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Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur

The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) was established on 12th June 1964 at Hyderabad. The University was formally inaugurated on 20th March 1965 by Late Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India. Another significant milestone was the inauguration of the building programme of the university by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi,the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India on 23rd June 1966. The University was renamed as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University on 7th November 1996 in honour and memory of an outstanding parliamentarian Acharya Nayukulu Gogineni Ranga, who rendered remarkable selfless service for the cause of farmers and is regarded as an outstanding educationist, kisan leader and freedom fighter. HISTORICAL MILESTONE Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) was established under the name of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) on the 12th of June 1964 through the APAU Act 1963. Later, it was renamed as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University on the 7th of November, 1996 in honour and memory of the noted Parliamentarian and Kisan Leader, Acharya N. G. Ranga. At the verge of completion of Golden Jubilee Year of the ANGRAU, it has given birth to a new State Agricultural University namely Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University with the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014. The ANGRAU at LAM, Guntur is serving the students and the farmers of 13 districts of new State of Andhra Pradesh with renewed interest and dedication. Genesis of ANGRAU in service of the farmers 1926: The Royal Commission emphasized the need for a strong research base for agricultural development in the country... 1949: The Radhakrishnan Commission (1949) on University Education led to the establishment of Rural Universities for the overall development of agriculture and rural life in the country... 1955: First Joint Indo-American Team studied the status and future needs of agricultural education in the country... 1960: Second Joint Indo-American Team (1960) headed by Dr. M. S. Randhawa, the then Vice-President of Indian Council of Agricultural Research recommended specifically the establishment of Farm Universities and spelt out the basic objectives of these Universities as Institutional Autonomy, inclusion of Agriculture, Veterinary / Animal Husbandry and Home Science, Integration of Teaching, Research and Extension... 1963: The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) Act enacted... June 12th 1964: Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) was established at Hyderabad with Shri. O. Pulla Reddi, I.C.S. (Retired) was the first founder Vice-Chancellor of the University... June 1964: Re-affilitation of Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Hyderabad (estt. in 1961, affiliated to Osmania University), Agricultural College, Bapatla (estt. in 1945, affiliated to Andhra University), Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College, Tirupati and Andhra Veterinary College, Tirupati (estt. in 1961, affiliated to Sri Venkateswara University)... 20th March 1965: Formal inauguration of APAU by Late Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India... 1964-66: The report of the Second National Education Commission headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, Chairman of the University Grants Commission stressed the need for establishing at least one Agricultural University in each Indian State... 23, June 1966: Inauguration of the Administrative building of the university by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India... July, 1966: Transfer of 41 Agricultural Research Stations, functioning under the Department of Agriculture... May, 1967: Transfer of Four Research Stations of the Animal Husbandry Department... 7th November 1996: Renaming of University as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University in honour and memory of an outstanding parliamentarian Acharya Nayukulu Gogineni Ranga... 15th July 2005: Establishment of Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) bifurcating ANGRAU by Act 18 of 2005... 26th June 2007: Establishment of Andhra Pradesh Horticultural University (APHU) bifurcating ANGRAU by the Act 30 of 2007... 2nd June 2014 As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014, ANGRAU is now... serving the students and the farmers of 13 districts of new State of Andhra Pradesh with renewed interest and dedication...

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201711
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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2017 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    OPTIMUM ALLOCATION OF SURFACE AND GROUND WATER RESOURCES OF APPAPURAM CHANNEL COMMAND IN KRISHNA WESTERN DELTA
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) KISHAN, K; HEMA KUMAR, H.V.
