adams simulation software and its working performance was verified. The gray prediction PID algorithm of header height was used to reduce the lag of the control model. The control system detected the height of the header from the ground through the profiling mechanism. After being processed by the controller, the height of the header was changed by adjusting the expansion of the header oil cylinder. The field test results showed that the working performance of the header automatic control system was stable. Under the working conditions of preset header height of 100mm and 200mm, the average deviation of the control system was within 21 mm, which met the real-time control demand of header height during normal operation of combine harvester. This research could provide intelligent design methods of combine harvesters.

The main goal of this study was to create a model for the development of a decision support system for the cement grinding process in ball mills, including the data acquisition, processing and analysis subsystems, based on intelligent hardware and software technologies. The paper presents a model based on the techniques proposed and developed with the application of fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks. The simulation results of the proposed models in the Matlab environment are also presented. Testing and verification of data obtained with the proposed inference model were performed by comparing with experimental data.

Crop diseases have an important impact on the safe production of food. Therefore, the automated identification of pre-crop diseases is very important for farmers to increase production and income. In this paper, a tomato leaf disease identification method based on the optimized MobileNetV2 model is proposed. A dataset of 20,400 tomato disease images was created based on tomato disease images taken from the greenhouse and obtained from the PlantVillage database. The optimized MobileNetV2 model was trained with the dataset to obtain a classification model for tomato leaf diseases. The average recognition accuracy of the model is 98.3% and the recall rate is 94.9%, which is 1.2% and 3.9% higher than the original model, respectively, after experimental validation. The average prediction speed of the model for a single image is about 76 ms, which is 2.94% better than the original model. To verify the performance of the optimized MobileNetV2 model, it was compared with the Xception, Inception, and VGG16 feature extraction network models using migration learning, respectively. The experimental results show that the average recognition accuracy of the model is 0.4 to 2.4 percentage points higher than that of the Xception, Inception, and VGG16 models. It can provide technical support for the identification of tomato diseases, and is also important for plant growth monitoring under precision agriculture.

The estimation of the state of health (SOH) of lead-acid batteries for electrical energy storage is an important factor when planning their replacement and energy management. There are many methods to calculate this parameter. The novelty of this work is that it employs an optical method that produces compelling results showing the variation of the UVC transmittance of the electrolyte when the battery has different SOH levels, which is a novel alternative to the existing one of ampere counting, which is also experimented within this work.

In order to reduce the high resistance problem during peanut digging shovel operation and improve the soil loosening effect, a bionic peanut digging shovel was designed according to the streamlined profile of the head of the golden cicada, and the range of values of the digging operation parameters was analyzed. A discrete element model was developed to verify that the operational resistance of the bionic excavation shovel is lower than that of the flat shovel. The reliability of the simulation test was confirmed by conducting a resistance test on the excavation shovel through a soil trench test. A three-factor, three-water orthogonal combination test was designed to determine the optimal operating parameters of the excavation shovel: the bevel angle of the shovel blade was 55°, the digging depth was 130 mm, and the width of the shovel face was 309 mm. The paper can provide a reference for designing and optimizing peanut-digging shovels.

Aiming at the pulsation problem of traditional external grooved wheel fertilizer distributor, an opposed double spiral external grooved wheel fertilizer distributor is designed, and the design and analysis of opposed double spiral grooved wheel parameters are carried out. In order to obtain the parameters of the grooved wheel with the best fertilizer discharge effect, the movement process of fertilizer particles in the opposite double spiral external grooved wheel fertilizer distributor was analyzed through discrete element simulation. Using the combination of discrete element simulation and bench test, a simulation orthogonal experiment was carried out on the influence of the rotational speed of the opposed double spiral sheave, the radius of the groove section, the working length of the sheave and the spiral angle of the sheave on the variation coefficient of fertilizer discharge uniformity. The result shows that the factors affecting the uniformity of fertilizer discharge are: trough wheel working length > trough wheel rotational speed > trough wheel helix angle > trough wheel groove radius, and the groove wheel working length of 50 mm, trough wheel rotational speed of 30 r/min, trough wheel spiral lift angle of 45° and groove radius of 10 mm are the optimal combination of structural parameters for fertilizer discharge effect, and the coefficient of variation of uniformity of fertilizer discharge under this combination of parameters is 3.08%. The actual fertilizer discharge performance was verified by bench test. The results show that the variation coefficient of fertilizer discharge uniformity under the parameter combination is 3.99%, and the deviation from the simulation test is 0.91%. The reliability of the discrete element simulation of the fertilizer discharge performance of the opposed double spiral external grooved wheel fertilizer discharger is verified.

