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Open Access
Design, development and performance evaluation of a subsoiler-cum-fertilizer applicator
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-07) Shinde, Anil Tukaram; Thakur, T.C.
A subsoiler-cum-fertilizer applicator was designed and developed by selecting the best parameters of winged subsoiler with shallow leading tines from previous studies. The equipment consisted of a rectangular frame, a main winged tine, two shallow leading winged tines, two depth control wheels, a fertilizer box of 50 kg capacity equipped with three fixed hole type metering devices, fertilizer conveying system and a ground driven wheel with sprocket and chain arrangement for transmitting power to fertilizer metering rollers. The equipment was evaluated in laboratory for studying the aspects related to fertilizer distribution with different angles of deflector plates and in terms of soil and machine parameters in field. Two shallow leading winged tines were mounted on the rectangular frame longitudinally at 400 mm ahead of the main tine (X-plane), laterally at 850 mm in (Y-plane) and 0.5 times the working depth of main tine in vertical direction (Z-plane). Prior to laboratory testing of the machine, the physical properties of different fertilizers viz. DAP, SSP, MOP and NPK complex were determined and two fertilizers i.e. NPK complex in granular form and MOP in powder form were selected for further investigations. Different deflector plates with included angles of 150, 300, 450, 600, 750 and 900 were tested in laboratory for uniform and continuous band placement of two selected fertilizers at 90 rpm speed of metering roller. The deflector plates with 450 included angle was found best for NPK complex whereas for MOP 600 angle gave best results followed by 450 angle. The minimum Coefficient of Variations of 10.40% and 12.22% with Christiansen’s Coefficient of Uniformity of 95.44% and 94.39% were observed with NPK complex and MOP, for 450 and 600 angles of deflector plates, respectively. The field testing of machine was carried out in sandy loam soil (33.72% sand, 40.25% silt and 26.03% clay) at an average moisture content of 12.69% (d. b.) to evaluate its performance on the basis of changes in soil dry bulk density, specific draft and wheel slippage at 200, 300 and 400 mm depths of operation, respectively. The results revealed that the bulk density was uniform throughout the soil profile after subsoiling at 400 mm depth. The soil bulk density was reduced to a maximum of 16.55% . The specific draft for 300 mm and 400 mm depths of operation was found lower by 19.42% and 31.50% than those of earlier studies with conventional leading tines under similar soil type and conditions studied at Pantnagar. However, the wheel slippage was as high as 24.11% at a draft of 14.63 kN for 400 mm depth which was well beyond the pulling capacity of a 45 hp tractor. The discharge rate of NPK complex and MOP fertilizers in the field were obtained as 59.50 and 56.70 kg/ha with 11 mm diameter opening of metering plate.
Open Access
Optimal land use model for an Himalayan watershed based on economic and erosive considerations
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-07) Thakur, Amresh Kumar; Singh, J.K.
In the present study, an attempt has been made to develop the optimal land use planning model with the basic objective to minimize the soil loss from the Chorgaliya watershed based on resource constraints such as land availability, water availability, labour opportunities and net return. The model was develop by using the linear programming technique. All the relevant data and information to develop the model were collected and were synthesized as per the requirement of the model. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was used to determine the soil loss. 1-laying determined the soil loss coefficients, the other coefficients such as labour coefficient, water availability coefficient and net return coefficient were also estimated and were incorporated to develop the model. In order to make the model socially and economically acceptable to the inhabitants of the watershed, three alternative plans, viz. Plan I: Existing cropping pattern with restriction on crops preferred by farmers, Plan II. Existing cropping pattern with restriction on orchard trees and Plan III: Erusting cropping pattern with the restriction on the food grains were developed. All these alternative plants were compared with the crusting land use pattern in the Chorgaliya watershed. Among all the alternative plants, the Plan II was found to generated maximum net return to the farmers of the study, while in terms of the soil loss, Plan III was found to yield the least amount of soil loss.