    The sustainability of water resources is a critical issue against the backdrop of rising water demand for agricultural, industrial and domestic uses as the world needs about 60% more food (FAO, 2013) to feed the 9.5 billion people in 2050 (United Nations, 2012). The issue has become more challenging in the light of shrinking water resources due to urbanization, contamination, and climate change impacts. The Central Ground Water Board strongly emphasized and recommended conjunctive use of surface water and ground water should be followed not only to meet the requirements of tail-end areas but also to reduce the water logging and salinity problems. Appapuram channel (commands about 10,000 ha and is of 43.186 km length) is a Commamuru canal in Krishna Western Delta (KWD), flowing through agricultural fields of Chebrolu, Vatticherukuru and Kakumanu mandals of Guntur district is found to be appropriate as per its representative scope for conjunctive use planning. Hence this research study, titled “Optimum Allocation of Surface and Ground Water Resources of Appapuram Channel in Krishna Western Delta” is proposed on a pilot scale to fulfill the following objectives. i) To assess the surface water quality and quantity available in Appapuram channel command. ii) To estimate the ground water resources quality and quantity available in the channel command. iii) To estimate the irrigation water requirements of existing and other high value crops in the channel command using Aqua Crop model. iv) To optimize the use of surface and ground water resources using LINGO and other models to maximize the profit in the channel command. v) To study the institutional management and capacity building aspects for the successful implementation of identified conjunctive use planning. The command area of Appapuram channel, which branches form Commamuru branch canal (Krishna Western main canal) near Sangam Jagarlamudi lock is selected as the study area. It spreads over 10000 ha and is on an average 6 m above the mean sea level. Interaction meetings and interviews with the farmers, WUA members were conducted to collect the information regarding the cropping pattern, canal supplies, demand and short falls. Field visits were made to study the actual cropping pattern existing in the command. Though the crops like paddy, cotton, maize, chillies, black gram, and green gram and sugarcane are commonly grown in the area, for the past three years, farmers were growing paddy, in kharif and maize, blackgram in rabi seasons respectively. The model CROPWAT was run to calculate the effective rainfall which is an important parameter for calculating crop irrigation requirement. The canal water release data for 10 years (2005-2015) were collected from Water Resources Department at Bapatla in AP and analyzed for further investigation. The details of crops grown in the command, climate, soil data etc. collected are used to assess the net irrigation requirement in the distributary using Aqua Crop 4.0 Model. ‘LINGO’ model is chosen for the study for optimized allocation of to maximize the net profit. To summaries the results, For branche no.1,2,8 & 9, there is no feasibility of conjunctive use planning at present in view of saline ground water. For branch no. 3, 4, 5, 6,7 & 8 the profit could be increased when 40% and 50% additional ground water is pumped from the commands. Though different crops tried, the model allocated more area for chillies followed by rice and cotton in view of their high value and profit contribution. For branch No.1 of Appapuram canal, if 100% and 90% of surface water alone is utilized, a profit of Rs. 59.35lakh and Rs.53.41 lakh respectively could be obtained. For branch No. 2 of the canal, if 100% surface water alone is used, a maximum profit of Rs. 175.54 lakh rupees could be obtained. For branch No.3 if 100% surface water, 100% surface water+ 20% Ground Water, 100% surface water+ 30% Ground water, 100% surface water+ 40% 100% surface water+ 50% are utilized, a profit of Rs. 125.87 Rs.169.46, 191.25 and 213.05 lakh could be obtained respectively. For branch No.4, if 100% surface water, 100% surface water+ 20% Ground Water, 100% surface water+ 30% Ground water, 100% surface water+ 40% 100% surface water+ 50% are utilized a profit of Rs. 37.37, 50.02, 56.77, 63.23 and 69.71 lakh could be obtained respectively. For branch No.5, if 100% surface water, 100% surface water+ 20% Ground Water, 100% surface water+ 30% Ground water, 100% surface water+ 40% 100% surface water+ 50% are utilized a profit of Rs. 106.37, 143.20, 161.60, 180.02, and 198.43 lakh respectively could be obtained respectively. For branch No.6, if 100% surface water, 100% surface water+ 20% Ground Water, 100% surface water+ 30% Ground water, 100% surface water+ 40% 100% surface water+ 50% are utilized a profit of Rs. 130.45, 175.64, 198.22, 220.79, and 243.38lakh respectively could be obtained respectively. For branch No.7, if 100% surface water, 100% surface water+ 20% Ground Water, 100% surface water+ 30% Ground water, 100% surface water+ 40% 100% surface water+ 50% are utilized a profit of Rs. 18.925, 34.32, 48.577 and 62.17 lakh respectively could be obtained respectively. For branch No.8 if 100% of surface water alone is utilized, a profit of Rs. 35.355lakh respectively could be obtained. For branch No.9, if 100% of surface water alone is utilized, a profit of Rs. 29.47 lakh respectively could be obtained. As per the survey conducted in the entire command, it lacks the involvement of institutes particularly in conjunctive use of surface and ground water resources. There is lot of gap and capacity building is highly essential for the line departments and farmers in formulating and for the successful implementation of the conjunctive use plans. From the above study, it could be concluded that an additional benefit of Rs. 5000- 8000/-/per ha could be foreseen if conjunctive use plans of surface and ground water are implemented in the command.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    STUDIES ON DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TRACTOR DRAWN ROTARY SPIDER WEEDER FOR ROW CROPS
