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ThesisItem Open Access Structural Stability Analysis of Naturally Ventilated Polyhouses(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Lovepreet Singh; Kaushal, ArunThe research work on structural stability analysis of naturally ventilated polyhouses was carried out at Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. There were total 12 treatments which were combination of four different sizes of polyhouses i.e. 560 m2 (T1-T3); 1008 m2 (T4-T6); 2080 m2 (T7-T9); 4000 m2 (T10-T12), with three design wind speeds 100 km/hr, 150 km/hr and 200 km/hr respectively. Truss members, columns and foundation stability analysis was carried out by considering dead loads, live loads and wind loads. Support reactions were computed on truss and column joints. Member forces were computed by using force method. The economic analysis was carried out by computing benefit cost (B/C) ratio and payback period for raising capsicum under stable structures. For every 17 set of truss members four members (two in compression (small arc) and two in tension (truss bracings)) failed in treatments with 150 and 200 km/hr wind speed while two members (in compression, (small arc)) failed in treatments with 100 km/hr wind speed. Minimum structural GI pipe material requirement for structurally stable polyhouses was under treatment T1 (2407 kg) and maximum under treatment T12 (19550 kg). The maximum benefit cost ratio was obtained in treatment T10 (1.77, 2.33) and minimum was in treatment T3 (1.36, 1.84) with no and 50% Government subsidy, respectively. The minimum payback period was obtained in treatment T10 (3.29 years, 1.26 years) and maximum in T3 (7.54 years, 2.19 years) with no and 50% subsidy, respectively. For the structurally stable naturally ventilated polyhouses as the size increases the benefit cost ratio increases, while the payback period decreases and for wind speed it is vice-versa.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of different precooling methods and storage conditions on shelf life and quality of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm. F) Nakai)(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Mahajan, Kashika; Gupta, S.K.The present investigation entitled “Effect of different precooling methods and storage conditions on shelf life and quality of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm. F) Nakai)” was conducted during the year 2021-22. Three methods of pre-cooling i.e; hydrocooling (HC), forced air cooling (FAC) and evaporative cooling (EC) were evaluated for postharvest quality of pear fruit under cold storage and ambient storage conditions. Two experiments were laid out viz (i) Optimization of precooling time of pear fruits using different precooling methods and (ii) Effect of precooling methods on storage life and quality of pear fruit under cold storage and ambient conditions. In the first experiment the data exhibited that HC took 130 minutes and FAC took 360 minutes to precool the pear fruits from 34.9oC to 5.2oC. However, the EC could not achieve the desired temperature to precool the pear fruit. In the second experiment the fruit were subjected to HC, FAC and EC treatments for requisite time period as determined in first experiment. The fruits were packed in corrugated fibre board boxes and stored in cold room (0-1⁰C temp and 90-95% RH) and at ambient conditions (28-32oC and 70-80% RH). The stored samples were evaluated periodically for various physiological and biochemical parameters. The data revealed that FAC was found to be the best precooling method to enhance the shelf life of pear fruits upto 60 days under cold storage conditions and 15 days under ambient storage conditions. The control fruits maintained the storage life upto 45 days under cold storage and 10 days under ambient conditions.ThesisItem Embargo Assessment of groundwater recharge potential of village pond using geospatial techniques(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Shinde, Ankita Prakash; Satpute, SanjayThe water table is depleting at an alarmingly fast rate of 54 cm/yr in the Punjab state. This ongoing decrease in the water table necessitates the rapid and efficient development of artificial groundwater recharge and use of available surface water sources for the groundwater recharge. Keeping this in view the study was planned to assess groundwater recharge potential of village pond using geospatial techniques. To achieve the objectives of the study, Sentinel 2 images for the month of March 2020 of Ludhiana district was used. Three spectral indices namely NDWI, MNDWI and NDPI were used to identify and demarcate the area of village ponds in each village of the district. The efficiency of these indices were compared with the manually digitized area of the village pond for the accuracy assessment. NDWI could identify about 370 village ponds, MNDWI could identify and extract about 1263 village ponds and to further extract the village ponds, NDPI was used and NDPI could extract about 1410 village ponds whereas manually about 1513 village ponds could be demarcated, Therefore, in NDPI more than 90% efficiency could be achieved for identifying the village ponds and for demarcating the village pond, NDPI efficiency was about 60-65%. The average depth of 2 m was considered for the volume estimation of the village ponds and using NDPI, the volume of 873.8 ha-m was estimated. During the field study, the infiltration rate at the undisturbed pond was found to be 41.5 cm/day and disturbed pond bottom, it was found to be 69.1 cm/day. Considering the daily infiltration rate from the pond, annually about 301.9 ha-m of water can be recharged after removal of the bottom layer. If the bottom layer is kept undisturbed, then the recharge rate of 181.3 ha-m would be achieved in village pond. After improving infiltration rate, about 65% recharge can be enhanced through village ponds over undisturbed pond bottom.ThesisItem Embargo Studies on the impact of vacuum and nitrogen flush packaging on natural ageing of basmati rice(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Aggarwal, Kanika; Mittal, Tarsem