Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, the 1st in Agricultural Engineering, is supervised by China Association for Science and Technology, and sponsored by Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering. It aims to introduce the latest scientific achievements and developing trends of Agricultural Engineering and provides the academic developments abroad and domestic of the discipline. The scope covers agricultural water-soil engineering, agricultural information and electrical technology, agricultural products processing engineering.
The journal is included in EI, JST, Pж(AJ), CA and CSCD.
Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ming
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Wei Xiuju Zhang Ruihong Xi Weimin Wang Liu Wang Yingkuan Li Pingping Ying Yibin Tong Jin Yun Wenju Zhao Chunjiang Kang Shaozhong
To resolve the limitations of traditional method for evaluating ecological environment in the irrigation areas, a dynamic theme service model is proposed in this paper using information technology. The evaluation themes are identified according to the problems in the irrigation areas. The dynamical evaluation process of ecological environment in the irrigation areas based on theme service is established. To build the evaluation index library and develop the evaluation method component, the appropriate evaluation index is selected from the ecological environment evaluation index library in the irrigated areas according to the evaluation theme. The evaluation index system for specific evaluation theme is established after the optimization of indices. The evaluation theme knowledge map is drawn based on the comprehensive integrated platform, and the ecological environment dynamic evaluation system is established. The evaluation methods are determined according to the characteristics of the ecological environment evaluation theme and the evaluation index system. The corresponding component is invoked from the evaluation method component library to calculate the evaluation index for different themes, and realize the dynamic theme evaluation for the ecologic environment in the irrigation areas. Taking the Jinghuiqu irrigation areas in Shaanxi Province as the study case, four evaluation themes including the ecological environment influential factor theme, the resource utilization level theme, the engineering support capacity theme and the sustainability theme are determined based on the investigation situation and concerns of the management department in the irrigation areas, and the experts’ opinions. The results show that the ecological environment in the irrigation areas was between good and mediocre in 2009 and 2014, and the ecological environment situation in the irrigation areas decreased in 2014 compared with that in 2009; from 1997 to 2014, the utilization level of irrigation resources increased year by year, and each evaluation index developed to a healthy status year by year; the support capacity of irrigation district was mediocre in 2014, and it tended to be good; the result of irrigation district sustainability evaluation was good in 2014. As the results show, the service model can achieve dynamic evaluation of ecological environment of irrigation areas quickly with multi-angle view and the evaluation result is more credible, so it has more advantages compared to the traditional evaluation method. Using the information technologies, the paper introduces a dynamic evaluation model for the ecological environment in the irrigation areas based on the comprehensive integrated platform, and the results of the paper are of great significance for the healthy development of the ecological environment and ecological civilization construction in the irrigation areas.
In order to provide theoretical support for the application of LED illuminant in the scale raising of broilers, the effects of LED light sources on broilers growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and the contents of NH
3, CO
2, dust and microorganism of house air were explored in this paper. One-factor completely random design was used in this study. A total of 240 one-day-old white feather broilers with good health were randomly distributed into two groups with four replications per group and 30 birds per replication. Trial group was illuminated with warm white LED-light, and the control group was illuminated with warm white fluorescent lamps. The chicken were fed in the same conditions, and the growth conditions including the feed intake, daily gain, feed conversion ratio, morbidity and mortality were observed and determined. Total feces were collected for the apparent nutrient digestibility test of crude protein, crude fat, Ca, and P at the 8
th, 15
th, 22
th, and 28
th days, respectively. And then the contents of dust and microorganism were measured by gravimetric and plate sedimentation methods, respectively. The contents of NH
3 and CO
2 in the broilers house were detected on five points at 0.5 m high using photochemical method in every day at 08:00, 14:00 and 20:00. The results showed that compared with the fluorescent lamps, LED light sources had no adverse effect on growth performance, nutrient metabolism and house environmental quality of 8 to 20 days old broilers. LED light could improve the feed intake and daily gain of 22 to 28 days old broilers significantly, which were increased by 13.13% and 13.23%, respectively (
P < 0.05) compared with those of the fluorescent lamp group. LED light source was beneficial to increase the average daily intake and average daily increase quality of the 22–28 days old broilers, compared with the fluorescent lamp, which were significantly increased by 13.13% and 13.23%, respectively (
P < 0.05). LED light source could also improve the apparent digestibilities of crude protein, calcium and phosphorus in the 22 to 28 days old chicken; in the 22
th day, they were significantly increased by 9.45%, 14.90% and 7.48% (
P < 0.05) respectively compared with the fluorescent henhouse group; in the 28
th day, they were increased by 7.30%, 6.78% and 8.29% (
P < 0.05), respectively. During the experiment, the morbidity of chicken in the LED light source group was 2.45%, significantly lower than the incidence of 3.57% in the fluorescent lamp group (
P < 0.05). The mortality of chicken in the house with LED light source was 1.18%, which was significantly lower than the 2.36% of the fluorescent lamp (
P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the concentration of NH
3 after 25 days and the concentrations of dust and microorganism after 22 days in the LED light source house were significantly lower than those of fluorescent lamps group. Therefore, the LED light source could improve the production performance of broilers and the air environmental quality of chicken living space. Because of the characteristics of safety, economy and environmental protection, the LED light source is worth further promotion and application in the livestock breeding production.