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) RAMI REDDY, K.V.S.; AUM SARMA
    Tractor operated weeding implements can save about 75 per cent time and 20 per cent cost as compared to conventional methods. Usually tractor mounted cultivators are used for weeding and inter-culturing operations in farm but these are not effective for soil pulverization. The rotary type weeder stirs the soil more accurately, disturb the weed root and remove them from the soil and pulverize the soil effectively. However, the major handicap in the adoption of the technology was the non-availability of suitable weeding equipment. Hence, suitable equipment has to be developed for adoption of weeding operation under field conditions especially for the wide row spaced crops like cotton, maize and chillies, where the tractor can be run. Keeping this in view, a study was undertaken on “studies on design, development and performance evaluation of tractor drawn rotary spider weeder for row crops” at College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla. A tractor drawn rotary spider weeder suitable for crops was designed, developed and fabricated at workshop, Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering (CAE), Bapatla. Performance evaluation of developed weeder was conducted by varying different forward speeds of 0.56, 1.11, 1.67 and 2.22 ms-1 at M1 (10 ± 0.5%), M2 (15 ± 0.5%) and M3 (20 ± 0.5%) soil moisture levels in cotton, maize and chilli crops. The results summarized that the mean bulk density decreased from 1.289× 103 to 1.201× 103 kg m-3 when soil moisture increased from M1 to M3 moisture level. Soil resistance is an indication of soil hardness measured by cone penotrometer and is expressed as force per square centimeter required for a cone to penetrate into soil. Soil resistance decreased from 27×104 to 23 × 104 N m-2 when soil moisture content increased from M1 to M3 moisture level. Lower weeding efficiencies of 39%, 40% and 43% were observed at forward speed of 0.56 ms-1 at M1, M2 and M3 moisture levels respectively in cotton crop at 30 and 45 DAS. Higher rate of increase in weeding efficiency was observed from 1.11 ms-1 forward operating speed onwards at all soil moisture levels and in all crops. It was observed that the weeding efficiency was almost constant for further increase of forward speed from 1.11 to 2.22 ms-1 in all the crops and, also, at all soil moisture levels. It was observed that there was no significant difference in the weeding efficiencies when forward speed increased from 1.11 to 2.22 ms-1 at all the soil moisture levels. There was significantly higher plant damage per cent was recorded at 2.2 ms-1 forward speed of operation at all moisture levels and at 30 and 45 DAS in all the crops. There was no significant difference in plant damage when forward speed increased from 1.11 to 2.22 ms-1 in all the crops at all soil moisture levels and also at 30 and 45 DAS. Lowest plant damage percent was observed at forward speed of 0.56 ms-1 at all soil moisture levels and stages of weeding. It was observed that the field capacity increased with the increase of forward speed at all levels of soil moisture content in all the crops and stages of weeding. Lowest field capacities were obtained at all soil moisture levels at forward speed of 0.56 ms-1 . It was observed that the draft increased with the increase of forward speed from 0.56 to 2.22 ms-1 at all levels of soil moisture content. Highest performance index were recorded at 2.2 ms-1 forward speed of operation in all the crops at 30 and 45 DAS in all the crops. Lowest performance index were recorded at 0.56 m s-1 forward speed of operation at different stages of weeding in all the crops. Field machine index of the unit was computed as 0.83 and 0.78 at 30 and 45 DAS, respectively. Highest energy demand was recorded at 30 DAS compared to 45 DAS. Cost of operation of the weeder was 1491 ha-1 whereas the same with the traditional method of weeding was 3211 ha-1 . There was a saving of 1720 ha-1 over traditional method of weeding.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POLYMER CASTED CENTRIFUGAL PUMP
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) RAMA RAO, A; RAVI BABU, G
    In India, agriculture plays a major role in economy and livelihood. Majority of the population of India depends on agriculture hence more water resources (about 80% of total water) and energy resources are required for the irrigation in dry seasons. Since resources are limited and have to be conserved for future use, any effort for their proper utilization and conservation cannot be neglected. The present research problem, “Design, Development and Performance Evaluation of Polymer Casted Centrifugal Pump” was taken up for the benefit of farming community and other sections like domestic and industries in the way of financial feasibility and technical possibility. In our country many of the centrifugal pumps are made up with cast iron. In the present study a cast iron pulley operated centrifugal pump was selected which has 11 components namely casing, impeller, shaft, pulley, bearing stand, bearing cover, top flange, bottom flange, gland, counter weight and base. It was found that the present existing centrifugal pumps have many technical disadvantage related to its cost, weight, corrosion and wear and tear. During the study it was found that these technical disadvantages can be overcome by replacing the metallic parts of pumps with the engineering plastic materials. There are polymeric materials like Poly Phenylene Oxide (PPO) or Noryl, Delrin, Vespel, Zytel, Cast Nylon, Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) and Poly Ether Ether Ketone (PEEK) are commercially available in the market. The following polymers are recommended as alternative materials for making the centrifugal pump. S.No. Name of the pump Component Existing metallic material Alternative Polymer 1 Casing Cast Iron UHMWPE 2 Impeller Cast Iron Cast nylon 3 Shaft Cast Iron Delrin 4 Bearing stand Cast Iron Cast nylon 5 Bearing cover Cast Iron Delrin 6 Top flange Cast Iron UHMWPE 