Research in Agricultural Engineering, 2021 (vol. 67), issue 4
Using new computer based techniques to optimise energy consumption in agricultural land levellingOriginal Paper
Salim Almaliki, Nasim Monjezi
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):149-163 | DOI: 10.17221/20/2021-RAE 
Land levelling is one of the most energy-demanding steps in soil preparation. There are many limiting factors for a specific land levelling operation, such as fertile topsoil conservation, limited allowed slope, specific cut to fill ratio, etc. These limitations make optimisation problems of land levelling even more complicated. In this research, three computational and evolutionary methods including ICA, PSO, GA along with MLS were utilised as optimisation methods to minimise the soil cut and fill volumes and to determine the preferred levelling plane. The results indicated that ICA had the most efficient solution for the energy optimisation in the...
Effects of a manual harvesting device on the quality of the fermented green olives (cv. Manzanilla)Original Paper
Eddy Plasquy, Maria del Carmen Florido, Antonio Higinio Sánchez
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):164-170 | DOI: 10.17221/7/2021-RAE
In order to make harvesting table olives profitable, mechanical harvesting has become an absolute necessity. Many small Andalusian producers face structural and financial constraints in implementing the mechanisation of harvesting and, as a consequence, the fruit is still harvested manually. A manual inverted umbrella (MIU), initially designed for harvesting oil olives, was evaluated in order to determine the extent in which this device can optimise the harvesting without jeopardising the fruit quality. Simultaneously, the effects of a diluted lye treatment, applied to prevent the proliferation of brown spots caused by bruising during mechanical harvesting,...
Development of HTU-model variable chipping clearance cassava chipperOriginal Paper
Samuel Kojo Ahorsu, Hayford Ohori, Ernest Kumah, Maxwell Budu, Cephas Kwaku Bosrotsi, Joseph Aveyiri
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):171-180 | DOI: 10.17221/102/2020-RAE
The objective of this research was to design, construct and evaluate a variable chipping clearance cassava chipper for processors which will produce uniform and varying cassava chip geometry for multipurpose usage. It consists of a drive shaft with varying chipping clearances (6, 18, and 28 mm) to produce varied chip geometry. The average throughput capacity of the chipper was found to be 475.5 kg.h-1 at a speed range of 460-800 rpm with a chipping clearance of 6-28 mm. The average chipping efficiency ranges from a minimum-maximum of 76.6-99.4% for the selected operational speeds and chipping clearances. The chipping capacity and the output...
Cost analysis of manual bund shaping in paddy fields: Economical and physiologicalOriginal Paper
Ritesh Ranjan, Prabhanjan Kumar Pranav
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):181-189 | DOI: 10.17221/23/2021-RAE
Bund shaping is one of the essential operations in preparing a paddy transplanting field. This operation is undertaken manually by spades in a traditional way as this has not been mechanised thus far. Therefore, this study was conducted to expose this operation by evaluating the economic, as well as physiological, cost involved in the bund shaping. For the economic cost, the study was conducted in nine different districts of Assam (India). The bund length for the estimated area was measured and estimated for one ha of land. The average rate of manual bund shaping was also measured to calculate the cost involved in this operation. Moreover, for the...
Testing tyres of mobile forest machines in the soil testing canalOriginal Paper
Milan Helexa, Ján Kováč, Jozef Krilek
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):190-198 | DOI: 10.17221/76/2020-RAE
The article focuses on the research of tyre rolling resistances in the soil test channel environment. The specific monitored tyre was a Mitas TS05 10.0/75-15.3 10PR diagonal tyre with an arrow tread. The measurement itself was divided into two stages. In the first stage, measurements of rolling resistance were performed on a solid concrete base of the laboratory in order to determine the internal component of rolling resistance of the tyre. In the second stage, rolling resistances were monitored on forest soil deposited in the main body of the soil channel. The mentioned measurements of rolling resistance can be considered key for further evaluation...
Physical properties of a soil under a pig slurry application and organic matter activatorsOriginal Paper
Václav Novák, Petr Šařec, Kateřina Křížová
Res. Agr. Eng., 2021, 67(4):199-207 | DOI: 10.17221/84/2020-RAE
To investigate the effects of organic matter activators combined with a pig slurry on a soil's physical properties, a field experiment was carried out in a monoculture of corn (2015-2017). Three pig slurry application variants complemented with the activators in question, i.e. with PRP SOL spread directly on the soil surface (SOL), with Z'fix added to the slurry during the pig housing (ZF) and with a combination of both PRP SOL and Z'fix (ZF_SOL), were compared with just the pig slurry (C) under an equal dose of nitrogen and a uniform growing technology. According to the results, a positive effect of the penetration...