The movement of plug seedlings and the pots damage mechanism are deeply studied during the planting process, and the planting components are optimized. The Tekscan pressure distribution measurement system was used to measure the mechanical characteristics of the drop impact between the whole plug seedlings and the pots. The relative error between the collision impact force of the plug seedlings and the collision impact force of the pot is less than 20%. Therefore, a drop impact test using the pot allows the whole plug seedling to be characterized. The Hertz-Mindlin with bonding model was used to build a simulation model of the pot based on essential physical parameters. The Plackett-Burman test and the steepest climbing test determined the significant parameters and optimal intervals affecting the collision impact force: the rolling friction coefficient between the pot and pot was 0.35~0.38, the bond stiffness was 0.2~0.6 MN?m-3, and the bond radius was 1.56~1.98 mm. Finally, the Box-Behnken test was performed and the quadratic regression model of the collision impact force was developed. Taking the collision impact force with a drop height of 350 mm as the target, the optimal solution is obtained: the rolling friction coefficient between the pot and pot was 0.35, the bond stiffness was 0.53 MN?m-3, and bond radius 1.97 mm. The average value was used for other insignificant influence parameters. The simulation results are compared with the physical test, and the relative error is 3.65%. Therefore, the pot model established by this simulation parameter can represent the actual drop impact of the pots.

The paper analyses the compaction of cardboard waste in vertically stationary presses, the stages of making the bale of material and the forces resistant to the displacement of the cardboard pressing plate at each stage of compaction, the relationship between the piston stroke and the pressing forces, as well as the partial and total energy consumption of compaction. Some clarifications are made regarding the correlation between the piston stroke and the compaction time, respectively the forces resistant to compaction. A link shall also be established between the volume of pressed material and its mass, so that the final density of the bale of material can be specified.

The current study aimed to test and evaluate sheets’ different perforation shapes, brake angles, and milling durations to improve the quality of long-grain white rice from an abrasive milling machine. The investigated parameters of head rice yield, broken rice percentage, whitening degree, and rice bulk temperature were influenced by five sheets with five perforated shapes (horizontal, vertical, inclined, 1 mm round holes, and 1.5 mm round holes), three brake angles (0, 45, and 90º), and four milling durations (60, 70, 80, and 90 s). The results showed that the horizontal rectangular perforated sheet resulted in the highest value of head rice yield and the lowest value of broken rice. On the other hand, the vertical rectangular perforated sheet resulted in the highest whitening degree, followed by the inclined rectangular perforated sheet. The round holes (1.0 mm and 1.5 mm diameter) are not recommended for the long-grain whitening process because of the resulting high values of broken kernels, rice bulk temperature after the whitening process, and lower values of whitening degree. The brake angle of 90º resulted in the highest value of broken rice for all studied perforated sheets used in this study. This study recommended that the optimum operating conditions were using the horizontal rectangular perforated sheet, zero degree brake angle and milling duration of 80 s.

Rice buds are easily bruised or broken during sowing, which affects the seedling rate, and the discrete element simulation of rice buds lacks an accurate model in this process. The EDEM simulation software was used to calibrate the parameters of the discrete element simulation model for different states of rice bud seeds damage. The Hertz-Mindlin model was used to simulate the accumulation of rice bud seeds. Through a series of tests, the interspecific static friction factor was 0.644, and the rolling friction factor was 0.062. The normal contact stiffness and tangential contact stiffness were determined for the broken chest state and the 1-3 mm shoot length state, respectively, by using the meta-particle function to build rice seed sprouts and applying the bonding model to conduct Box - Behnken response surface tests for shear damage of rice seed sprouts. Finally, experiments were carried out with a hole-belt-type seed meter. The results showed that under different belt speeds, the relative error between the measured value and the simulated value of the rice bud damage rate was not more than 0.9%, indicating that the calibration parameters were accurate and reliable.

Until now, the traditional method for planting pea seeds in Egypt is manual because of the scarcity of planting machines. Therefore, this study aims to provide and evaluate a new seed drill for planting pea seeds on a raised bed in silt-clay loam soil. This seed drill consists of the frame, seeds hopper, seed metering device, transmission system, and covering unit. Laboratory tests on pea seeds were conducted to determine the seeds’ physical and mechanical properties. Field trials were carried out under the following parameters; four forward speeds (??0.79, 0.98, 1.28, and 1.64 m s–1), ?three disc cell capacities (1, 2, and ??3 seeds per cell), two different cells shapes (circular, and a rectangle with semicircle end), and three distances between rows (?7.5, 10, and 15 cm) to assess the performance of the seed drill on fuel consumption, specific energy, slip ratio, seeds damaged?, germination ratio, plants number per hill, longitudinal scattering, and pea pods yield. The results revealed that the optimum performance of the seed drill was achieved at a forward speed ranging from 0.79 to 0.98 m s–1, using a disc cell capacity of ??2 seeds, a circular cell shape, and a distance between rows of 10 cm.