7 Bottom flange Cast Iron UHMWPE 8 Gland Cast Iron Cast nylon 9 Counter weight Cast Iron Delrin 10 Pulley Cast Iron Delrin 11 Base Cast Iron Cast nylon The 3-D models of all 11 pump components were developed and designed by Co-ordinates Measuring Machine (CMM) and the models were loaded in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) ANSYS 16.0 software for simulating the results. All the 11 pump components were taken 16 hours time in CMM for development and design of 3-D models. Based on the optimization and selection of polymers to replace the metal pump components the fabrication of polymer pump components were done by Computer Numerical Control (CNC) lathes and milling machines. Among the 7 polymer materials identified 3 were selected and used for machining of 10 pump components except shaft of the pump. The shaft was initially made with Delrin polymer material later on for avoiding the frequent breakage of shaft by packing rope and oil seal, it was finalized to machine with stainless steel only. The study concluded with rest of the 10 individual pump components were machined based on their properties, characteristics and technicalities with 3 polymer materials viz. Cast Nylon, UHMWPE and Delrin. After machining, all the pump components were assembled with the nut, bolts, washer and packing ropes as same as metal pump. The polymer pump was connected to 0.5 hp low speed single phase motor and v-belt and was set for experiments in field irrigation laboratory at College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla. After completion of all experiments of head, discharge, pressure and power consumption with polymer pump, the metal pump was also operated with the same motor and conditions for comparison. The discharge of both metal and polymer pumps at 1m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 4.5 m and 5 m suction heads were same as 1.2 l/s, 1.1 l/s, 1.0 l/s, 0.9 l/s, 0.9 l/s and 0.8 l/s respectively. The pressure of both metal and polymer Pumps at 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 4.5 m and 5 m suction heads were same as 0.5 kg/cm2 , 0.5 kg/cm2 , 0.4 kg/cm2 , 0.3 kg/cm2 and 0.3 kg/cm2 respectively. The time taken for one unit (1 kW) power consumption of both metal and polymer pumps at different heads taken same as 1.5 h in all cases. The rpm of motor and polymer pump at 1m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 4.5 m and 5 m suction heads were 1392 and 2491, 1382 and 2486, 1378 and 2485, 1368 and 2471, 1366 and 2466 and 1362 and 2465 respectively. The rpm of motor and metal pump at 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 4.5 m and 5 m suction heads were 1408 and 2647, 1406 and 2639, 1398 and 2635, 1396 and 2632, 1394 and 2631 and 1387 and 2624 respectively. The polymer pump was operated for 310 h till date and found no wear and tear. It was noticed that the total weight of the metal pump was 5.7 kg and polymer pump was only 1.7 kg. By replacing the metal components of centrifugal pump with the polymers the weight of the pump was reduced by 70 per cent and become very light in weight. Based on CIPET estimation on mold cost and component cost, the production cost of one lakh polymer pumps were projected and the difference of both metal and polymer pumps was calculated. The mold cost of one polymer pump was 24.5 lakh and production cost one polymer pump was Rs.485 when compared to metal pump market price of Rs. 1200. The projected cost of 1 lakh polymer pumps was Rs. 4.85 cr. and 1 lakh metal pumps market price was Rs. 12 cr. and the difference of cost was Rs. 7.15 cr. The projected cost of 5 lakh polymer pumps was Rs. 24.25 cr. and 5 lakh metal pumps market price was Rs. 60 cr. and the difference of cost was Rs. 35.75 cr. By replacing the metal pump with the polymer pump the cost of the pump was reduced by 59.6 per cent, making it very cheap.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRID SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC GREENHOUSE DRYER
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) MADHAVA, M; SIVALA KUMAR
    India is the second largest producer of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the world next to China with production of 104.8 MT during the year 2014-15. Andhra Pradesh is the third largest producer of rice in India, about 9 per cent of paddy is lost due to use of old and outdated methods of post harvest practices. Solar drying of agricultural products in enclosed structures by forced convection is an attractive way of reducing post-harvest losses. Study has been conducted to design and develop a hybrid solar photovoltaic greenhouse dryer for drying of paddy. A greenhouse dryer with 4467 mm length, 2134 mm width and 2591 mm height at the centre was designed and fabricated with 50.8×25.4 mm mild steel (MS) pipe, 19×30.2 mm MS angles. Transparent twin wall polycarbonate sheet of 6 mm thickness was used as a covering material. Forced ventilation was provided with 9-inch diameter exhaust fan which runs at 1200 rpm with rated power of 40 Watt. Two 150 W power capacity solar photovoltaic panels with 18.5 V rated voltage and 8.10 A rated current were used to drive the exhaust fans. 1 Study on assessment of ten years solar radiation data of Andhra Pradesh state revealed that, an average global solar insolation in the state was 5.21 kWh m-2. Average air temperature of 27.28 °C, 63.75% relative humidity and 3.4 ms-1 wind speed was observed. Performance evaluation was conducted under no load condition. It was observed that the average dryer air temperature was 7.6-13.4 °C and 6.3-13.2 °C (22- 43%) higher than the ambient temperature during Rabi and Kharif seasons, respectively. Ambient air temperature varied between 29-38 °C and 25-36 °C during Rabi and Kharif seasons, respectively. Average relative humidity of the green house dryer was 26-47% and 23-40% less as compared to ambient relative humidity during Rabi and Kharif seasons, respectively, where as ambient relative humidity varied between 34-64% and 44-68% during Rabi and Kharif seasons, respectively. Forced ventilation was achieved by DC exhaust