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ThesisItem Open Access Development of Relationships between Spectral Reflectance Data and Selected Biotic-abiotic Stresses in Cotton Crop(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Soni, Rishabh; Singh, S.K.The present study was conducted to develop the relationships between spectral reflectance data and biotic-abiotic stresses in cotton crop. Four levels of urea application with rate of 225, 275, 325 and 375 kg ha-1 were applied in experimental plots. Row to row spacing for cotton crop were kept as 67.5 and 80 cm for the experiment. All the plots for the experimental field were georeferenced using GPS device. Data was collected at various growth stages of cotton crop using drone mounted cameras and Green Seeker for computation of variations in NDVI at different nitrogen levels. NDVI obtained from different sensors were increasing from vegetative stage (Mean NDVI = 0.454) till bud formation stage (mean NDVI = 0.7089) and decreased at boll opening stage (mean NDVI = 0.5232) till maturity stage (mean NDVI = 0.1432) of cotton crop. It was evident from the regression analysis that NDVI values obtained from NIR+R camera and Green Seeker had a good relationship having R2 = 0.74. Study also revealed that when mean insect population varied from 7.18 to 23.027 mean NDVI values obtained from NIR+ R camera after image processing varied in the range of 0.477 to 0.5441 and mean NDVI obtained from Green Seeker varied from 0.801 to 0.831. It was also found from the spatial maps and drone imagery that part of crop having more vigour, NDVI values in the vegetative stage was most affected by whitefly attack.ThesisItem Restricted Development and evaluation of direct paddy seeder in puddled field(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Manoj Kumar; Dogra, RituPresent research was conducted to evaluate and develop a direct paddy seeder with use of pregerminated paddy seeds. For this three different metering mechanism were selected based on results of different studies performed on paddy sowing. An assembly of these three metering mechanism viz. fluted roller (containing 10 no of flutes on a 5 cm diameter shaft), cell type (10 cells grooved around a circular plate having 13 cm diameter), inclined plate (24 U shaped cells provided on an 18cm diameter plate) was developed and tested under laboratory condition. In the lab testing the metering mechanism assembly was tested for missing index (%), multiple index (%) and seed damage (%). The assembly was tested at three different forward speed viz; 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 kmh-1 and three pregermination level of seeds viz; 24 hour soaked, 24 hour pregerminated and 36 hour pregerminated paddy seeds. On the basis of data analysis from lab study best suitable set for direct seeding of pregerminated seed in puddled feed was found to be inclined plate metering mechanism operating at 2.5 kmh-1 for 24 hour pre-germinated seeds. Keeping in mind the above suitable set for direct seeding a self-propelled 8 row direct paddy seeding planter was developed and fabricated with recommended row to row and hill to hill spacing. For field evaluation of planter hill to hill spacing, no of plants per square meter and germination count were measured for two different soil (ST1 and ST2) and taking two different hopper fill level as ½ filled hopper(F1) and ¾ filled hopper(F2).ThesisItem Restricted Refinement and evaluation of sugarcane trench planter to suit local conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Mohit Kumar; Dogra, BaldevTrench planting of sugarcane is being popularized by PAU as it gives better net returns, requires less water and management to avoid cane lodging is easy. At present, trench planting is practiced by making trenches using tractor operated trencher and remaining operations are done manually involving 200-250 man-h/ha. To reduce labour requirements, no such machine is being utilized by farmers in Punjab for planting sugarcane in trenches. There is shortage of labour Therefore, a sugarcane trench planter, which was commercially available in Uttar Pradesh, was modified according to suit local condition of Punjab to bridge this mechanization gap and thereby increasing the level of mechanization in Punjab. The preliminary evaluation of sugarcane trench planter was carried out at three different cutting rollers peripheral speeds (0.93 m/s, 0.81 m/s and 0.69m/s) and three forward speeds (2.26 km/h, 2.6 km/h and 3.0 km/h) on three varieties of cane (Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85). Thereafter, the field evaluation of modified sugarcane trench planter was carried out by selecting one cutting rollers peripheral speed 0.69 m/s and two forward speeds (2.26 km/h and 3 km/h) on same three varieties of cane (Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85). The selected dependent variables were cane length, cane diameter, set length, bud damage, set