Soil tillage and residue returning can exert significant impact on soil structure and nutrient turnover, which are also important driving factors for the distribution and updating of soil aggregate. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of rotary tillage converting to subsoiling (RT-ST) on distribution, stability and associated carbon content of soil aggregate based on the 8-year experiment, which included rotary tillage with residue returning (RTS), rotary tillage with residue removing (RTA), rotary tillage converting to subsoiling with residue returning (RTS-STS) and rotary tillage converting to subsoiling with residue removing (RTA-STA). The contribution rate of aggregate-C to soil organic carbon (SOC) and their interaction during RT-ST were also analyzed in this study. The results showed that, the distribution, stability and associated carbon of soil aggregate fractions were significantly affected by RTS-STS, which not only significantly increased the proportion of soil macroaggregate, but also promoted the stability of aggregate. For example, the aggregates at the size fractions of 1–2, 0.25–1 and < 0.25 mm under RTS-STS treatment were significantly higher than those of other 3 treatments in the soil depth of 0–10 cm, and the mean weight diameter (MWD) for stability index of soil aggregate under RTS-STS treatment was also 6.1%, 65.4%, and 87.8% higher than those under RTA-STA, RTS and RTA treatments, respectively, in this study. The aggregates at the size fractions of 1–2, 0.25–1 and < 0.25 mm under the four treatments were increased in the soil depth of > 30–50 cm compared with those in the soil depth of 0–30 cm. However, the MWD values were significantly decreased under the RTS-STS and RTA-STA treatments in the soil depth of 30–50 cm, and the opposite result was found under RTS and RTA treatments. Meanwhile, RTS-STS treatment significantly increased the aggregate-associated carbon and its contribution rate to SOC in the depth of 0–20 cm. Although there was no significant difference for aggregate-associated carbon between RTS-STS and RTS treatments in the depths of > 20–30 and > 30–50 cm, the contribution rate of aggregate-associated carbon to SOC was decreased under the RTS-STS treatment compared with that in > 20–50 cm depth. Compared with residue removing, rotary tillage and RTS-STS increased the contents of SOC and aggregate-associated carbon in the soil depth of 0–50 cm. The contribution rate of aggregate-associated carbon to SOC under RTS-STS treatment was 87.89%, which was 4.9%, 10.3%, and 18.6% higher than those under RTS, RTA-STA and RTA treatments, respectively, in this study. Tillage method, residue returning, and their interaction were important influencing factors for the distribution and associated carbon of soil aggregate under the four treatments in the different soil depths according to the force analysis in this study. Additionally, there was significant positive correlation between the SOC and the stability and associated carbon (
P < 0.01) of aggregate according to the correlation analysis result. The RTS-STS can improve the aggregate gathering and stabilizing in the 0–20 cm soil depth, and also increase the contribution rate of soil aggregate-associated carbon to SOC, which will significantly improve the SOC level in this region.
Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic element, and can be readily accumulated in crops and thus harm human health by food chain. The agricultural paddy soil contaminated by Cd has become a very obvious environmental problem in South China. Rice (
Oryza sativa L.) is a kind of important crop and main daily diet and has been considered to be a major source of Cd intake by human in some parts of South China. The accumulation of Cd in rice in Cd-contaminated paddy field easily exceeds 0.2 mg/kg, which is the limit according to the National Standard of Pollutant in Food of China (GB 2762-2012). In order to reduce the effects of Cd on human body, animal and plant, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of lime application at rice tillering stage on the distribution and translocation characteristics of Cd in organs of rice at the different growth stages under the treatment of intermittent irrigation and flooding in whole growth period. The four treatments were designed as follows. 1) Intermittent irrigation treatment. The plot was irrigated with the local conventional irrigation method to maintain being flooded with 3–5 cm water above the soil surface until the late tillering stage and then was drained, followed by intermittent irrigation two times (WCK). 2) Intermittent irrigation + lime (WL). 3) Flooding in whole cultivation period. The plot was flooded during the whole period of crop growth, in which water was kept at a height of 3–5 cm above the soil surface (FCK). 4) Flooding in whole cultivation period + lime (FL). Lime (1 500 kg/hm
2) was applied to the paddy soil after the samples were collected at tillering stage. The samples were collected at stages of tillering, filling and maturity, respectively. The results showed that the intermittent and continuous flooding treatment combined with lime application at rice tillering stage significantly increased the soil pH value and decreased the mass fraction of available Cd in the soil. Application of lime caused the transforming of acid-soluble Cd into oxidizable, reducible and residual states. Moreover, application of lime in the treatment of flooding in whole growth period could increase the iron (Fe) mass fraction in the soil. After liming, the Cd mass fraction of brown rice was significantly reduced from 0.86 to 0.56 mg/kg under intermittent irrigation treatment and from 0.77 to 0.34 mg/kg under the treatment of flooding in whole growth period. Meanwhile, lime application significantly reduced the bioconcentration factor of Cd in shoot at filling stage (
P < 0.05), while the bioconcentration factor of Cd in root and brown rice at mature stage was also decreased significantly (
P < 0.05). In addition, at mature stage, the translocation factor from root to shoot and that from shoot to brown rice was decreased significantly under the treatment of flooding in whole growth period combined with lime application (
P < 0.05). The rice yield was increased by 10% with lime application on average. The correlation analysis indicated that the Cd mass fraction in brown rice was significantly positively correlated with the mass fraction of available Cd in soil and the Cd accumulation in aboveground part of rice, and was significantly negatively correlated with the soil pH value. In summery, the results indicated that the intermittent irrigation and flooding in whole growth period combined with lime application at tillering stage were effective ways to reduce the uptake of Cd in rice in contaminated paddy soil without yield loss, especially the flooding treatment combined with lime application.
Conventional farming methods with multiple operations by multiple types of machinery may lead to serious shallow soil hardening and cost increases for the wheat–maize rotation cropping areas in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China. In addition, there are several technical problems for the traditional maize no-tillage planter when seeding in the fields covered by heavy wheat straw. 1) The soil-buried parts of the no-tillage planter are easy to be blocked by the wheat straw, which cannot guarantee the smooth operation. 2) The seeds may be improperly planted on the top of wheat straw since the soil is totally covered by the wheat straw. 3) The germinated seeds cannot grow up normally as no soil covered, which result in production declines. In the current study, an active anti-blocking device was designed for the maize no-tillage planter to remove the wheat straw that covered on the soil surface. During seeding in the field, the wheat straw that covered on the soil surface was disrupted and thrown into the air by the device and was transferred backward before it landed. Then, the planter would ditch, fertilize, and seed in the cleaned field produced by the device. At last, the smashed straw was evenly covered on the field after planting. The structural parameters and motion parameters of the anti-blocking device were determined based on a simulation model built by the discrete element method (DEM). The model was composed of soil, full-coverage straw, and device, which could be used to simulate the process of removing the unsupported straw from the soil surface. The model and interaction system was established in EDEM 2.6 simulation environment, and their physical properties were calibrated with the real properties of lime concretion black soil and wheat straw. The simulation parameters were set according to the theoretical design, the radius of the cutter head was set as 120 mm, the driving speed of the cutter shaft as 500 r/min, the depth of the cutting edge as 10 mm, and the operating velocity of the active anti-blocking device as 4 km/h. The simulation experiment was used to analyze the displacement and the clearance rate of straw for selecting suitable structural parameters and motion parameters for design. The simulation results indicated that the tangential force of the cutting edge irregularly fluctuated with time, and the average tangential force was 5.8 N; the straw clearance rate was 98.5% in the disrupted zone, and the average width of the area without straw was 245.5 mm according to the random sampling, which was in accordance with the requirement of ditching, fertilizing, and seeding. The field experiment was carried out by a straw-removing no-tillage planter with the designed anti-blocking device mounted, for ditching, fertilizing and seeding, within a field covered by 1.24 kg/m
2 wheat straw with stubble height of 40 mm. The planter was hauled by a high-power tractor of over 55 kW with an operating velocity of 4 km/h and a working width of 2 400 mm, resulting in a pure productivity of more than 0.56 hm
2/h. The field experiment and measurement results showed that the straw-removing no-tillage planter with an active anti-blocking device had a stable operation that could significantly improve the seeding environment. The number of clear straw was 0, the straw clearance rate was 90.21%, which reduced by 8.29 percentage points compared with the simulated value. This study illustrated that the maize no-tillage planter with active anti-blocking device was suitable for removing the covering straw, cleaning the seedbed, fertilizing, and covering the seedbed with wheat straw. Meanwhile, the research provides a reference for the design and popularization of the no-tillage planter for the fields with full coverage of straw.