fans, which was powered with photovoltaic panels. Exhaust air flow rate varied in the range of 38.93-81.95 m3 min-1, and 28-63 m3 min-1 during Rabi and Kharif seasons respectively. Performance evaluation of solar greenhouse dryer under full load condition for kharif and Rabi paddy was conducted with three different bed thicknesses (5, 10 and 15 cm). Kharif paddy was dried from 26.5% to 12.15%, 25.3% to 10.87% and 26.15% to 11.13% moisture content (w.b.) within 25, 25 and 16 h of drying for 15, 10 and 5 cm bed thickness, respectively. Highest drying rate observed during the first day of drying was 2.02 %(d.b) h-1 for 5 cm, whereas 1.62 and 1.27%(d.b) h-1 drying rates were observed for 10 cm and 15 cm, respectively. Rabi paddy was dried from 22.3% to 12.57%, 22.8% to 11.57% and 22.4% to 10% (w.b) in 21, 21 and 17 h of drying for 15, 10 and 5 cm, respectively. Highest drying rate observed during the first day of drying was 2.0, 1.29 and 1.27%(d.b) h-1 for 5, 10 and 15 cm, respectively. Milling quality analysis showed that there was no significant effect of season, replication and interaction of season and depth on brown rice yield (BRY), milling recovery (MR) and head rice yield (HRY), however, grain bed thickness had significant effect at 5% significant level. Highest HRY of 66.4% achieved was for 10 cm bed thickness, as compared to 62.9% and 65.4% for 5 and 15 cm beds thick, respectively. Broken rice obtained was 3.66% during Kharif season which was significantly lower than that the broken rice (5.11%) obtained during Rabi season. Head rice yield in the greenhouse dryer was much higher than mechanical drying (63.5%) and open sun drying (62.91%). Highest germination percentage (90%) was achieved during Kharif 2 paddy drying and there was no significant difference in germination among greenhouse and open sun drying at 5% significant level. Drying data were fitted to the eleven thin layer drying models. Among them, logarithmic model was found to be the most suitable model for describing the drying characteristics of thin layer drying of Rabi paddy. Logarithmic model gave R2 = 0.9891, χ 2 = 0.00689, RMSE = 0.024477 and MBE = 4.02×10-8. Midilli model was found to be the best to describe the drying behaviour of thin layer drying of Kharif paddy. Midilli model gave R2 = 0.9953, χ2 = 0.0000408, RMSE = 0.019042 and MBE = -1.3×10-5 . Payback period of the solar greenhouse dryer was 1.84 years and gave 49.34% rate of return. Cost of drying was `0.2 per kg of paddy. Cost-benefit ratio was 4.13. Keywords: PV potential, forced ventilation, greenhouse drying, open sun drying, paddy drying, economic evaluation, mathematical modelling
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DESIGN AND FIELD EVALUATION OF LOW COST WIRELESS SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR FOR AUTOMATION OF DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) RUPAVATHI, K; RAVI BABU, G
    In our country, the irrigated area is about 36 per cent of the net sown area. Presently, the agricultural sector accounts for about 83 percent of all water uses. The remaining uses include 5, 3, 6 and 3 per cent respectively for domestic, industrial and energy sectors and other consumers. Increasing competition with the other water users in the future would limit the water availability for expanding irrigated area. At the present era, the farmers have been using irrigation technique in rural areas through the manual control in which the farmers irrigate the land at the regular intervals, and also some rural areas are severely affected by droughts or floods. New technologies are coming for the assured supply of water but they are too expensive for the common farmer. One major reason of not adopting new technologies is unnecessary wastage of water in agriculture field due to unawareness of farmers about sufficient supply of water. Farmers usually control the electric motors observing the soil, crop and weather conditions by visiting the sites. These manually controlled irrigation systems cannot ensure a proper level of water in the site. Another reason is due to the lack of electricity and mismanagement in the manually controlling systems, sometimes their fields become dry and sometimes flooded with excess water. Automatic drip irrigation system allows farmers to apply the right amount of water at the right time, by turning the valves on and off. The GSM based wireless soil moisture sensor is designed using keil μvision 3 software into microcontroller for maximum of three sensors present in each field 466.4 sq m of tomato and 406 sq m of cluster bean and controls the water supply in the field to be irrigated using solenoid valve. The sensor present in each field stops the pump automatically through microcontroller when the field reaches to its field capacity and the motor will be switched on automatically when soil moisture reaches 70% of field capacity. The experimental fields with an area of 466.4 m 2 for tomato crop and 406 m 2 for cluster bean crops were selected at field irrigation laboratory, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla. The field was divided into 3 sub plots for tomato and cluster bean crops respectively to conduct experiments on drip irrigation with low cost wireless soil moisture sensor. The crop duration for tomato crop and cluster bean was 120 days (Dec 20th 2016 to March 3rd, 2017) and 90 days (March 24th to June 21st, 2017) respectively. The water was applied as per the crop water requirement calculated by CROPWAT in flood irrigation method, whereas water application was done based on operation of automatic wireless soil moisture sensor in both single row and paired row drip irrigation systems. The inline drip laterals were arranged with each dripper flow rate of 2 lph and spacing between drippers is 0.4 m. Field data was collected regularly to evaluate the performance of low cost soil moisture sensor based GSM and benefit cost ratio was found for different irrigation systems used for both tomato and cluster bean crops. The results revealed that the yield response was observed to be the best in wireless soil moisture