damage, number of set cut, overlap/ gap and germination count. The observed data was statistically analyzed by using statistical software ´SPSS`. The average cane length observed during field evaluation in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 212.33, 193.80 and 173.68 cm respectively. The average cane diameter observed during field evaluation in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 2.65, 2.35 and 2.73 cm respectively. Set length increased with the decrease in diameter of cane and cutting roller peripheral speed. Bud damage increased with the increase in cutting roller peripheral speed. Bud damage in variety Co118 was higher due to relatively more toughness of cane. Number of set cut increased with the increase in cane length and decrease in set length. Average overlapping decreased with the increase in forward speed. Practically no set damage was observed. Germination percentage on left side of trench observed in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 50.71%, 43.00% and 48.50% respectively, whereas, on right side of trench observed was 48.11%, 38.68% and 43.15% respectively. Germination of cane observed by machine planting was more than the conventional planting. There was 20 to 30% reduction in cost of planting and 55 to 60% reduction in labour cost as compared to conventional method.ThesisItem Open Access Development and evaluation of an engine operated walk type drop down sprayer for cotton crop(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Dhaliwal, Ranjot Singh; Narang, M.K.An engine operated walk type drop down sprayer was developed for spraying on cotton crop. The developed sprayer had eight nozzles. Boom was developed in T-shape. Six nozzles were attached on vertical part of the boom with three nozzles spraying in left horizontal direction and other three spraying in right horizontal direction. The boom was mounted on a wheel hand vehicle. Nozzle selected for the sprayer was tested under laboratory conditions under different fluid flow pressures (7.5, 10 and 12.5 kg/cm2). The spray width, spray angle and discharge rate of the nozzle were noted. The discharge rate increased from 611.47 ml/min to 829.53 ml/min; Spray angle increased from 75.7 to 83.0 degrees and swath width varied from 85.1 to 99.8 cm with increase in pressure from 7.5 to 12.5 kg/cm2. The sprayer was evaluated in the field at 10 kg/cm2 for three different forward speeds (1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h) and three different plant height of cotton crop (1.0, 1.3 and 1.75 m) at Research Farm of the Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana The spot size, area covered, droplet density and field capacity were recorded and analyzed. The droplet density varied from 185.67 to 386 drops/cm2 for 1.5 km/h and at forward speed of 2.5 km/h, the droplet density varied from 53.33 to 286 drops/cm2. The maximum field capacity was found to be 0.16 ha/h at forward speed of 2.5 km/h and at plant height of 1.0 m. The bioefficacy of the developed sprayer was also evaluated at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Goneana and at farmer’s fields in village Goneana, district Shri Muktsar Sahib at three levels of forward speed of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h and at three heights of crop i.e. 1.0, 1.3 and 1.75 m and compared with the knapsack sprayer. The population of whitefly was recorded before spray and after three, seven and ten days of spray. The maximum percentage reduction over control was found at forward speed of 2.0 km/h and at plant height of 1.0 and 1.3 m.ThesisItem Restricted Development and evaluation of metering mechanism of tractor operated maize planter(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Inderpal Singh; Dixit, AnoopMaize (Zea mays L) is the important cereal crop grown throughout the country. Mechanical planting of maize can help in saving of labour and time. Seeding with conventional practices results in the non-uniform plant population which adversely affect the yield. Three varieties of maize seed namely PMH-1, PMH-10 and PIONEER-3396 which are sown on large area in country where select to develop a metering mechanism of maize planter. Physical properties of seed of three verities, which were important from engineering point of view, were studied to fabricate cell size of metering plate. Three plates having different shape and size of cells were fabricated. Performance was evaluated on the basis of average seed spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality feed index and seed rate. Performance evaluation of developed seed metering plates (P1, P2 and P3) was conducted at three angle of inclinations (45º, 50º and 55º) and four forward speeds (2, 3, 4 and 5 km/h) to find optimum combination of those operating and machine parameter for better performance of planting based on average spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality in feed index and seed rate. The quality of feed index was found higher at combination of P1 ϴ2 S2 for seed all three varieties (PMH-1, PMH-10 and PIONEER-3396) respectively. The performance of the machine was found better in average seed spacing, multiple index, missing index, quality in feed index and seed rate than conventional inclined plate planter due to lower height of seed drop and proper placement and pressing of seed by independent press wheels.