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ThesisItem Open Access Development and quality evaluation of thermally processed jackfruit (artocarpus heterophyllus L.)(Department of Post Harvest Technology and Agricultural Processing, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,Tavanur, 2012) Pritty S, Babu; KAU; Sudheer, K PThesisItem Open Access Design and development of tensio-emitter(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and technology, Tavanur, 2012) Jishitha, Ravindran; KAU; Vishnu, BTimely application of precise amounts of irrigation water increases crop yield due to the decreased moisture stress to plants. Automatic application of irrigation water ensures timely and precise water application, reduces labour cost and prevents water loss and nutrient leaching. Automatic irrigation usually involves sophisticated and expensive instrumentation requiring external power. An irrigation control system that utilizes only the moisture tension to directly control the water application, without using any external power source is desirable for its simplicity and usability in remote areas. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a simple and cost effective irrigation controller working on the basis of soil moisture tension without any external power source. A Tensio-Emitter was developed after evaluating several designs suitable for the same. The developed Tensio-Emitter consists of a porous cup fixed on a stem and an emitter cum valve assembly. The porous cup acts as a sensor which equilibrates the tension inside the stem to that of the surrounding soil. The emitter cum valve assembly consists of a bottom part to be fixed on the stem containing the porous cup, a flexible diaphragm, a conical part to be attached to the diaphragm and a top part which has as the water inlet and outlet. The dimensions of the emitter cum valve assembly was determined based on the size of the available porous cup, the soil moisture tension available at MAD and the deflection of the diaphragm at the tension corresponding to MAD. The Tensio-Emitter is calibrated by adjusting the conical part such that water flow through the emitter starts when the soil becomes dry and stops when the soil reaches field capacity moisture content. Tensio-Emitter – a simple and cost effective irrigation controller cum emitter which is activated by soil moisture tension - was successfully developed, fabricated and calibrated for use in potted plants. The ability of the developed Tensio-Emitter to automatically control the irrigation according to the soil moisture level was evaluated to be good.ThesisItem Open Access Development and testing of a continuous power operated coconut husker(Department of Farm power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2012) Anu S, Chandran; KAU; Jayan, P RA continuous power operated coconut husking machine for large scale husking of coconuts was developed, tested and its performance evaluated. The major parts are feeding chute, a husking unit, a husk separating unit and power transmission unit. The coconut fed at the feeding chute and in the clearance between the inlet and the drum is slightly compressed and forced to execute rolling or revolutions. In the process, the blade penetrates the husk and punctures it along different planes. The shear force exerted upon the coconut by the blades of the rotating drum and the concave cause to rip open the husk along different planes. The full coconuts with punctured and softened husk fall into the husk separating unit which consists of two knurling rollers. There the softened and punctured husk is separated and the nut emerges at the outlet. The prime mover used is a 3 φ squirrel cage induction motor of 2.2 kW. This rotation is bifurcated to rotate the husking unit and to the separating unit. A speed reduction unit with gear ratio of 30:1 is used to reduce the motor speed from 1440 rpm to 48 rpm. The speed of the motor is also bypassed to the knurling rollers by means of chain drive, by which the speed is reduced from 1440 to 160 rpm through chain and sprockets units. All components are fixed on the frame. The studies show that the minimum and maximum time required for complete husking of a green coconut were 6 s and 22 s and that for a dry coconut was 3 s and 15 s respectively. Thus the mean time required for complete husking of green coconut is 11.6 s and that of dry coconut is 9.5 s. The average capacity of continuous power operated coconut husking machine is much better and found out as 356 nuts per hour compared to the manual method and by husking by commercial model. Also the efficiency, the percentage of nut breaking and the average energy requirement was 82.79 %, 3.83 % and 0.7365 W respectively. The total operating cost of continuous power operated coconut husking machine is Rs. 95.374 per hour and the cost of husking per nut is about Rs. 0.267. Considering its performances, the mechanism developed in this study is promising.ThesisItem Open Access Development and testing of tractor operated bed former for seed bed preparation in Kaipad region(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,Tavanur, 2012) Rajesh, A N; KAU; Jayan, P RPaddy cultivation in Kerala is mainly done in dry and wet lands. Kuttanadu, pokkali, Kole and Kaipad lands are mainly lying below sea level and needs much attention especially during bund preparation and nursery raising periods. Kaipad is a land lay in Kannur district of the state extending to an area of 600 ha. It is under the tidal effects of sea water carrying severe salinity and high pH. Paddy cultivation in this region is made on seed beds of about 45 cm height to bring down the salinity and acidity of the soil through leaching. However, manual method of mound making is very laborious intensive and has