ChandThe present research was done to study the impact of vacuum and nitrogen flush packaging on natural ageing of basmati rice. Vacuum and Nitrogen flush packaging is becoming increasingly common. Vacuum packaging is considered to be beneficial for basmati rice storage as it can effectively retard the rice deterioration. Whereas, nitrogen is used as a filler gas to maintain the shape of pack by avoiding packaging collapse due to dissolving of carbon dioxide into the food product. It prevents collapse of package because it is less soluble in fat and water. So, these enable the significant extension in shelf life of product. Storage of the basmati rice in different packaging material, under different conditions, at different period of time and temperatures affects its physicochemical, cooking and textural properties. Two basmati rice varieties (Pusa Basmati 1121 and Pusa Basmati 1718) were stored in three different packaging materials using three different packaging methods for six months under ambient conditions. Packaging materials used were triple layer vacuum packaging material (Pe + Adhesive + Evoh + Adhesive + Pe) (TLM 95 gauge); low density polyethylene (LDPE 100 gauge) and laminated aluminium foil packages (APM 100 gauge). About half kg of Pusa Basmati 1121 paddy and Pusa Basmati 1718 was filled in these bags. Total six bags of each type were accordingly filled. These bags were normal sealed, vacuum packaged and nitrogen flushed. Samples were drawn from each bag at an interval of one month and assessed for various quality parameters like changes in cooking, physicochemical and textural properties during storage. On storage the cooking parameters like optimum cooking time and solid loss in gruel decreases whereas cooking coefficient, water absorption ratio and volume expansion ratio increases. The moisture content, amylose content decreases while aroma, hardness and other textural properties increases with increase in storage period. Storage in triple layer vacuum packaging material under vacuum conditions was founded to be the best to maintain a better quality.ThesisItem Unknown Assessment of land use/land cover of Ludhiana district(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Dhiman, Prince; Biwalkar, NileshLand use/land cover (LULC) variations of the Ludhiana district were found using Landsat imageries of 2001, 2009, 2015, 2020, and 2022, studied in the cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The Landsat imagery was filtered based on selected time period, study area and cloud cover less than 10 percent. NDVI, NDBI, MNDWI, and BSI indices along with slope and elevation layers from DEM were also generated and stacked into a composite imagery. Training and validation datasets were generated for each class (built-up, vegetation, bare soil, and water) for various periods by adding the ground control points (GCP) to the satellite imagery. LULC classification was done using a random forest classifier in GEE to get temporal LULC maps for the study area. By generating a confusion matrix for each of the classified imagery, validation was done. Field verification was done for the classified 2022 scenario. Land cover area change analysis was calculated for 2001, 2009, 2015, 2020, and 2022 in QGIS software. Prepared classified images were used to predict the future land use/land cover in the MOLUSCE plugin. Spatial variables like distance from the road, distance from waterways, slope, and elevation maps were also used for the prediction. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used for modeling and training purposes. The simulated map was prepared based on iteration/s and the model was validated, which showed excellent results. The predicted map of 2033 revealed that the built-up area in the Ludhiana sdistrict is increasing while the other classes are decreasing.ThesisItem Unknown Effect of straw management practices on spectral based measurement of soil organic carbon(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Joshi, Raghav; Bector, VishalSoil organic carbon (SOC) is an important soil health parameter, which helps in determining additional inputs to be added in soil. Various straw management practices improve soil organic carbon of fields. Determination of SOC in laboratory by chemical analysis is time, labor and resource consuming. VIS-NIR spectroscopy offers simple, accurate, quick and effective methods for measurement of soil organic carbon. Therefore, in the present study, spectral signatures were captured from soil samples of different straw management fields using spectroradiometer, with the aim of determining soil organic carbon. Straw managed fields, where same practices were followed from the last three years, used in the study were residue incorporated fields, conventional tillage fields and mulched fields. Partial least squares regression (PLSR), random forest regression (RF) and cubist regression model (CRM) were developed for estimation of soil organic carbon using spectral signatures. Predictive performances of the developed models were evaluated using different indices like coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and ratio of performance to deviation (RPD). Spectral signatures for dried fields at depths 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm and 10-15 cm were then measured. The field data were fed into the developed models for prediction of SOC, and compared with the laboratory SOC values. Results showed that residue incorporated fields had highest mean SOC of 0.65 %, whereas mulched field had mean SOC of 0.61 % and conventional tillage field had mean SOC of 0.55 %. While checking the model performances in validation, CRM obtained highest linear R2 (0.76) and RPD values (2.02); with PLSR obtaining R2 as 0.74 and RPD as 1.98; and RF obtaining R2 as 0.63 and RPD as 1.52. For field data, highest accuracy was attained for residue incorporated fields at 5-10 cm depth when PLSR model was used for prediction.ThesisItem Unknown Shelf life enhancement of kinnow through active