In order to explore the best parameters for the decomposition of corn straw for return to the field under extremely cold temperature conditions in northeast China, an orthogonal test was used to test the decomposition of corn straw and to analyse the effects of factors such as straw return depth, straw return amount, straw stalk part and decomposer concentration on the decomposition efficiency of corn straw. The results showed that the most significant effect on the decomposition efficiency of cold land corn straw was the amount of straw returned to the field, followed by the concentration of decomposer and the depth of straw returned to the field, and the least effect was the straw part. Among them, the amount of straw returned to the field showed a negative correlation on the decomposition efficiency of cold land corn straw; the concentration of decomposer, the depth of straw returned to the field and the straw part showed a positive correlation on the decomposition efficiency of cold land corn straw.

Recognizing the factors stimulating the student s academic performance requires investigating different learning strategies influencing teachers self-efficacy. With the growing diversity of teaching methods, motivational and instructional strategies have gained significant attention, potentially leading educationists to use them as the critical benchmark of superior student performance. This study s primary objective is to analyze the impact of teaching strategies on student academic performance while considering the mediating role of teachers self-efficacy. The data was collected from 260 students from different universities and colleges by using the convenience sampling method. The study results reveal that motivational and instructional strategies significantly affect teacher self-efficacy and student academic performance. Teacher self-efficacy mediates the relationship between instructional strategies, motivational strategies, and student academic performance.

In order to improve the quality of sheep foreground object segmentation, images are segmented using the watershed algorithm in combination with a growing region algorithm, and the pixel-by-pixel comparison of segmentation is optimized to reduce the processing time. Compared with other algorithms, the optimized watershed algorithm can achieve more complete target extraction, and its processing time is improved by over 50% compared with the other six algorithms. Moreover, the optimized watershed algorithm has the optimal overall image quality indicators. This algorithm can provide a reference for the real-time extraction of the activity state of sheep.

Vibrations are dynamic phenomena occurring in elastic or quasi-elastic media after a local excitation and becoming manifested by propagating the excitation within the medium in the form of some elastic oscillations. Thus, depending on the phenomenon dynamics, there can be met vibrations with low variation frequencies, characteristic to the mechanical structures, structures in constructions and earthquake waves, as well as vibrations with high variation frequencies. The vibration measuring is performed on a straw cereal harvesting machine with an axial threshing apparatus (CASE IH) in two conditions: in a stationary position and during work, by using transducers for each of the main working parts of the harvester: thresher, header (stripper), chassis and operator s chair. On the basis of the values of longitudinal, cross and vertical accelerations, measured at various frequencies in the two operating conditions of the harvester (at stationary and during work), the effect of the vibrations is established on each of these parts and, finally, cumulated, the vibrations sent to the operator s chair, the nomograms following to be traced and to be established the range with the limits up to which these are not dangerous for the operator s health.

The ant (Pheidole megacephala, Fabricius) has a unique and hard mandibular structure to cut branches and crush hard food. Inspired by this special geometric structure of the mandibular teeth, a stereoscopic microscope was used to view the image of the mandible of the ant. The Origin and AutoCAD software were used to obtain the outer profile of the mandibular teeth of the ant. The outer profile of the ant s mandibular teeth was fitted and expressed by five-order polynomial function. According to the analysis of the profile curve of the maxillary teeth, the fourth tooth is the most convex and the sharpest. The fourth tooth of the ant plays a key role in its feeding process, therefore, the structural parameters of the fourth maxillary tooth were selected as bionic elements for bionic blade design. To compare the cutting performance of the bionic and ordinary flat blades, the performance of bionic blade and the ordinary blade were conducted by using ANSYS software, the cutting force-deformation characteristics were tested using the Rapid TA practical texture analyser. The results of the element simulation showed that the mechanical properties of bionic blade were better than those of the ordinary blade. The results of the cutting experiments indicated that under the loading speed of 5 mm/s, the maximum cutting force of the bionic blade was 137.51 N, which is 12.17 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. The average cutting force of the bionic blade was 96.56 N, which is 11.58 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. The cutting energy consumption of the bionic blade was 9.68 J, which is 11.92 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. Under the loading speed of 10 mm/s, the maximum cutting force of the bionic blade was 143.88 N, which is 10.37 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. The average cutting force of the bionic blade was 101.03 N, which is 9.77 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. The cutting energy consumption of the bionic blade was 10.14 J, which is 9.95 % lower than that of the ordinary flat blade. The experimental results suggested that the bionic blade can effectively reduce the cutting force and energy consumption; thus, the bionic blade is more suitable for cutting stalks. These results will be helpful in the development of cutting elements for cutting and chopping of corn stover and other processing machinery.