Open Access
Sediment outflow for varying intensity-duration storms and rainfall commencement period under simulated rainfall conditions
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-05) Bansal, Gireesh Kumar; Akhilesh Kumar
The present study was carried out with the objective to observe the sediment outflow for variable intensity-duration storms and also for different rainfall commencement periods at selected land slopes under simulated rainfall conditions by using a rainfall simulator of size 10 m 1.4 m and a hydraulic tilting flume of size 10 m 1.2 m 0.5 m. with the locally available soil material collected from Crop Research Centre (CRC), Pantnagar. In this study, three rainfall intensities viz. 9.0 cm/h, 13.2 cm/h and 17.0 cm/h for three selected rainfall durations of 10 min, 20 min and 30 min were considered at 0 %, 2 % and 4 % land slopes in case of isolated storms. The complex storms were created by combining two and three rainfall intensities for total 30 min storm duration. The timing of occurrence of these intensities was regulated in a way such that different rainfall patterns viz. advanced (ARP), delayed (DRP), intermediate-I (IRP-I), intermediate-II (IRP-II) and uniform (URP) were obtained. Apart from the above, attempts were also made to observe and quantify the effects of time gap between two successive rainstorms called as “rainfall commencement period” over sediment outflow behaviour at different land slopes. For this purpose, an isolated storm of 13.2 cm/h rainfall intensity for 10 min duration was applied for selected rainfall commencement period of 0 h, 1 h, 3 h, 6 h and 12 h at each of the selected land slopes. The total runoff volume was observed to be almost the same for a particular rainfall input at every land slope. However, the distribution pattern of runoff was observed to be different with the change in land slope. The average sediment concentration was found to be increasing with the increase in land slope in every case but did not provide any definite trend with the rainfall intensity, duration, rainfall pattern and rainfall commencement period. The rate of sediment outflow was found to be increasing with the increase in land slope as well as in rainfall intensity but found to be decreasing with the increase in rainfall duration. However, the total sediment outflow increased with the increase in land slope, rainfall intensity and rainfall duration in case of isolated storms. In case of complex storms CS2RI and CS3RI, the sediment outflow rate and total sediment outflow did not provide any definite trend with the rainfall distribution pattern. However, in general both of them were found to be increasing with land slope under a particular rainfall distribution pattern. The sediment outflow rate as well as total sediment outflow were found to have a decreasing trend with the increase in rainfall commencement period at a particular land slope but found to be having an increasing trend with land slope for a given rainfall commencement period. Mathematical relationships were developed relating average sediment concentration and sediment outflow rate with rainfall intensity, land slope, rainfall duration and rainfall commencement period as per the case. It was observed that log transform values of average sediment concentration and sediment outflow rate had a good correlation with rainfall intensity land slope, rainfall duration and rainfall commencement period. The correlation coefficient of developed models was found to be more than 90% in genera
Open Access
Dehydration studies of sweet pepper (Capsicum annum. L)
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-07) Pulavarti, China Vengaiah; Pandey, J.P.
Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annum. L, grossum group) is a non pungent variety of pepper (capsicum sp) locally known as simla mirch. It is also famous as bell pepper is vegetable in India. It is globally so popular because of its anti cancerous and antioxidant qualities. Sweet peeper is also good source vitamin C and vitamin E. Due to high moisture content at the time harvesting it is very difficult to store the sweet pepper. The experiments were conducted to develop dehydrated Sweet pepper. In the present investigation Sweet pepper slices were blanched with hot water at 95oC for 5 min. Pretreatment was carried out by dipping in 1% NaOH solution with 0.25% MgCO3 for 15 min at room temperature. The ratio of sweet pepper to pretreatment mixture was 1:5 and exposed to single thin layer drying with constant air velocity 1.5 m/s and temperature from 40 to 70oC with an increment of 50C. Experiments also conducted to study the effect of drying on quality, colour, chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, Rehydration and shrinkage characteristics. The selected drying models were attempted on experimental data to describe the phenomena of drying process using linearzed regression technique. Moisture content of the fresh sweet pepper was an average of 92 % w b and seed to flesh ratio of sweet pepper is 1.56. Drying of sweet pepper takes place in falling rate period. Drying rate linearly increases with temperature and effect of blanching was predominant. The drying curves could be mathematically described by the logarithmic model. The rehydration ratio increases with drying air temperature up to 600C; than it was found that decreasing with increase in temperature and effect of blanching on rehydration ratio was significant. Colour of the samples decreases as increase in temperature as blanched samples showed significantly in retaining colour. Chlorophyll content and ascorbic acid of the samples decreases as increase in temperature. Blanched samples showed significantly in retaining in Chlorophyll content and ascorbic acid. Shrinkage ratio increase with temperature as shrinkage reduces with temperature. Sweet pepper should not be dried more than 600C temperature, because of high temperature significant reduction in colour, chlorophyll and ascorbic acid was very high. Medium temperature (50-600) should be used for dehydration where as blanching will improve the quality of the sweet pepper.
Open Access
Development of expert system for selection and design of irrigation methods
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-06) Nikam, Bhaskar Ramchandra; Yadav, R.S.
The selection of an appropriate irrigation method as per site conditions is a prerequisite to attain an optimum level of irrigation efficiency. It involves analysis of large number of parameters and their interactions. It is a laborious and error-prone task if attempted manually. The design of irrigation methods involves large amount of numerical calculations and requires information about the procedure of designing the irrigation system, which is generally not available with the farmers. Considering the above, present study was planned with objective of developing a computer aided expert system for selection and design of irrigation methods. For selection purpose thirteen parameters are recognized. Ten of them are technical parameters, for which the acceptability indices curves are prepared based on their effects on performance of irrigation systems. Ranking of each of the method is done as per the value of irrigation method (VIM). In technical-economic step, three economic parameters are used to determine the relative rank of irrigation method. The best suitable irrigation method for site is selected on the basis of final points. The final points are calculated by assigning weightage of 40% to the technical-economical step and 60% to the analytical-technical step. The best suitable irrigation method is one which has the highest final points. The design of border, basin, furrow and sprinkler irrigation systems are done for maximizing the efficiencies and performance of irrigation system. The volume balance approach is used to design the surface irrigation methods and the semi-portable layout system is considered for designing sprinkler system. The design and selection procedure is linked together and converted to the computer programme written in C++ programming language. For field evaluation of the expert system, the field trial is conducted during Rabi season of the year 2003-2004 on D3 block at CRC, Pantnagar. Information about selection parameters is collected as per the site conditions. With respect to input data, border irrigation method is found to be best suitable for one of the plot and check basin system for other plot. Observations for advance and recession time are recorded for both the irrigation system. It is found that both the irrigation methods are performing with 89 to 91% application efficiency, which is well within the range of designed efficiency. The storage efficiency is 100 % as in all the irrigation events there is complete and over irrigation. Thus, expert system may be used successfully for selection and design of best suitable irrigation method with respect to given field conditions.
Open Access
Production of single cell oil from molasses and process optimization
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-12) Maurya, Amit Kumar; Agrawal, U.S.