To evaluate the droplet deposition in aerial spraying real-timely and accurately, an aerial spray pattern measurement system was designed combined with the spectral analysis and fluorescence excitation technology. The hardware of the system consisted of modules of information acquisition module, data acquisition module, and data processing module. FLAME-S-VIS-NIR micro spectrometer was selected as information acquisition module which is produced by Ocean Optics. Micro spectrometer was the core component of the aerial spray pattern measurement system. The acquisition module included microcontroller unit, droplet collection medium, ultraviolet excitation light, stepper motors, and photoelectric limiter. The software of the system included the functions of spectrometer connection, parameter setting, spectral data collection, display and storage. At first, the solutions of fluorescent tracer with mass fractions of 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.3% were sprayed individually by the sprayer installed on the agricultural plant protection unmanned aerial vehicle. The droplet deposition was collected by the droplet collection medium and water-sensitive paper synchronously. The spectral characteristic curve of droplet collection medium was scanned and saved by the software of aerial spray pattern measurement system. The spectral characteristic curve of sampling point was processed by savitzky-golay smoothing and standard normalized variate, and the trend of spectral curve was analyzed. Without the effect of ultraviolet light on the band removal of 340 nm–400 nm, the result which was observed and analyzed from the band range of 440 nm–1 014 nm showed that the spectral band range of 450 nm–460 nm presented a trough shape, and the spectral band range of 500 nm–520 nm showed peak shape. The droplet deposition characteristic parameter which was obtained from the image analysis of water-sensitive paper included impregnation area, area coverage and deposition. Compared with the results obtained by water-sensitive papers, the analysis results indicated that the solution of fluorescent tracer on the droplet capture medium produced significant fluorescence effect in the wavelength ranges of 450 nm–460 nm and 500 nm–520 nm. The spectral average values of the wavelength ranges of 450 nm–460 nm and 500 nm–520 nm were calculated. And the correlation coefficient of spectral average value and droplet deposition was up to 0.80. The results showed that it was feasible for the detection of droplet deposition characteristics based on the spectral analysis and fluorescence excitation technique. The detection effects of droplet deposition with different mass fractions of fluorescent tracer solution were analyzed. Compared with the mass fractions 0.5% and 1.3% of fluorescent tracer solution, the correlation coefficient between the spectral average value and droplet deposition was more than 0.92 when the mass fraction of fluorescent tracer solution was 1.0%. Therefore, a fluorescent tracer solution with mass fraction 1.0% was adopted for the detection of performance test of the system. The performance test of the system was carried out in the field. Fifty nine sampling points were collected effectively, and the multivariate linear regression model of the droplet deposition was built based on the spectral average value which was calculated by randomly selection of 40 sampling points. The rest of 19 sampling points were used to validate the multivariate linear regression model. The model decision coefficient was about 0.80, and the verification coefficient was about 0.83. The modeling accuracy could satisfy the requirements of droplet deposition characteristic parameter detection. This method could provide support for the detection of droplet deposition characteristics rapidly and continuously in aerial spraying.