The current study has investigated the accumulation and transfer coefficient for three heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn) found in the contaminated soil with three concentrations (c1=1.5%, c2=3.0%, c3=4.5%, c4=6.0%), obtained by mixing the three metals, in blueberry and raspberry fruits. The pots in which the shrubs were planted were loaded with fertile soil which was mixed and homogenized in turn with each of the three solutions of different concentrations. The highest accumulation in blueberry fruits was recorded for zinc, then copper and the lowest for lead, while for raspberries the highest results was recorded for zinc, then lead and the lowest for copper. The findings are valid for all four concentrations used. The transfer coefficient decreases as the concentration of heavy metals increases, thus for high heavy metal concentrations, the values of the transfer coefficient are very low, and for small heavy metal concentrations in the soil, the values for the transfer coefficient are higher. From the assessment of accumulation and transfer of heavy metals to berries (blueberries and raspberry) grown in the contaminated soil, it was concluded that all concentrations of the copper, lead and zinc mix have shown a low risk for human consumption.

This study aims to determine the performance of a plastic mulch hole making machine and its electrical power requirements. The study begins by providing speed variations on the engine sprocket, calculating the working capacity of the machine, and analysing the power requirements of the electric motor. The results showed that the engine sprocket could perform an optimal rotation speed for punching holes in plastic mulch. Most holes were created in the treatment with a rotational speed of 70 rpm, 16 holes per 5 m of plastic mulch. Overall, the performance of the plastic mulch punching machine has been able to provide fixes in making holes in mulch plastic. Of the three treatments, the speed variations of the plastic mulch punching machine provided perforations with the criteria of perfect and partial perforation. The highest percentage of ideal perforation was found in the treatment with a rotational speed of 29 rpm, 86%, and the lowest was found in the treatment with a rotational speed of 25 rpm, 9.3%. The coefficient of determination between the rotational speed of the machine and the performance of the machine to punch holes in the plastic mulch can be modelled by a polynomial equation.

From the perspective of liquor brewing technology, the quality of liquor yeast undoubtedly determines the quality of liquor products, but the problems such as inconvenient storage, difficult transportation and easy deterioration of liquid liquor yeast greatly restrict the development of liquor industry. Aiming at this problem, the author firstly summarized the research status of drying technology, damage mechanism and protection strategy of white spirit yeast. Then, on the basis of studying the damage mechanism of yeast in the drying process of yeast, the optimization of drying process and the formulation of protective strategies of yeast were discussed. Finally, new research methods are proposed from three perspectives: optimal design of drying process, damage mechanism and protection strategy.

In order to solve the problems of poor universality and complex structure of the current air-suction precision seed metering device for small vegetable seeds, an air-suction precision seed metering device based on the physical characteristics of small vegetable seeds was developed. The physical characteristics of several typical small vegetable seeds were measured to provide a theoretical basis for the design of air-suction precision seed metering device. Analyzed the force on the seed during seed metering, and used discrete element method to analyze the overall state of the seed at different times in combination with the basic structure. The experiment was designed with the pass rate, replay rate and miss rate as experimental indicators. The regression model was established to obtain the reasonable range of each parameter. The experimental results showed that when the rotary table speed was 28.65 r/min and the working negative pressure was 4.40 kPa, the seeding pass rate of the seed meter was 91.07%, the replay rate was 4.70%, and the missed rate was 4.23%.