Oils derived from microbial sources are termed as ‘Single Cell Oils’ (SCOs). An agro-industrial byproduct, ‘Sugarcane Molasses’ was used as the source of carbon, since it has the potential of lowering the cost of raw material. On the basis of literature reviewed two oleaginous organisms, namely, Rhodotorula glutinis var. glutinis (maximum lipid content, 70 % d.b.) and Rhodotorula minuta var. minuta (maximum lipid content, 30 % d.b.) were procured from IMTECH, Chandigarh. The average values of lipid content (LC) and total lipid produced (TL), for R. glutinis and R. minuta, were found to be 25.3418 % and 1.9292 g and 24.0263 % and 1.6457 g, respectively. At 95 % confidence level cell biomass, CONF0.95(7.3283≤8.3846≤9.4410), for R. glutinis was more than R. minuta, CONF0.95(6.6302≤6.8414≤7.0525), without any overlapping of ranges. Further, the incubation period for R. glutinis was lower than that of R. minuta by twenty four hours. Hence, R. glutinis R. glutinis was selected from the two organisms for further detailed studies. C/N ratio (23.18, 30, 40, 50 and 56.82), concentration factor (0.664, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.334 l) and incubation period (58.544, 64, 72, 80 and 85.456 h) were selected as the experimental parameters. The individual optima values obtained for C/N ratio, concentration factor and incubation period were 48.5070, 0.7222 l, 67.2480 h; 50.4310, 1.0811 l, 82.5464 h and 47.4970, 0.6967 l, 69.1256 h for cell biomass (9.1296 g), lipid content (28.0566 %) and total lipid produced (2.4208 g). The recommended optimum conditions obtained for the production of Single Cell Oil were 47.4970, 0.6967 l and 69.1256 h for C/N ratio, concentration factor and incubation period and corresponding values for cell biomass, lipid content and total lipid produced were 8.9798 g, 27.1290 % and 2.4208 g. On the basis of contour graphs it was observed that C/N ratio has the most profound effect on the production of cell biomass, lipid content and total lipid produced.
Open Access
Design, development and performance evaluation of a small wheat thresher for hill region
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-07) Dubey, Mukesh; Gupta, O.P.
India is the world's second largest wheat producer after China. Wheat is grown under diverse agro climatic conditions and occupies more than 25 million hectares area with average production of 70 million tones. About 88% of total geographical area of Uttaranchal is under hill and 12% of in plain region. Among cereals, wheat occupies the largest net sown area followed by rice. There are enormous small and marginal farmers in the state. The average size of operational land holding is 0.8 hectares (Uttaranchal Manual). Timely threshing of crop is essential in hill regions. Farmers in hill regions use conventional method like hand beating and animal feet trampling for threshing crops. There is a crucial need of small size wheat thresher which can make bhusha, and separate bhusha and grains. The requirement of “Bhusha” making puts an essential constraint on designing wheat crop thresher which could thresh wheat crop efficiently. The peg type cylinders are being used in latest wheat threshers in India for threshing wheat as well as making good quality bhusha. Keeping the above points in view a small wheat thresher having capacity of 1-2 qt/h was designed and fabricated for hill region in the Department of Farm machinery and Power Engineering Pantnagar. The peg type cylinder was selected for this thresher. The blower was mounted on the same shaft. The performance of the thresher was evaluated on four varieties of wheat crops UP-2425, UP-343, VL-616 and VL-738. The results reveled that the threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, collective loss, and visible grain damage, germination percentage are close to the BIS standard. The ranges of threshing efficiency of optimum combinations for selected varieties are 98.1 % to 99.36 while visible grain damage 3.6 % to 2%. The quality of bhusa (Avg. length of bhusa 18 mm) is lower than that recommended in BIS standard. The maximum capacity of thresher found to be 131 kg/hr in case of variety UP-343. The thresher is found to be useful for hill region. The power consumption of thresher was measured to be 2.4 kW. The operating cost of thresher is Rs. 9.98/h. The effect of peg orientation on cleaning efficiency and collective loss observed to be insignificant for variety UP-2425.
Open Access
Class based runoff prediction model using fuzzy regression technique
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-08) Tandon, Mudit; Singh, J.K.