Agricultural product safety concerns the national economy and the people’s livelihood. From the starting point of agriculture production, the quality and safety of seeds are crucial and need to be traced. To realize the traceability of crop seeds and help the production enterprise to analyze the operation status and realize the interactive marketing, in this paper, we construct a bidirectional dynamic model of seed traceability based on location analysis. Through the seed electronic code of seeds, the model divides the traditional logistics information chain data into different sets of geographic codes, which are nested according to the geographical location of the distribution. The commodity seed from the factory to the user will experience a lot of path node, the distributor of each node dealer is required to writes its own geographic code. The geographic code contains the company information of the distributors at all levels and the geographic name information of the sale’s area. In the pre-sale stage of the seed, the geographic code set information is independent of each other. When the end user queries the seed electronic code, the flag is activated and the model starts to dynamically analyze the location of the user. By converting the user’s latitude and longitude, this model receives the detailed address, starts to match the geographical code set of information from low to high levels, and ultimately finds the distributor information or returns warning information. The query action of the user connects the geographical code sets of all levels, and the whole traceability data chain provides the traceability result to both the enterprise and the user at this time. The enterprise-side model consisted of a collection layer, a data sharing analysis layer, and an application presentation layer. When the enterprise obtains the traceability information, it can communicate with users, collecting user’s behavior data and pushing enterprise marketing information. The enterprise-side model can be combined with the supply chain data for data analysis to help improve and guide production. Through the correlation analysis of the data of sales and feedback of Huacheng 3366 wheat in ten counties, the goodness-of-fit is 0.997 8, which shows that the feedback from the code scanning can promote the sales. The model adds the bidirectional interactive data link on the traditional traceability model, so that the enterprise can interact with the user when scanning and obtain the user behavior data and push the marketing information. The model’s commissioning of the geocode location conversion rate, the number of days, the site safe operation and other technical indicators can effectively help companies master the actual operation, effectively prevent the occurrence of the transregional behavior, and optimize the enterprise distribution channels. It also provides a more reliable means of information for the regulatory department to manage the seed market.
At present, in the orchard fertilization process, the most widely used method is ditching and fertilizing. However, the orchard ditching and fertilizing technology has a series of problems, such as easy damage to tree roots, high energy consumption, and uneven fertilization. Meanwhile, soil compaction frequently exists in orchard land due to no farming in a long time, which is not beneficial to rainwater leakage and nutrient transport in soil, so it is of great need to develop a new kind of fertilization machine. In this context, a 3SFBQ-500 type gas explosion subsoiling and fertilizer injection machine was designed, which used high-pressure gas to shock soil body and then injected fertilizer. The drill pipe mechanism with pneumatic chipping hammer excitation and hydraulic boosting was designed to drill the soil, and the maximum drilling depth reached 500 mm. The dynamical model and kinematical equation of soil drilling by pneumatic chipping hammer with hydraulic boosting were established, and the force analysis of drill pipe during the soil drilling process was performed. The drill bit structure parameters were optimized as taper angle of 60° and pipe radius of 12.5 mm. An economical multi-knob switch control system was made to improve the equipment automation and reduce the intensity of labor operations, which could make the machine operations controlled manually and automatically. The working processes of soil drilling, gas explosion subsoiling, liquid fertilizer injection and drill pipe rebound were completed in a key operation. Then a 3D (three-dimensional) model of the whole machine was established using Solid Works software. On this basis, the machine prototype was produced. Afterwards, field experiments were carried out, and the results showed that soil fractures were created by gas explosion. Under the condition of 0.8 MPa gas pressure and 300 mm drilling depth, the maximum breadth of fractures was about 3–4 mm and the extension perturbation radius of fractures about 400 mm. In addition, the soil perturbation happened after gas explosion, and the soil perturbation coefficient was 50.11%, which was calculated by the gas-splitting soil fracture extension model of Murdoch LC. What’s more, the liquid fertilizer was sprayed in deep soil with no stoppage and diffused uniformly in the role of a high-pressure pump. This new designed machine abandoned the traditional operation mode of first ditching, then fertilization, and finally soil covering, while adopted the new operation mode of gas explosion subsoiling and fertilizer injection. Therefore, the tree roots were not easily damaged and the fertilizer was evenly distributed, which was conducive to the nutrient absorption of root
s in growth. The work efficiency was 0.048 hm
2/h at least. What’s more, with simple operation and stable performance, the new designed machine can meet the agronomic requirements of orchard, garden, and city greening fertilization.