Currently, maize production in China suffers from many problems such as excessive fertilizer application, inefficient fertilizer use and insufficient agricultural labour. This research explores the efficient fertilization pattern of maize for fertilizer decrease and yield increase by studying the effect of one-time mechanical point-applied fertilization of controlled-release compound fertilizer in the root-zone, on yield and nutrient uptake. There were six treatments in the application program: 1) no fertilizer (CK); 2) a one-time banding fertilizer application (BDP) 5 cm off the seeds between rows and 10 cm deep; 3) one-time point-applied fertilization (RZF) 5 cm off seed in the row and 10 cm deep; 4) a layered banding application 5 cm off seed, 10 cm and 20 cm deep between rows at a rate of 3:7 (LBD); 5) a 5 cm off seed, 10 cm deep point-applied fertilization, and 20 cm banding application between rows at a rate of 3:7 (LRZ); 6) a fertilizer reduction of 10% between rows at a rate of LRZ (90% LRZ). The results showed that the one-time mechanical layered application of slow-release compound fertilizer (LRZ and LBD) in the root zone increased yields by 11.97% and 11.15%, respectively, compared to the non-layered application of slow-release compound fertilizer (BDP and RZF), and the differences were significant, indicating that mechanical layered application can replace the BDP mode and achieve increased crop yield. The average increase in agronomic efficiency and partial factor productivity of 25.95% and 11.15% for LBD over BDP and 26.10% and 11.97% for LRZ over RZF were significant, indicating that mechanized stratified fertilizer application can significantly improve fertilizer utilization and reduce fertilizer losses and surface source pollution.

In order to solve the problems of poor universality and complex structure of the current air-suction precision seed metering device for small vegetable seeds, an air-suction precision seed metering device based on the physical characteristics of small vegetable seeds was developed. The physical characteristics of several typical small vegetable seeds were measured to provide a theoretical basis for the design of air-suction precision seed metering device. Analyzed the force on the seed during seed metering, and used discrete element method to analyze the overall state of the seed at different times in combination with the basic structure. The experiment was designed with the pass rate, replay rate and miss rate as experimental indicators. The regression model was established to obtain the reasonable range of each parameter. The experimental results showed that when the rotary table speed was 28.65 r/min and the working negative pressure was 4.40 kPa, the seeding pass rate of the seed meter was 91.07%, the replay rate was 4.70%, and the missed rate was 4.23%.

Aiming at the problem of insufficient research on the importance evaluation of agricultural machinery spare parts in the process of cross-region operation of combine harvester, Based on CRITIC and TOPSIS, an evaluation model of the importance of spare parts for cross region combine harvesters was established. The CRITIC model was used to calculate the weight of each evaluation index, the weighted TOPSIS evaluation model was used to process the data, and the relative closeness between the spare parts of each harvester to be evaluated and the ideal solution was calculated. Finally, the spare parts resource management decision-making system platform is developed to effectively integrate the spare parts resource allocation. The results show that the model can reasonably and effectively evaluate the important demand degree of combine har-vester spare parts, and has a good reference value for the cooperative service of agricultural machinery service vehicles and the priority degree of spare parts loading.

To investigate the mechanism of the movement law of sheep and theoretically support the study on the herd effect, a herd effect model based on the agent and cellular automata technology is built. The law of the herd effect is defined with the use of PyCharm for simulation, based on the characteristics of the flock tending to the top sheep. The flock activity area falls into several two-dimensional cell space structures, and the grid with the cell state of "sheep" in the cell space structure is considered a type of agent. The model assumed that there are five behaviors, including standing, walking slowly, looking for the leader, random and avoiding collisions in four scenarios. A herd effect model is built, the herd behavior is simulated, and the simulation results are compared with the actual herd behavior trajectory. The mean square error between the calculation model and the reality is 1.025. As revealed by the results, the model exhibits effective applicability, so it can better describe the trajectory of real herd behavior and provide theoretical guidance for the study on the herd effect.

During the growth and development of tomato plants, its different cells or tissues would store external environmental information and express it in the form of ion transportation. In order to better examine the storage model of tomato plants, the tomato individual tissue and whole plant biological circuit models were closely examined based on the idea of modal theory. According to the parameter inversion theory, in the frequency range of 0.1Hz - 1MHz, the impedance spectrum measurement and dielectric properties of tomato plants in four modal periods of germination stage were carried out. The stages were namely the seedling stage, flowering and fruit setting stage, and fruiting stage respectively. Impedance spectrum fitting was performed with the ZSimpWin software. Then, the biological circuit model of each tissue of tomato plant was obtained. Next, the parameter inversion was used to calculate the value of each element of the biological circuit model. Lastly, the biological circuit model of the tomato plant body in each period was obtained. Through the charging and discharging test of the model of the tomato plant body at each stage, the corresponding parameter value relationship was obtained according to the capacitance characteristics. This would be compared with the component values obtained from the parameter inversion in the model. Results showed that the errors were all less than 4.8%, which verified the rationality of the model. This system acted as a theoretical guidance for the research on the growth and development of tomato and other plants.