sensor based irrigation with each row lateral spacing in tomato crop as 2.902 t ha-1 . The yield in tomato crop was very less as compared to normal yields. This is due to the reason that crop was affected by blight and tomato spotted wilt virus and final harvest was done about one month before the actual harvest date (April 8 th). Water applied in drip irrigation system using soil moisture sensor was found to be 410 mm instead of 490 mm in flood method for tomato and 16.39 % water saving was observed. In cluster bean, the yield was best in single row drip method as 7.5 t ha-1 . Water applied in drip irrigation system using wireless soil moisture sensor was found to be 410 mm instead of 507 mm in flood method and 19.13 % water saving was observed. Less water saving was observed because of crops are grown in sandy soils. The total cost of the GSM based low cost wireless soil moisture sensor was Rs 3424/- . Water use efficiency for tomato crop is highest in single row drip method with 7.15 kg/ha-mm followed by paired row drip and flood method as 6.25 and 2.24 kg/hamm respectively. Whereas in cluster bean, the water use efficiency was highest in single row drip method as 18.29 kg/ha-mm followed by paired row drip and flood method as 14.55 and 8.71 kg/ha-mm respectively. For tomato crop cultivation the total annual cost for the drip system was Rs.24000. The benefit cost ratio of 0.81 was recorded for single row followed by 0.79 for paired row and the least value of benefit cost ratio was recorded in flood as 0.53. For cluster bean crop cultivation the total annual cost for the drip system was Rs.20000. The benefit cost ratio of 2.12 was recorded for single row followed by 2.14 for paired row and the least value of benefit cost ratio was recorded in flood as 2.06. Keywords: GSM, wireless soil moisture sensor, microcontroller, keil μvision3, automatic drip irrigation
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR CLARIFICATION AND PRESERVATION OF SUGARCANE JUICE
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) NAGAMANI, KARCHETI; JAGANNADHA RAO, P.V.K.
    Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) belonging to the family Graminae, is a commercial cash crop widely grown in the world. India is the largest consumer and second the largest producer of sugar in the world next to Brazil. Sugarcane cultivation in Andhra Pradesh spreads over an area of 1.23 lakh ha in 2015-16, which is roughly 2.46% of cane acreage in our country. In India, sugarcane is grown mainly for producing sweeteners like sugar, jaggery and khandasari. Sugarcane juice is very popular delicious drink and it is rarely available in commercial packaged form. In general, sugarcane juice is spoiled quickly soon after extraction due to presence of simple sugars, and also juice gets very dark color by oxidation of its components (Chlorophyll and Poly phenols). Biodegradation is mainly caused by microorganisms mainly Leuconostoc sp. (L. mesenteroides and L. dextranium). Many studies have been carried out on sugarcane juice process to increase its shelf life. Formation of sediments at the bottom of storage container is a major problem to transfer the technology to the entrepreneurs. The information on use of stabilizing gums and mechanical filtration to control the sediments during storage is practically non-existent. In view of this, the present study was conducted on the “Development of process technology for clarification and preservation of sugarcane juice” to explore the use of stabilizing gums (tannin, gelatin and polysorbate) and mechanical filtration techniques to control the sediments during storage for the production of good quality bottled pasteurized sugarcane juice. Pasteurized sugarcane juice was packed in three different bottles (glass, PET and PP). Fresh sugarcane juice contains more number of impurities. By using stabilizing gum (gelatin) and filtration equipment maximum (99%) number of impurities present in juice was removed (3.56 g per L). Also, study the characteristics of juice in terms of TSS, pH, RS, TS, TA, color, yeast, mould and total plate count, etc. Untreated juice (control) stored at room temperature was spoiled within few hours of extraction (3-4 h), and low temperature storage was spoiled in 10 h. Also juice stored in PET bottles was readily spoiled than juice stored in glass and PP bottles at room Name of the Author : K. NAGAMANI Title of the thesis : DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR CLARIFICATION AND PRESERVATION OF SUGARCANE JUICE Degree to which it is submitted : Master of Technology Faculty : Agricultural Engineering & Technology Major field of study : PROCESSING AND FOOD ENGINEERING Major Advisor : Dr. P.V.K. JAGANNADHA RAO University : Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University Year of Submission : 2017 temperature (4 days). Also, juice stored in PET bottles with gelatin was spoiled readily than PP and glass bottles at refrigeration temperature. Among all the treatments, based on sensory attributes, juice without gelatin (pasteurized at 80 oC for 10 min + preservative) was found to be the best treatment. Among three bottles, juice packed in glass and PP bottles was found to be good. PET proved to be the least effective in maintaining the quality of the juice. Viable bacterial, yeast and mould count was increased during storage at room and low temperatures, but the increase was less at low temperature. Packaging materials was found to have no effect on sensory properties of juice. But, addition of gelatin had some effect on sensory properties of sugarcane juice. The color of the juice was better in gelatin treated juice as compared to other treatments. It can be concluded that membrane processing of sugarcane juice is one of the alternate methods in combination with thermal processing for producing quality juice. Keywords: Homogenization, Physico-chemical, Gelatin, Pasteurization, Packaging material
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF THATIPUDI MEDIUM IRRIGATION PROJECT
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) HARSHAVARDHAN REDDY, M; RAMANA, M.V.