packaging(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Pawandeep Kaur; Kanojia, VarshaKinnow comes in “Mandarin” group of citrus fruits, which produced prominently in India and Pakistan and being perishable in nature. It has the shortest shelf life among all other citrus fruits. The present study was carried out to enhance the shelf life of kinnow by active packaging. RSM with BBD for 3 independent variables at 3 levels viz. dose of scavenger (35grams), fungicide concentration (3-7%) and polythene thickness (100-200guage) was used to optimize the process parameters to maintain the quality of fruit with respect to selected responses i.e., gas composition, physiological loss in weight, firmness, total soluble solids, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid, color difference, microbial load and shelf life. The samples treated with fungicide was packed in LDPE wrapped carton box with O2, CO2 and C2H4 scavenger and stored in cold chamber (5-7°C and 90-95% RH) and were monitored at regular intervals. It was observed that physiochemical properties of kinnow fruit were significantly affected by active packaging (p< 0.05). Optimization was done aiming at minimize O2, CO2, physiological loss in weight, total soluble solids, color difference, microbial load and maximize firmness, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid, shelf life while the process parameters should be within range. The optimized conditions for active packaging of kinnow fruit was 5 grams dose of scavenger, 6.83% fungicide concentration and 192.12 guage of polythene thickness. Corresponding to these variables, the values of O2, CO2, physiological loss in weight, firmness, total soluble solids, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid, color difference, microbial load and shelf life were 12.84%, 3.75%, 7.34%, 4.44 kgf, 9.2°Brix, 1.72%, 35.28 mg/100ml, 0.55, 4.87x103 cfu/ml and 69 days respectively. The overall desirability was 0.812. Value of percentage deviation for validation was less than 5% for all the responses which indicating the precision and reliability of the study.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on tractor operated back-pack type axial flow combine harvester for mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.))(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Talukdar, Dipika; Dogra, BaldevMung bean (Vigna radiata (L.)) alternatively known as green gram is an ancient and popular pulse crop in India. Pulses serve as a major source of dietary protein of vegetarians. Cultivation of summer mung bean will also help in reducing the rate of depletion of natural resources, which is a prime concern in Punjab at present. Efficient mechanized harvesting is one of the constraints in the adoption of summer mung bean. Grain losses while combine harvesting of mung bean can be reduced by using an axial flow combine harvester. Recently low cost tractor operated back-pack type axial flow combine harvesters have been introduced in local market. Attachment and detachment of tractor is much easier than tractor on top combine harvester. These have the potential to reduce harvesting losses during harvesting. Performance of this machine was evaluated at three forward speeds (FS1=2.1, FS2=3.0 and FS3=4.8 kmh-1), three cylinder speeds (PS1=11.08, PS2=13.16 and PS3=14.79 ms-1) and days (2, 4 and 6) after last irrigation. The selected dependent variables were threshing efficiency, broken percentage, cleaning efficiency and shattering losses. The results indicated that the threshing efficiency increased with increase in days after last irrigation and cylinder peripheral speed, whereas it decreased with increase in forward speed. Similarly, the grain breakage increased with increase cylinder peripheral speed and days after last irrigation, however it decreased with increase in forward speed. The cleaning efficiency increased with increase in forward speed, whereas it decreased with increase in cylinder peripheral speed and days after last irrigation. The non-collectable loss increased with increase in forward speed and days after last irrigation, however, cylinder peripheral speed did not affect it. The shattering loss increased with increase in forward speed and days after last irrigation. However, cylinder peripheral speed did not affect it. The best combination of operational variables for threshing operation was DAI3PS3FS2 i.e. six days after last irrigation, at cylinder peripheral speed of 14.79 ms-1 and at forward speed of 3.0 kmh-1. At this combination, threshing efficiency, non-collectable losses, grain breakage and cleaning efficiency were 99.28%, 4.53%, 2.96% and 95.89%, respectively. The tractor operated backpack type axial flow combine harvester saved 90.26% labour cost and 53.71% cost of harvesting compared to combination of spike tooth type thresher and manual harvesting.ThesisItem Open Access Development and Evaluation of Inclined Tubes Clarifier for Recharge of Surplus Canal Water(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Mhetre Shruti Ravikiran; Siag, MukeshAn inclined tubes clarifier was designed and fabricated to handle a flow of 1.8 l/s to filter silt loaded canal water. PVC media of one meter length were attached one over the other to form the inclined tubes through which canal water was passed from bottom side and clarified water was obtained as outflow from the top of clarifier. The inclined tubes clarifier was tested for different suspended loads in the canal water in range of 500 mg/l to 3000 mg/l for pumping rate of 0.3 l/s to 2.1 l/s. The clarifier gave 85% Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removal efficiency for low flow rates (0.3 to 0.8 l/s) and above for flow rates beyond 0.8 l/s Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removal efficiency reduces drastically. Also, at all the flow rates the efficiency was found 6 % higher for Total Suspended Solids (TSS) >2000 mg/l in comparison to Total Suspended Solids (TSS) concentration of below 1000 mg/l. The clarifier makes no significant difference to the Total Dissolved Solids, Electrical Conductivity and pH of the canal water.