In order to improve the safety of cold chain logistics transportation and the accuracy of monitoring results, a design method of agricultural products cold chain logistics safety monitoring system based on the Internet of Things is proposed. The monitoring system includes wireless sensor, embedded and GPS technologies. In order to effectively realize the management of logistics monitoring data, this paper proposes improved Leda criteria to remove outliers in information fusion, and an information transmission method based on multicast greedy forwarding (MGF) algorithm on the basis of traditional management means, thus realizing logistics vehicle monitoring and logistics information tracing. The result shows that the object loss rate of the proposed logistics supervision method is only 1.7%, which is significantly lower than other supervision methods. And the monitoring accuracy of the monitoring method proposed in the study is also significantly higher than other methods, which can achieve effective supervision in the cold chain transport process of agricultural products. The above results show that it is feasible to adopt improved methods to realize the safety monitoring of logistics cold chain transportation, which is of great significance to the external sales of agricultural products and the development of logistics technology.

As a famous Chinese traditional medicine, the Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) market is continually expanding, while the quality of APS cannot be guaranteed. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been widely used in the detection of Chinese herbal medicines and traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, NIR spectroscopy was used to identify the adulterants of APS. Prepare adulterated mixtures of APS with 75%, and 50% content, respectively. PLS-DA and SIMCA models were developed for 2-classification of APS, APS mixture (75%+50%), and 3-classification of APS, 75% APS mixture and 50% APS mixture, respectively. In the 2-classification, the correct classification rate of both the calibration set and the test set of the PLS-DA and SIMCA models is 100%. In the 3-classification, the correct classification rates of calibration set and test set for PLS-DA were 97.5% and 96.67%, respectively; the correct classification rates of calibration set and test for SIMCA were 98.33% and 100%, respectively. The study showed that it is feasible to identify adulterated Astragalus polysaccharides using near-infrared spectroscopy.

In this paper, the vibration characteristics of the 1ST-460 vibration subsoiler was analyzed. In order to solve the problem of vibration imbalance caused by the vibration component under the action of multiple groups of vibration shovels, the optimal combination mode of the vibration component under the interaction of multiple groups of shovels was obtained. Piezoelectric accelerometers are fixed symmetrically on the frame of the subsoiler to measure the vibration at different positions. TST5910 dynamic signal test and analysis system is used to collect and process the acceleration data. Non-load tests were carried out with different initial eccentric phase angle combination. Results showed that the combination of [0°, 180°, 180°, 0°] (symmetrically up and down staggered vibration) for the eccentric vibration component of four shovels is the optimal initial phase combination, which can lead to the minimum adverse vibration on the frame. Further tests were conducted under different vibrating frequency and amplitude/eccentric with optimal phase combination. The results showed that, when amplitude/eccentricity ratio was 2.0 and 2.5, frequency of vibration was 6.7 and 8.3 Hz, the required traction force of the subsoiler was stable and significantly reduced, which can improve the soil loosening performance and reduce the harmful vibration on the tractor.

Cold brewed coffee has a sweet taste steeping intensity higher than bitter taste and sour taste. One of the flavors of brewing coffee can be affected by the temperature and the roasting time of the equipment used. In this study, cold brewing processes were performed on several Arabica coffee samples obtained from several roasting treatments consisting of three different roasting temperatures (170°C, 180°C, and 190°C) and three levels of roasting times (10, 12, and 15 minutes). The cold brewed in this study has the characteristics of steeping with high acidity intensity, clean after taste, the color of the steeping tends to be light brown, and the steeping body was light. The best treatment for roasting was a temperature of 190oC with a roasting time of 10 minutes based on the highest effectiveness value.

In order to reduce the drift loss of small droplets sprayed at low altitudes and low volume, a two-channel two-phase electric centrifugal nozzle was designed. The three-dimensional full-size numerical simulation of the flow field in the nozzle was carried out using Fluent software, and the radial distribution characteristics and axial variation of the flow field were studied. The relationships between the motor voltage and the atomizing discs speed, between the nozzles inlet pressure and its flow rate were determined. The variations of the droplet size and the droplet spectrum width with the atomizing disc and flow rate were revealed. The results showed that the rotation speed and flow rate were the important factors affecting the droplets middle diameter and spectrum width. When the rotation speed of atomizing disc was 4000 r/min, the droplet spectrum width exhibited the narrowest, and the middle diameter of the droplet volume was 231.9 µm. The droplet coverage density was higher, meeting the requirements of low-volume aviation spraying control. This study provides a theoretical basis for optimizing nozzle configuration and developing variable spray devices.