    The World’s population is increasing at an alarming rate resulting in increasing demand for food and fiber. On the other hand, per capita availabilityof land and water resources are decreasing. Water is a valuable natural resource, which is used for agriculture, recreation and industrial purpose. Due to industrialization, population growth and urbanization, demand for wateris being increased drastically, which resulted in stress on the water resources. The major portion of the water is used in agriculture sector for irrigation purpose to enhance the crop production. Due to growing demand for household and development purpose the share of the irrigation water needs to be diverted for industries, recreation and drinking purpose. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to effectively utilize the available water resources optimally and judiciously,Irrigation was given major importance in many countries of the world. However there is wide spread dissatisfaction with the performance of irrigation projects in developing countries. In India the performance of irrigation projects is reported to be very low, having an overall efficiency of 25-30 percent only due to lack of proper irrigation water management (Akhilesh et al., 2012). So the existing project and project command areas need to be evaluated for improving their System performance, agricultural production, financial aspects, irrigation efficienciesand water use efficiencies. The present investigations is carried out in Thatipudi medium irrigation project in the district of Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. It was constructed across Gostani River in 1963-68 and it serves 6218.29 ha of command area in Gantyada, Jami and S.kota mandals of Vizianagaram district. The average annual rainfall is 1183 mm.The study area received 64.32 per cent of annual rainfall during South West monsoon season and 23.52 per cent in North East monsoon season and remaining 12.16 per cent during winter and summer seasons. Crop water requirement and water use efficiency for Paddy, Pulses and Banana was estimated 1310.5 mm, 406.5 mm,1435.0 mm and 62.098%, 90.39%, 83.944% respectively. Overall irrigation efficiency for Thatipudi project was estimated as 29.67 %. Reservoir filling or storage efficiency was observed as 96.06 %, Conveyance efficiency was 65.778 % and the application efficiency was 45.581 %. This project was analysed through performance indices which are given by the INCID (Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage).System performance and Agricultural production indices are found ‘good’ condition but the financial aspect indices are ‘very poor’ due to less revenue collection, low operation and maintenance funds and less persons involved for operating the project.Finally water budget was prepared by observing the current storage, average inflowsto the reservoir the Gross water requirement for the crops (81.55 Mm3 ), water supplying for the Greater Vishaka Municipal Corporation (GVMC) (15.17 Mm3 ), leakage through head regulator (4.177 Mm3 ), Water for Domestic and live stock purposes(2.98 Mm3). Key words: Medium irrigation project, Command area, Crop water requirement, Irrigation efficiencies, Performance indicators, Water budget.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    SIMULATION OF STREAM FLOW AND SOIL EROSION IN KRISHNA LOWER SUB BASIN
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) BIDYARANI CHANU, N; MANI, A
    Quantification of water resources in a catchment, particularly stream flow is necessary for a systematic analysis of water availability for long-term planning of water utilization. Stream flow is the spatial integration of runoff which is a major component of the catchment water balance. The lower Krishna basin is a deficit basin and it depends mainly on inflow from the upper basin and on upstream water uses. There is a declining trend of surface water inflow due to prevention of flow in the upper basin and lead to shrinkage of surface irrigation. Therefore, the project entitled 'Simulation of stream flow and soil erosion in Krishna lower sub basin' was proposed for systematic analysis of water availability. The different DEMs were downloaded from different sources to generate basin characteristics namely drainage area, elevation, slope steepness, slope length, and streams relief ratio. Among these DEMs, SRTM 90 m produced correct stream network. The IRS P6, LISS III images for 2014 and 2015 were downloaded from Bhuvan. The LULC maps were prepared for the study. Soil map developed by National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSSLUP) was taken as reference map and clipped to the study area to identify the type of soils. The study area consisted of mainly four types of soils. Majority of the area is under silt soils (46%) and clay soils (43%). Remaining 7 percent and 4 percent are under loam and water bodies. The average annual rainfall of study area for 23 years during 1990 to 2015 was 931.31 mm. The highest amount of rainfall was recorded in 2010 as 1620.71 mm and the lowest amount of rainfall was recorded in 2009 as 566.54 mm. About 91% of the area is nearly level and remaining 8% of the area occupied moderate slope to steep slope. ArcGIS, ERDAS and HEC-HMS softwares were used and the SRTM DEM was used to derive parameters for the hydrological modelling. The results acquired using Geo-HMS were the catchment