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of respirable dust filtering materials for agricultural field operations(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Narjeet Singh; Khurana, RohinishIndian economy is heavily dependent on agriculture. Most of the agriculture operations had been mechanized. Mechanization leads to dust generation especially during tillage, harvesting and threshing operations. Prolonged exposure to dust is harmful for the agricultural farm workers. A study was conducted to identify agricultural field operations requiring intervention of personal protection from respirable dust as health hazard. Protective measures available were evaluated during the study. Observations were made to measure the density of three different particle sizes i.e. 1µ, 2.5µ and 10µ of the dust generated during tillage, harvesting and threshing operations using dust monitor. The selected implements were cultivator, disc harrow, rotavator, planker, laser leveler, thresher and combine harvester. Mean values of dust density across all operations were found to be within permissible limit of 5.0 mg/m3 as defined by OSHA. Four most dust generating operations were identified as disc harrow, rotavator, combine and thresher with mean dust density values 2.501, 2.600, 3.404 and 3.167 mg/m3. Fifteen different filtering elements were evaluated for their dust filtering performance during the selected operations. Mean values of dust density for all filter elements during the selected operations varied between 0.175 and 0.505 mg/m3. The overall mean dust filtering efficiency value for all the filter elements varied between 76.4 to 96.1%. Cloth type filter elements with three layers were found to be most efficient out of all the filter elements. Cloth 1(68% polyester and 32% cotton fabric) type having three layers was most efficient with 96.1 % filtering efficiency.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of soil compaction as affected by different tillage practices(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Abhishek Kumar; Saimbhi, Varinder SinghA study for evaluating the soil compaction caused by different tillage practices was undertaken. The independent parameters for the study were two soil types (sandy loam, S1 and silty loam, S2), six different tillage practices (conventional tillage practice as P1, P2, rotavator practices as P3, P4 and spading machine as P5, P6), two forward velocity ranges (V1 and V2) and two operation depth ranges (D1 and D2). Replicated (three) trials in factorial in RBD were adopted for the study. Soil bulk density and cone index values were taken at selected sampling depths for determining the initial soil compaction i.e before tillage treatments. Effect of irrigation on soil compaction was also noted at optimum moisture level after irrigation but before tillage treatments. Cone indices of both types of soils were found lesser, after irrigation, than that of before irrigation conditions. Bulk density of soil S1 was higher after irrigation, whereas of soil S2, it was lower than that of before irrigation, before tillage conditions. Cone indices in both types of soils were observed lesser than that of initial compaction, in top 10 cm of soil, after different tillage treatments. Cone indices, at sub-soil depths (at 15 cm and beyond) of both soil types, in P3, P4, P5 and P6 tillage practices were found to be comparatively more that of initial soil compaction for most of the treatments. Bulk density was observed lower than that of initial soil compaction for all the treatments in both soil types. Mean weight diameter of soil clods formed were minimum whereas fuel consumption (l/h) values were maximum in case of rotavator among all the treatment values.ThesisItem Restricted STUDIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF C.I. ENGINE USING ETHYL ESTER AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL(PAU Ludhiana, 2011) Rajneesh Kumar; Anoop Kumar, DixitThe agriculture sector of the country is mainly dependent on diesel for its motive power and to a large extent for power applications. Increased farm mechanization in agriculture, further increases requirement of this depleting fuel source. To overcome the problems associated with the use of petroleum derived fuels, it becomes necessary to develop alternative fuels with properties comparable to petroleum based fuels. Among the alternative fuels, biodiesel fuel has received much attention in recent years for use in diesel engines and could be one alternative in the country to reduce petroleum diesel