Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 8 Articles
Awareness of environmental problems deals with the attention, concerns and sensitivity of the respondents to the environmental problems. The study has been under taken up among farmers of western part of Karnataka state, India to determine the extent of formers awareness on agricultural pollution and general environmental problems. The data collected using pre tested questionnaire cum interview schedules. This study concludes that farmer’s awareness on general environmental problems and agricultural pollution was medium in the study area. It is predicted that if policy-makers, extension organizations and educational institutions concentrate on these factors, they are more likely to succeed in making farmers more favorably disposed toward sustainable agriculture....
The aim of this study was to compare the short-term storage of food grains in large polyethylene bag silos with the\r\nconventional bulk storage of grain regarding quality parameters. This storage option provides the chance to get along\r\nfluctuations in prices without investment in building operations.\r\n75 t newly harvested wheat with a dry matter content of 89.1% was stored during a period of six months in two\r\npolyethylene bags and as control in a granary on the same farm. After two weeks, one month, three and six months samples\r\nwere collected off the first bag below the polyethylene film and in 1.20 m depth and at the same time samples were taken in the\r\ngranary. The second bag was kept closed over the six month. Results demonstrated that there are no differences between the\r\nmeasuring points within a bag, between the two bags and no differences between the storage systems regarding the parameters\r\ndry matter, pH, starch, crude protein, content of mesophilic microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, mould) and germination. The\r\ntemperature in the polyethylene bag silos resembled rapidly to the ambient temperature. There was no local overheating due\r\nto microbiological activity. The results demonstrate that the temporary grain storage in polyethylene bags does not lead to any\r\ngrain quality loss compared to the conventional storage. Because of the very low cost, the flexible bagging system represents\r\nan alternative to high investment in permanent storage structures for grain....
In this research, drying characteristics and energy requirements for microwave drying of potato slices\r\nwere reported at four microwave power densities, 5, 10, 15 and 20 W/g. During the experiments, potato slices were dried to\r\nthe final moisture content of 0.08 from 2.294 (kgH2O/kgdry matter). The experimental data were fitted to six drying models:\r\nLinear, Lewis, Henderson and Pabis, Wang and Singh, Page, and Midilli et al. models. The models were compared using the\r\ncoefficient of determination, root mean square error and reduced chi-square. The Midilli et al. model best described the drying\r\ncurve of potato slices. The effective moisture diffusivity was determined by using Fickââ?¬â?¢s second law and was observed to lie\r\nbetween 0.025Ã?â??108 and 3.05Ã?â??108 m2/s for the potato samples. The minimum and the maximum energy requirements for\r\ndrying of potato slices were also determined as 4.22 MJ/kgH2O and 10.56 MJ/kgH2O for 15 and 5 W/g, respectively....
African Leafy Vegetables hold a high potential as an income source for resource poor rural dwellers in Cameroon but\r\nthis potential has not been realized because of lack of appropriate post harvest packages resulting in high losses. A solar\r\ntunnel dryer was designed and constructed using local materials and evaluated for drying leafy vegetables and other agricultural\r\nproducts. Four drying trays made of wood and plastic mesh with a total surface area of 3.25 m2 were used for drying. The\r\ndryer was south facing with an inclination of 6�º, and the solar radiation falling on the dryer surface was estimated at 12.13 kJ/m2\r\nper day. At sunset during the wet harvesting period, the temperature inside the dryer was 5�ºC above the ambient because of\r\nadditional heating due to heat storage. The complete dryer could dry 17 kg of sliced cabbage from 95% moisture content wet\r\nbasis down to 9% in five days in a period characterized by intermittent downpours and permanent cloud cover. The overall\r\ndryer efficiency was 17.68%, with a moisture extraction efficiency of 79.15% and airflow of 9.68 m3/hr. The relative\r\nhumidity of the air inside the dryer varied from 75% in the morning down to about 35% at noon. Tests on other high moisture\r\nproducts showed that the dryer could reduce the drying time by 30 to 50% depending on the product and the final product was\r\nacceptable in taste and colour....