Interpretation of relationship based on a few experimental data are common in hydrology, due to the lack of real and authentic hydrological data for longer durations. There are great amount of uncertainties and vagueness in the hydrological variables. Keeping in view the above mentioned facts, an attempt has been made in present study to model rainfall-runoff process by using fuzzy linear regression technique, relatively a new but promising approach in the field of hydrology. This technique is suitable when statistical methods fail to accurately model a process due to the complexities involved in the temporal and spatial distributions of hydrological variables and also due to unavailability of reliable past recorded data of longer periods. A class based fuzzy linear regression model is developed with an objectives to model daily rainfall-runoff process of the Nagwan watershed located at upper Siwane River of Damodar Valley, comprising an area of 94.46 sq km. The required hydrological and other data for the development of fuzzy logic based runoff prediction model were collected form the Soil and Water Conservation Division, DVC, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. Ten year data were considered in the present study. Out of which seven years data from 1993 t o1999 were utilized for the calibration of the model and remaining three years data (2000, 2001 and 2002) were used for the verification and validation of the model. The elements for fuzzy parameter sets were estimated by linear programming technique. The performance evaluation of developed model has been done through the qualitative and quantitative statistical/hydrological indices. Lower values of various error indices and higher values of correlation and efficiency indices confirm the model’s ability to predict daily runoff for Nagwan watershed. Developed model was also verified for its applicability for the study area by regenerating daily runoff data of previous years, 1993, 1996 and 1999. The comparison between measured and predicted values based on qualitative and quantitative assessment criteria shows a close agreement for all the three years. The application can be extended for prediction of daily runoff from other watersheds having alike hydro-meteorological as well as soil characteristics and other related properties.
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Design and development of a single beam winged subsoiler with shallow leading tines and potato crop response to subsoiling
(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2004-07) Papal, Satish Sampat; Thakur, T.C.
The design and development of a single beam winged subsoiler with shallow leading tines was carried out by selecting the best parameters from the past investigations to alleviate the subsoil compaction or hard pan problems. The position of shallow leading tines with respect to the main winged tine was set at 500 mm (fixed) in X-direction i.e. longitudinal plane, 1050 mm (fixed) in Y-direction i.e. lateral plane and 0.5 times the working depth of main winged tine in Z-direction i.e. vertical plane. The field testing of developed subsoiler was carried out in sandy loam soil at an average moisture content of 12.33% (d.b.) to evaluate its performance on the basis of changes in soil dry bulk density, specific draft and wheel slippage at 250, 350 and 450 mm depths of operation. The results showed that there was uniform reduction in soil dry bulk density throughout the profile with maximum reduction of 13.71% for 300-450 mm profile depth at 450 mm depth of operation. The specific draft was obtained 38.40% and 21.68% lower, but wheel slippage was 54.87% and 35.20% higher than that of 250 mm and 350 mm depths of operation, respectively for 450 mm depth of operation. The field experiment conducted in sandy loam soil for comparison of potato crop response with three tillage treatments such as conventional i.e. disk harrow х 3 + planker х 1 (T1), combined active-passive tillage machine (T2) and Winged subsoiler + Disk harrow х 1 + Planker х 1 (T3) showed that soil dry bulk density reduced to the maximum of 13.55% and soil hydraulic conductivity increased by 1.71 times over initial field condition after subsoiling treatment. However, the clod MWD and draft force were obtained 4.60% and 17.52%, and 24.67% and 125.78% lower with treatment T2 as compared to treatment T1 and T3, respectively. The potato crop response studies showed that plant emergence was better upto 98.89% in case of tillage treatment T2. However, the dry matter of shoots and leaves, roots and tubers for treatment (T3) was 10.63% and 17.61%, 13.40% and 19.00%, and 12.85% and 19.21% higher over treatments T2 and T1, respectively. The potato tuber yields under grade A (53.530 q/ha) and grade B (63.505 q/ha) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in treatment T3 by 37.96% and 25.88%, and 43.68% and 14.41% over T2 and T1 treatments, respectively. The highest tuber yield of 189.750 q/ha was obtained with subsoiling treatment (T3) which was 8.80% and 11.70% higher than that of treatments T2 and T1, respectively.

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