In the last period, a sector that has seen an important development in fruit growing is the one dedicated to sea buckthorn crops, respectively the technologies for the valorisation of fruits and food by-products deriving from the technological processes dedicated to these fruits with high human and animal nutritional value. In this paper, the aim is to present the results obtained by implementing innovative technologies for the integrated management of works in agricultural farms, vineyards and orchards, particularly intended for the cultivation of sea buckthorn, through which were tracked the technological parameters achieved by an equipment for the separation of sea buckthorn seeds from the pulp of the fruit, respectively the distribution of the separation fractions from the raw material depending on the working regime (the rotation frequencies of the functional systems) and the sizes of the holes of the separation sieve as well as the energy indices of the equipment. From the analysis of the obtained results, it was concluded that, in order to increase the performance of the experimental equipment, the site sections must include a wider range of hole sizes, it should be equipped with a brush system for their cleaning and improve the box system for collecting the material separated on fractions in order to reduce losses.

Ozone is a strong oxidant and strong disinfectant that has a strong anti-pathogenic effect on bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Because of its high reactivity, strong permeability, low residue, and other advantages, the application of ozone is gaining more and more attention, and ozone has been widely used in water treatment, equipment disinfection, public scene disinfection, and other fields. The purpose of this review is to discuss the use of ozone technology for animal and plant protection that can be applied to agriculture, and to emphasize the need for further studies to determine the optimal concentration and application of ozone for different crops so that, in the future, ozone technology can be applied in agriculture to gain a significant competitive advantage and improve product safety.

The working quality of a cotton stripper harvester is limited by the efficiency of onboard seed cotton cleaners. As a basis for research in the design of a cotton stripper harvester prototype, the bench cleaning tests were designed to study the effect of structural and technological parameters on the loss rate and impurities rate of the cleaner. According to the features of different test factors, a combined orthogonal test was applied to determine the best combination of the sawtooth distance, saw cylinder diameter, and cleaning distance. With these parameters fixed, the optimal parameters for the cleaning distance, saw cylinder rotating speed, and brush thickness were obtained using a quadratic-regression rotatable orthogonal test. The best parameter configuration to ensure the cleaning quality of the onboard seed cotton pre-cleaner included the following structural parameters: sawtooth distance of 38 mm and saw cylinder diameter of 340 mm, and technological parameters: rotating speed of 282–288 rpm, clearance of 12.55–14.84 mm, and brush thickness of 8.37–9.69 mm, which decreased the loss rate to less than 10% and the impurities rate to less than 6%. The reliability of the theoretical analysis results was verified by a comparison with experimental results. The experimental results provide a theoretical basis and technical reference for the research and the structural design of seed cotton pre-cleaners.

The use of energies from renewable sources, as an alternative to those obtained from fossil fuels, represents a sustained concern in the world scientific environment, this action being a particularly important objective at present, especially in the context of increasingly acute manifestations of the effects of climate change. The recovery and use of thermal energy developed in the composting process of biodegradable and solar waste is a current concern of the research environment in the field. In this paper we want to present some research on the recovery of thermal energy from the two renewable energy sources mentioned in order to use thermal energy for the production of the agent that can be used in the current activity of individual agricultural and livestock farms as well as in households, for the preparation of domestic hot water and heating of living spaces, greenhouses, and solariums. The paper presents the current state of research, some theoretical considerations regarding the thermodynamic phenomena that occur in the thermal energy recovery process, a modulated system for the recovery of thermal energy from the composting process and solar energy, experimentation in real operating conditions, the results and their interpretation and related conclusions.

Thinning is an important agronomic process in pear production, thus the detection of pear inflorescence is an important technology for intelligentization of blossom thinning. In this paper, images of buds and flowers were collected under different natural conditions for model training, and the images were augmented by data augmentation methods. Model training was performed based on the YOLOv5s network with coordinate attention mechanism added to the backbone network and compared with the native YOLOv5s, YOLOv3, SSD 300, and Faster-RCNN algorithms. The mAP, F1 score and recall of the algorithm reached 93.32%, 91.10%, and 91.99%. The model size only took up 14.1 MB, and the average detection time was 27 ms, which are suitable for application in actual intelligent blossom thinning equipment.