import. Research has been done in the country using methanol. But, methanol is toxic in nature. Ethanol is derived from biomass. Ethyl ester derived from plant oils by using ethanol brings extra carbon atoms through ethanol molecule which slightly increases the heat content and the cetane number. Ethyl esters have lower cloud and pour points than the methyl esters. This fact improves the cold start of engine. Jatropha plant oil is non edible oil so it was selected for preparation of ethyl ester. The available Jatropha oil had high free fatty acid therefore, a twostep transesterification process was used to prepare ester for the study. Fuel characteristics of different blends of ethyl ester and diesel were determined in terms of kinematic viscosity (cS), gross heating value (MJ/kg), density (g/cm3), flash point (ºC), cloud point (ºC) and pour point (ºC) and were compared with that of pure diesel fuel. Thereafter, five blends of ester and diesel were used as fuel at four levels of loads i.e. 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% of the rated load for engine performance study at two different compression ratio (16.5:1 and 18.5:1) and compare the results with the results obtained in case of diesel fuel. Maximum recovery of ester was obtained by pretreating the oil with 5% H2SO4 and 20% ethanol and then its transesterification using 30% ethanol and 3% KOH. Kinematic viscosity (cS), density (g/cm3), flash point (ºC), cloud point (ºC) and pour point (ºC) of all blends of ethyl esters (B10, B20, B30 and B40) were higher than that of diesel and gross heating values (MJ/kg) of all biodiesel blends were less as compared to diesel. Nitric oxide (NOx) emissions in case of all biodiesel blends were more as compared to diesel. NOx concentration in exhaust gases was increased with increase of ester in blends and also increased with increase in compression ratio. Carbon monoxide (CO) emission for all biodiesel blends was less as compared to diesel. CO concentration in exhaust gases was decreased with increase in percentage of ester in the blend and also decreased with increase in compression ratio. Brake thermal efficiency for all biodiesel blends was more as compared to diesel. Brake thermal efficiency increased with increase in load and also increased with increase in compression ratio. Brake specific fuel consumption in case of blends was more as compared to diesel. Brake specific fuel consumption decreased with increase in load as well as with increase in compression ratio.ThesisItem Restricted Ergonomic evaluation of walk behind type self propelled paddy transplanter(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Goyal, Gagandeep; Chhuneja, N. K.The self propelled walk behind type paddy transplanters are gaining popularity as they require comparatively lesser initial investment and are easy to operate and maintain as compared to riding type. The ergonomic aspects of walk behind paddy transplanter are of great importance as the operator has to walk behind the machine for a distance of about 10-20 km for 8-hours a day and that also under puddled field conditions. Besides walking in field, stress due to mechanical vibrations, human workload, noise, etc. also affect performance of the operator. The research was planned to study the effect of operational parameters of walk behind self propelled paddy transplanter on physiological parameters, noise, vibrations and work-rest schedule. Hand-arm vibrations were the maximum along x-axis (vertical) and the minimum along y-axis (lateral). Soil type had non-significant effect on vibrations acceleration. However, vibrations increased with increase in forward speed of the paddy transplanter. The mean values of vibrations total value varied from 8.6 to 14.0 m/s2 among all the treatments. The equivalent 8-hours vibrations exposure was found to be ranging between 7.4 and 12.0 m/s2, which was very much higher than the limiting value of 2.8 m/s2 for safe operation of machine. The mean values of sound pressure level varied from 74.0 to 85.7 dB(A) among all the treatments. The mean values of oxygen consumption varied between 607.6 and 1052.6 ml/min with corresponding relative load between 18.1 and 37.3% among all the treatments. The mean values of energy expenditure rate varied between 12.7 and 22.0 kJ/min. The physiological workload was found to be in the category of light work at 1.3 and 1.8 km/h of forward speed of paddy transplanter; but, as moderate work at a forward speed of 2.3 km/h. The physiological responses viz. heart rate, volume of oxygen consumption, discomfort ratings and noise were within the desired limits at the maximum available forward speed of 2.3 km/h of the machine, which also gives the maximum possible field capacity. At this forward speed, a work schedule of about 45 minutes of operating the paddy transplanter followed by a rest of about 15 minutes is desired, which can be easily achieved if the two workers interchange their work after every 45 minutes.