The material embodiment in agricultural production systems is important because it determines the convergence of\r\ninputs (indirectly, the natural resources) into the crop. Besides this, the material flows are the basis for any environmental\r\n(energy analysis, emergy evaluation, life-cycle analysis and carbon inventories) and economical analyses. Since different\r\nmaterials cannot compose a single index, generally these flows are not shown and this fact makes comparisons difficult to be\r\ndone. Another aspect that makes comparisons more difficult is the establishment of the studied system�s boundary. If they\r\ndiffer, results will be different, disguising actual distinctions among systems. This study aimed to apply a methodology in\r\norder to determine material flows in agricultural production systems. A secondary goal is to show that machinery\r\nmanagement can propitiate less material convergence into the crop. A diagram language to represent the analyzed system was\r\nadopted in order to establish the systems� limit. The determination of the material flows of indirectly applied inputs (fuel\r\nconsumption; the machinery depreciation; and labor) included the determination of the effective field capacity, since the latter\r\naggregates efficiency and is able to make data related to time to be related to area. Data of fuel consumption were compared\r\nwith the models presented (the most accurate for the surveyed system was presented by Molin and Milan, 2002). The material\r\nembodiment of a maize silage production system was determined and compared with regional data, presenting similar data.\r\nFor this system and a haylage (Tifton 85) production system the embodiment was calculated for different aspects (area, yield\r\nand qualitative aspects) in order to show the importance of establishing the limit of study and indicators. A comparison\r\napproaching the efficiency was also done, the variables considered were farm size, machinery use and labor requirement,\r\nefficiency increased more than the area increase....
Biomass feedstocks including switchgrass and corn stover are currently being considered for use in direct\r\ncombustion systems, and for value-added products such as ethanol. A major roadblock associated with the utilization of\r\nbiomass feedstocks is the high cost of handling and storage due to low bulk density of these feedstocks. A wide variety of\r\nexisting harvest systems creates logistics difficulties for bioenergy industries. The utilization of herbaceous biomass materials\r\nrequires low-cost handling systems to collect, store, and transport year round. This then requires selecting the most\r\neconomical methods from various existing handling systems for loose and baled biomass materials. How these different\r\nharvesting systems can be integrated into a cost-effective supply system is a challenge. A method of selecting the lowest cost\r\nharvest and handling machine system was proposed; the model developed could calculate costs of different systems so as to\r\nassist field managers to select the best handling method for every point in a given location of a biorefinery plant. The results\r\nof the model calculation can provide users a map which shows the lowest-cost handling scenario for all handling systems\r\nanalyzed by this program. This result will enable biorefinary industries and landowners to determine the most cost-effective\r\nway to harvest, store, and transport biomass materials according to the size of the biorefinery plant....
The study has been under taken up among farmers of western part of Karnataka state, India to determine the extent of relationship among farmer’s moderating variables, information sources and awareness on sustainable agriculture. In view of this, the data collected using pre tested interview schedules from the farmers. The study data revealed that family size and domestic animal rearing does not significantly influence on farmers accessing communication media. The farmers moderating variables and information sources significantly influence on awareness of sustainable agriculture. It concludes that policy-makers and extension organizations not only concentrate on personal and socio-economic status of the farmers but also they concentrate information sources also....
Soil cone index (CI) is a widely used soil mechanical property to assess soil strength in tillage research. In this study,\r\nliterature data relating CI to tillage practices are compiled into two datasets, one for no-tillage and the other for conventional\r\ntillage. Each dataset is analyzed to examine how CI varies with soil depth, textural parameters, bulk density, and moisture\r\ncontent. The results showed that for both no-tillage and conventional tillage, values of CI decrease with the increase in clay\r\nfraction, and increase with the increase in sand and silt fractions of soil. Similarly, higher bulk density and greater soil depth\r\nresult in higher CI value, while higher moisture content reduces CI. Based on the literature data, regression equations were\r\nobtained to estimate CI under no-tillage and conventional tillage systems. In those regression equations, values of CI were\r\nlinear functions of the other soil variables such as soil textural parameters and moisture content. Those regression equations\r\nwere validated with field data collected from different sites in Manitoba, Canada. Over half of the results from the regression\r\nequations had good agreement with the field measurements, indicated by their relative errors of 20% or lower; however, greater\r\ndiscrepancies were noticed in some cases....
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