become a deterrent for the farmers to continue rice farming. Keeping this in view, a tractor operated Kaipad bed former was developed to prepare the seed beds and field tested. Also the cost of operation was compared with the conventional and tractor operated ridger. The height of the seed beds was dependent upon the angle of the plough bottom, speed and depth of operation. To optimize these three factors, tests were conducted under dynamic condition in a test plot. The height of the seed bed was observed to be the maximum at 40 degrees of the plough bottom. The maximum height of bed was formed at a speed of 2.0 km hˉ¹ and depth of 20 cm. To reduce the draft of the implement the speed was set at 1.5 km hˉ¹ and depth of operation at 15 cm. The field performance of the bed former based on the optimized machine parameters, the Kaipad bed former was evaluated and compared with the tractor operated ridger and conventional method. The average height and top width of the seed bed obtained with the Kaipad bed former and ridger were 34.7 cm, 18.4 cm and 29.4 cm and 23.2 cm respectively. The minimum draft required for the Kaipad bed former and tractor operated ridger was 402.6 kgf and 398.6 kgf and draw bar power was 8.03 hp and 7.8 hp respectively. The fuel consumption with the tractor operated Kaipad bed former was found as 6.8 l hˉ¹; while it was 6.6 l hˉ¹ with the tractor operated ridger. Field efficiency of the Kaipad bed former was 73.9 percent compared to 70.5 percent for the tractor operated ridger. Wheel slippage was found out as 19.79 percent for Kaipad bed former and 17.7 percentages for tractor operated ridger. With the tractor operated Kaipad bed former, the soil acidity and salinity could be reduced from a pH value of 5.7 to 6.5 and 15.7 mmhos cmˉ¹ to 2.1 mmhos cmˉ¹. Yield obtained from the plots operated with conventional method, tractor operated ridger and Kaipad bed former was respectively 2625 kg haˉ¹, 2766 kg haˉ¹ and 2800 kg haˉ¹. Total cost of operation for mound making by conventional method and tractor operated bed former are respectively Rs.12000 and Rs. 2480. The cost of the tractor operated Kaipad bed former is Rs. 18875.ThesisItem Open Access Investigations on clamping and climbing mechanisms for the design of semi autonomous areca palm climber(Department of Farm power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Supritha; KAU; Shivaji, K PThesisItem Open Access Coastal erosion study of Ponnani region using multispectral images(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2015) Sheeja, P S; KAU; Vishnu, BA study of coastal erosion along the Ponnani coast using multispectral imageries and GIS was undertaken to assess the temporal changes in coastal erosion, its extent, magnitude and trends in the region under study. The study also aimed to evaluate the impact of the existing coastal erosion control structures with a view to assess its efficacy and to identify priority areas for coastal erosion prevention along the study area. The study utilized medium resolution LANDSAT imageries for the mapping and monitoring of the coastline erosion. The digital image processing software used for calculating the erosion rate was TNTmips 2014 professional version (Map and Image Processing System - MIPS) by MicroImages, Inc. The study revealed the usability of multispectral satellite imageries like that obtained from LANDSAT, IRS etc. satellites in assessing the temporal changes along the coastline by the combined application of remote sensing and GIS techniques. Both long-term and short-term erosion assessment showed that many places along the Ponnani shoreline are under severe erosion. Short-term erosion assessment revealed that many places were having coastal erosion rates more than -4 m/year. The impact of these shoreline protection structures and coastal processes on erosion process was also taken in to account in this study. The study revealed that Ponnani is an actively eroding coast with fluctuating erosion rates. The erosion rates were found to be high with a rate more than -4 m/year for about 35 km of the coastline considered. The areas with accelerated erosion along the coast of Ponnani need sustainable management and protective measures. The coastal erosion study using remote sensing and GIS techniques provided realistic information about the erosion process along Ponnani area and this method can be successfully used for mapping and monitoring coastal changes.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of microclimate on the performance of salad cucumber under naturally ventilated polyhouse(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2014) Preenu, N P; KAU; Levan, K VA study was conducted to determine the effect of microclimate on the plant growth characteristics and fruit yield of salad cucumber grown in a naturally ventilated polyhouse at PDFC, KCAET, Tavanur, Kerela. The crop water requirement of the salad cucumber was determined using the irrigation management and planning model CROPWAT. The calculated total evapotranspiration during the crop period was 264.6 mm. The daily crop water requirement of salad cucumber obtained was 2.84 mm. The microclimate change in a naturally ventilated polyhouse was also evaluated. The results were then discussed with respect to yield of salad cucumber. It was seen that the most suitable temperature range for the optimum crop production is 22 to 33oC and most suitable relative humidity range was 80 to 95%. The irrigation trial was carried out with four levels of irrigation viz. 50, 65, 80 and 95% of daily irrigation requirement. Under the same fertilizer amount, the highest yield was obtained for the treatment with 65% of daily irrigation requirement and the lowest yield was obtained with 50%. This may be due to the reason that plants suffer due to