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ThesisItem Open Access Characteristics of no sand pervious concrete containing plasticizer(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Karan Pratap Singh; Jaspal SinghHigh strength concrete plays an important role in development of urbanization. Due to impermeable concrete pavements, water cannot percolate to the ground water table. Hence, in this study we emphasized on pervious concrete pavements as an alternate to the situation. In present study, no sand pervious concrete was casted using plasticizer with aggregates of different sizes ranging from 4.75mm to20mm.Compressive strength, density, permeability, workability, void ratio and porosity of mixes were study and analyzed on 14, 28 and 56 days of curing. Workability of most of the mixes ranges from low to medium. Compressive strength of all the mixes ranges from 5.41 N mm-2 to19.92 N mm-2. Void ratio of all the mixes was very high ranges from 0.089 to 0.380. Porosity of all the mixes comes out to be very high as void ratio is high, ranges from 8.9% to27.5%. Density of pervious concrete is low as compared to normal concrete due to high porosity. The average density of all mixes is calculated as 2064.92 kg/m3. The density of all mixes is in the range 1917.04 to 2133.33 kg/m3. Concrete with high permeability can be made as permeability of all the mixes ranges between 0.31to 15.76 m/hr. Mix with aggregate proportion of 33.3% each and plasticizer at 0.5% is one of the good mix with good permeability and adequate strength. Therefore, pervious concrete can be applied to both pavements and footpaths where less strength of concrete is required.ThesisItem Restricted Design, development and performance evaluation of solar assisted mechanical tray dryer for chillies(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Arora, Sakshi; Mittal, T.C.The present study was conducted with an objective to design and develop a solar assisted mechanical tray dryer to dry red chillies that uses solar energy during sunshine hours and backup energy during non-sunshine hours to dry the product continuously. The developed dryer consists of 20 tube (1800 mm long)- evacuated tube type solar collector, 4 U-type finned electrical heaters (1kW) and an AC motor (1HP) and blower assembly to provide the required air flow rate. The performance evaluation of designed dryer was done for drying red chilli (CH-27) and compared with sun drying, improved sun drying and mechanical drying. Chillies were given physical pretreatment i.e. chopping; drying kinetics of whole and chopped chillies were studied at 2.5, 5 and 7.5 kg/m2 loading density by sun drying, improved sun drying and mechanical drying technique. The quality parameters included colour, ascorbic acid, capsaicin and colouring matter. Solar assisted mechanical dryer took the minimum time i.e. 54.5 hours to dry whole chillies at 7.5kg/m2 loading density followed by mechanical drying (62 hours), sun drying and improved sun drying both of which took nearly 15 days; accompanied by the lowest final moisture content for both whole (5.20 ± 3.47%) and chopped samples (3.97 ± 1.13%). The quality of the product dried using the developed dryer was found comparable to mechanical drying. 33.69 ± 1.36% saving in energy consumption was observed when solar + electrical mode of designed dryer was used as compared to only electrical heater mode.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 Open Access Engineering characterization of kinnow and tomato for grading using image processing(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Sandhya; Mahesh KumarThe present study was undertaken for characterization of kinnow and tomato based on engineering parameters using digital image processing. The images of kinnow and tomato of different grades were acquired using a digital camera. An algorithm using MATLAB was developed to quantify and process these digital images. The geometric parameters such as axial dimensions, mass, volume, density, sphericity, aspect ratio and ellipsoid ratio were recorded. The size of kinnow varied between 62.50-87.41 mm while tomato had size varying from 30.00-77.62 mm. Results of image analysis showed variation of major axis length from 1597.21 pixels to 1987.1 pixels for kinnow. The bulk density was found to be maximum (0.40 g/cc) for kinnow having size 72-74mm whereas it was highest (0.26 g/cc) for tomato of size 57-66mm. The sphericity varied in the range of 0.92-0.94 for kinnow while tomatoes of variety Punjab Chhuhara were found to be oblong. The results obtained by digital image analysis were compared and verified with the experimental observation recorded by vernier caliper. The volume computed from the images of longitudinal view and lateral view of kinnow and tomato of all the grades showed good correlation with the true volume measured by water displacement method. The Bland-Altman approach was used to plot the agreement between the values measured by both the methods and differences between two methods were normally distributed and were estimated to lie between M - 1.96SD and M + 1.96SD, known as 95% limits of agreement. The paired samples t-test results showed that parameters determined with image processing method was not significantly (P>0.05) different from the same parameters measured with vernier caliper. A linear relationship between mass of the kinnow and tomato and the projected area, volume and axial dimensions was also developed for prediction of mass using image processing.ThesisItem Open Access Assessment of groundwater vulnerability of Amritsar district using GIS based DRASTIC model(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Sandeep Kaur; Khullar, N. K.Groundwater contamination is of particular concern as groundwater is the principal source of water for irrigation, drinking and industrial activities. The present study investigated the groundwater vulnerability of Amritsar district (Punjab) by using the GIS based DRASTIC model. This model uses seven hydrogeological parameters viz. depth to water table, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, impact of vadose zone and hydraulic conductivity. Layers for all these parameters were created in ArcGIS. Groundwater vulnerability index was computed within ArcGIS and it varies between 129 and 175. The results of the analysis showed that about 57.91% study area lies in the low vulnerable zone with vulnerability index ranges between 129 and 145, 40.46% area lies in the moderately vulnerable zone with vulnerability index ranging between 145 and 160 and 1.63% area is the high vulnerable zone with vulnerability index range between 160 and 175. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out to evaluate the impact of each DRASTIC parameter on groundwater vulnerability index. Two methods were used namely single parameter sensitivity analysis and map removal sensitivity analysis. Single parameter sensitivity indicated that depth to water table, net recharge, topography and hydraulic conductivity layers are most significant hydrogeological parameters for the assessment of groundwater vulnerability of the study area. Map removal sensitivity analysis indicates that vulnerability index is highly sensitive to the depth to water table layer, topography and soil layers but it is least sensitive to aquifer media layer. The study will be helpful for land use planning.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of abandoned wells for groundwater recharge(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Palwinder Singh; Aggarwal, RajanThe Punjab State is facing continuous problem of declining groundwater table for last 2-3 decades. Wells which were used for withdrawal of water earlier have dried up and become abandoned. During rainy season and winter season irrigation water requirement through canal water reduces sharply. So, farmer can use surplus canal water for recharging groundwater. In the present study recharge rate and its impact under different conditions were studied for recharging groundwater through abandoned well. The recharge rate through abandoned well varies from 0.2 l/s to 7.67 l/s for different heads. The recharging of surplus canal water will improve overall quality of groundwater. Salinity and sodicity of groundwater decrease due to recharging of surplus canal water. Recharging abandoned well with gravel pack will improved overall capacity and life of abandoned well. There was negligible effect on rise in water table as limited volume of water for limited time was recharged.ThesisItem Restricted Classification of Damaged Crops using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Randhawa, Prabhjot Kaur; Singh, J.P.Crop damage is a serious problem which perilously affect the agriculture production and the livelihood of farmers and nation as a whole. In the present study, two villages namely; Bagga kalan, Nurpur Bet and Sarmastpur, Bal from each Ludhiana and Jalandhar district respectively, were selected for classifying and quantifying the crop area under damage using remote sensing (RS) and GIS technique. WV-2 and LISS-3 data were used for digitizing cadastral map under each village and classifying the villages under various classes. Confusion matrix were tabulated under each village for computing accuracy assessment for ground truthing and classified values. There were no losses in all the villages of Ludhiana and Jalandhar district. Therefore damaged was induced into each of the village. The study revealed that the affected area under damage were found to be 26.48 ha, 30.01 ha, 10.10 ha and 45.84 ha for villages Bagga kalan, Nurpur Bet, Sarmastpur and Bal respectively. A case was carried out to identify damaged wheat crop on satellite imagery. Lohgarh village of Sirsa district, Haryana was chosen in which damage wheat crop was found to be 127.62 ha due to inundation.ThesisItem Restricted Simulation of Water and Nitrogen Movement under Drip irrigated Okra Crop(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2017) Krittika; Jain, A. K.In Indian agriculture optimum and efficient use of water and fertilizer are of great significance to enhance crop productivity. A field experiment was conducted at the research farm of department of Soil and Water Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana during March – July 2015, to determine optimum irrigation level and fertilizer dose. Simulation of water and nitrogen movement was also done using numerical model Hydrus – 2D. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three fertigation treatments i.e. 60% of recommended dose of fertilizer (F1), 80% of recommended dose of fertilizer (F2) and 100% of recommended dose of fertilizer (F3) in main plots. Three irrigation levels based on crop evapotranspiration i.e. 0.6 Etc (I1), 0.8 Etc (I2) and 1.0 Etc (I3) with three replications. Okra yield was maximum in I2F2 treatment (211.6 q ha-1) with an increased yield of 27.01% over traditional method. Statistical analysis revealed that there was significant effect of irrigation and fertilizer treatment and its combination on yield but the effect was not significant on plant height and plant population. The observed values of moisture content and nitrogen were simulated using Hydrus – 2D model. During calibration of moisture as well as nitrogen, the parameter Ks (saturated hydraulic conductivity) and n (fitting parameter) were found to be most sensitive in respect to the model output. The validation of model was done by comparing observed and modeled values of soil moisture and nitrogen at different depths. The average relative error during the validation of moisture content was 5% and for nitrogen was 5.66%. The model performance in simulating soil moisture and nitrogen was evaluated by comparing observed and simulated values using four parameters namely relative error, root mean square error, correlation coefficient and model efficiency. The modeled values of moisture content and available nitrogen were in good agreement with the observed values.