In order to use the resonance principle for vibratory picking of Camellia oleifera fruit, the frequency sweep tests were carried out on the fruiting branches of Camellia oleifera trees. The results showed that the acceleration response of fruit-bearing branches had good consistency. The use of fruit removal rate alone to evaluate the picking effect is not reliable, and the introduction of energy utilization to evaluate the vibration picking effect is significant. The best results were a vibration frequency of 8 Hz and an excitation time of 10 s. The fruit removal rate was 88.12% and the energy utilization rate was 36.72%. Compared with the traditional fruit shedding rate, the application of energy utilization rate to evaluate the picking effect can improve the reliability of the results and reduce the energy loss.

Given the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new energy-efficient solutions can be adopted for construction and agricultural machinery. Such a solution is a digital hydraulic cylinder that uses several active areas and a constant pressure supply with which a gradual variation of the driving force can be obtained. Traditional hydraulic systems have high energy losses due to the need to direct and throttle the flow through different valves. The article presents simulations in the AMESim environment and laboratory experiments of a digital hydraulic cylinder with three active areas. Through numerical simulations, the authors aim to highlight the energy efficiency of a digital hydraulic cylinder compared to a hydraulic cylinder in a conventional drive.

The core of intelligent and accurate plant protection of pests is the accurate identification of pest monitoring and early warning model, and the quality of pest sample image is crucial to the model identification accuracy. To solve the problem of complicated background and low contrast colour image samples, in this paper it is proposed a pest accurate segmentation method based on critical point nonlinear enhancement. The segmented image is used as the sample image of the Faster R-CNN model, which can improve the accuracy of the recognition model. Firstly, the original image is segmented by a strong classifier and the image of pest cells with calibrated grids is obtained. Secondly, the Spline adjustment curve is fitted according to the core gray scale range and critical point, and the contrast between pest and mesh in pest monomer image is enhanced based on the Spline adjustment curve. Finally, there are some operations for the enhanced image such as threshold segmentation, contour extraction, morphological transformation and others to obtain the pest image without background interference, and some segmentation experiments are performed to the pest image based on different segmentation methods. The experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately segment the pests in complex background, and the comprehensive evaluation indexes such as recall ratio and precision rate are greater than or equal to 91.5%, which is better than the traditional segmentation method.

When designing and determining the potential technical capabilities and characteristics of the tractor, the so-called traction calculation is carried out. The aim of the work is to study regularities of changes in the traction and coupling characteristics of a tractor with an articulated frame depending on the size of the ballast, the presence of dual wheels and other parameters, using the KhTZ-242K tractor as an example. The numerical solution of the deduced mathematical model made it possible to obtain graphical dependences of the change in the main traction and coupling characteristics of the tractor KhTZ-242K depending on the mass of the tractor, which varied from 8600 kg to 10100 kg by changing the ballast mass. The maximum tractive power of the tractor on single wheels without a ballast is 121 kW, which is achieved at a speed of 12 km·h–1, and on single wheels with a ballast 122 kW, at a speed of 15 km·h–1. This, in its turn, greatly affects the productivity and fuel efficiency of the aggregate.

Increasing the production efficiency of Trichogramma of guaranteed biological quality by creating promising biotechnologies, based on the optimization of the parameters of technobiocenosis, is an urgent scientific and practical problem. There have been developed elements of a set of equipment by the method of cassette-less breeding of the grain moths for industrial production of Trichogramma. Experimental and analytical studies were carried out of the impact of the main biological indicators upon the quality of production of a entomological preparation of Trichogramma. The impact of the main factors of technocenosis upon the viability and productivity of the grain moths has been studied by using a cassette-less production technology. The developed technological scheme for cassette-less cultivation of the grain moth and the use of recommendations for industrial production of Trichogramma will increase the output of biolaboratories by 10-15% while obtaining a Trichogramma of guaranteed biological quality.

This article presents the results obtained through experimental research carried out with a machine for shredding woody plant residues (twigs, vine ropes), residues obtained from dry or green cuttings, in fruit or wine plantations. The obtained shredding is intended for utilization in the form of compost or biofuel (pellet type). The machine was designed and made by a group of researchers from INMA Bucharest, with the aim of developing the machine system made available to farmers, for mechanized work in small and medium-sized fruit plantations. The sizes of the fractions of the wood fragments resulting from the chopping process, their humidity and volumetric weight were determined. Using as raw material greener or drier branches, with dimensions between 10-45 mm, with an adjustment of the chopping drum at an average speed of 1400 rpm and an average speed of the conveyor chain of 0.425 m/s, wood chips with different sizes between 4 and 16 mm were obtained, the proportions varying from 13% to 16%. The average working capacity of the equipment was approx. 14.2 mc/h. Research will continue to determine the energy indices of the machine designed and made at INMA Bucharest, and the results will be presented in another article.