water deficit by limited application of water. Irrigation amount significantly affected irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). It ranged from 150 kg/ha-mm to 359 kg/ha-mm. In the fertigation trial, the treatment which applied 100% of fertilizer requirement increased the yield significantly compared to 80, 90 and 110% under the same amount of irrigation. The fruit characteristics and quality did not vary significantly with respect to irrigation and fertigation levels.ThesisItem Open Access Design and evaluation of a horizontal filter unit for ground water recharge through abandoned tube well(Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2016) Jomol, T Joseph; KAU; Rema, K PThe groundwater table is declining at an alarming rate and it is essential to replenish the dried out aquifers by adopting proper artificial recharge methods. Field experiment on the design and evaluation of a horizontal filter unit for groundwater recharge through abandoned tube well was conducted in the research field of Nodal Water Technology Centre, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. The specific objectives of the study were to design and develop a horizontal filter unit with alternate filter media for treating storm water runoff, and to evaluate the developed filter for hydraulic and pollutant removal efficiencies. Suitability of the tube well for recharging and availability of adequate amount of source water were analysed in the primary stages of study. The peak runoff expected from the area was computed and compared with the carrying capacity of the existing conveyance channel. Thus the existing channel was modified and a masonry structure with a filter unit for treating runoff and a recharging section was constructed. The filter unit had five compartments filled with Gravel, Sand, Charcoal, Synthetic fibre and Coir fibre combinations as treatments, T1: Gravel, Sand, Coir fibre, Gravel; T2: Gravel, Sand, Synthetic fibre, Gravel; T3: Gravel, Charcoal, Sand and Gravel. Three sets of length variation in three different media combinations were selected as factors, F1: 80 cm, 80 cm, 80 cm, 80 cm; F2: 80 cm, 100 cm, 60 cm, 80 cm; F3: 80 cm, 60 cm, 100 cm, 80 cm Inflow and outflow water quality was analysed for evaluating filter hydraulic and pollutant removal efficiencies in simulated and actual runoff conditions. Treatment T1F1 was better in pH normalising efficiency, T1F2 removed Nitrate and Sulphates effectively, T1F3 was better in Total hardness and Calcium removal efficiency, T2F1 performed well for Magnesium and Chloride removal efficiencies. Treatments T2F2 and T3F3 were effective for EC, TDS, Salinity, TSS, Turbidity, Acidity, Fluoride, Alkalinity, Iron removal and Hydraulic efficiencies. 135 The Gravel (80 cm), Charcoal (100 cm), Sand (60 cm) and Gravel (80 cm) combination was selected as best filter media combination and it was installed in the field for recharging. With an average annual rainfall of 2795 mm in the study area, a runoff depth of 1118 mm can be expected. Accordingly a runoff volume of 2.3 million litres of water can be diverted from the study area to the recharge well annually. Comparison of this enormous benefit from the artificial recharge structure with the cost incurred is indicating the promising future of the artificial recharge schemes. If the abandoned open wells and tube wells in Kerala are utilised as recharge wells, a large quantity of water can be recharged annually and it will improve the groundwater potential of the state for future benefits.ThesisItem Open Access Investigations on the adaptability of wireless sensor networks (WSN) based technology for harvesting crops(College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Kelappaji, 2016) Ayisha, Mangat; KAU; Shivaji, K PHarvesting has been identified as one of the critical and resource consuming operation because of several reasons especially inside polyhouse structures. Knowledge of physical properties of crops and fruits like cucumber plays an important role in the design and optimization of its machinery. Evaluation of these properties like plant height, leaf numbers, leaf length, leaf width, fruit length and width were taken for observation. It was seen that, these properties had a direct impact on deciding the components of the harvester. Plant height determined the height of the harvester; leaf parameters decided the obstacle parameters in the work space. Fruit holding capacity of the cutting unit was depended on fruit parameters. By analyzing all these data and the past work in the field of robotics, a preliminary model of a harvester was fabricated. Out of the harvesters developed so far in the field of agriculture, the most simple and economical method was selected for this study. The principle of linear actuators was adapted for the design of the harvester by incorporating screw rods and DC motors. The basic components for the harvester were identified with three Degrees of Freedom. The moving unit with wheels contributes to the motion in X direction. The vertical screw thread makes the movement in Y direction and the horizontal unit gives the motion in Z direction. By studying the biometric properties of plants and crops, the height of the harvester was confined to 2 m, width of horizontal unit as 45 cm and the base platform with 45X45 cm. A control board was used for controlling the motors which causes motion for the threaded rods. Accordingly, a laboratory model was fabricated and its functionality was tested. It was found working successfully in the laboratory conditions. The current trend in high-tech agriculture is towards switching from a manual system to automatic operations. Hence, the present study is a promising technology that can be converted to a fully automatic machine with future developments.