area of each sub-basin, slope of each sub-basin, flow length and time of concentration. After preparation of various input parameters, stream flow for a period of 23 years was simulated using SCS-CN technique. The time to peak and peak discharges for different storm events was also estimated. Simulated runoff was more for the years with high rainfall. The annual runoff is highly correlated with annual rainfall with coefficient of 0.9. The simulated runoff depth was 1383.5 mm in the year 2010. It was only 261.97 mm in the year 2002. The average annual runoff depth during the period of 1993 to 2015 was 668.59 mm. Build up areas have produced more runoff followed by scrub land, current fallow, rabi crop, kharif crop, forest, plantation and double crop/triple crop areas. The simulated peak runoff rates were matched well with the inflow discharges that are available at Pulichintala project for different storm events and were in good agreement with R2=0.89. Hence, the model HEC- HMS can be used to predict runoff rate to plan flood mitigation measures. RUSLE model integrated with GIS and RS techniques was used for estimation of annual average soil loss rate (t ha-1 yr -1 ). The potential soil erosion in Krishna lower sub basin of Andhra Pradesh were mapped and quantified using RUSLE model from 1993- 2015. The maximum annual average soil loss occurred in the Krishna lower sub basin for the year 1993 to 2015 was 28.69 t ha-1 yr-1 . Around 43.02% of catchment was prone to slight erosion. About 42.41% of area showed moderate soil erosion. Strong to severe erosion occurred in around 12.45% are in 1.3% area. Very severe erosion occurred in 0.8% which was very less compared to other classes. The study revealed that the average annual soil loss was sensitive to rainfall factor, R and the type of land use. The very severe erosion was occured in 13.45% (262.66 km2 ) of build up and 9.28% (21.65 km2 ) of wasteland. Severe erosion occurred in 38.77% (768.561 km2 ) percent of scrubland, in 18.62% (233.26 km2 ) and 4.73% (43.93 km2 ) of rabi crop area and waste land. Moderate erosion occurred in double/triple cropping area and slight erosion occurred in forest and Kharif crop. Percolation tank and check dams were suggested as conservation measures in severely eroded area. Hence, the hydrological model HEC-HMS can be used for event based simulation of rainfall events in lower Krishna sub basin of Andhra Pradesh. RUSLE erosion model integrated with GIS and remote sensing can be used to map the soil loss in lower Krishna sub basin of Andhra Pradesh.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF MINI-TRACTOR DRAWN RIDGE PLANTER FOR MAIZE CROP
    (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, 2017) LEELA VEERA VARA PRASAD, MORLA; JOSEPH REDDY, S
    Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most versatile emerging crops having wider adaptability under varied agro-climatic conditions. Globally, maize is known as “Queen of cereals” because it has the highest genetic yield potential among the cereals and also staple food for human being and quality feed for animals. In developed countries, maize is consumed mainly as second cycle produce, in the form of meat, eggs and dairy products. In developing countries, it is consumed directly and serves as staple diet for some 200 million people. Among the cereal crops in India, Maize with annual production of around 22.5 million tonnes from 8.67 million hectares ranks third in production and contributes to 2.4% of world production with almost 5% share in world harvested area (Gracy et al., 2013). In India maize consumption has increased at a CAGR of 3.6% over the last five years and poultry feed accounts for 50% of maize consumption. According to advance estimate its production is 15.5 million tonnes (2015-16) mainly during Kharif season which covers 80% area. Maize in India, contributes nearly 9% in the national food basket and more than Rs. 100 billion to the agricultural GDP at current prices. Recent trends (2004-05 to 2014-15) in growth rate of area (2.5%), production (5.5%) and productivity (2.9%) of maize in India has been of high order and experienced highest growth rate among the food crops. World population is increasing day by day which is a serious threat to food security. This can be overcome by enhancing production of major crops like maize, rice, wheat, etc. So the demand for maize is increasing day by day in the world as well as India. But the maize yield varied greatly in different countries. The factors affecting maize yield are conventional method of cultivation and also lack of precision planting technologies. In recent decades, with the improvement of seed quality, germination percentage and emergence rate of maize seed have been guaranteed. As a result precision planting has become the main direction for seeding maize. The method of Name of the Author : MORLA LEELA VEERA VARA PRASAD Title of the thesis : “DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF MINI-TRACTOR DRAWN RIDGE PLANTER FOR MAIZE CROP” Degree to which it is submitted : Master of Technology Faculty : Agricultural Engineering & Technology Major field of study : FARM MACHINERY AND POWER ENGINEERING Major Advisor : Dr. S. JOSEPH REDDY University : Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University Year of Submission : 2017 planting also plays a vital role for better establishment of crop under a set of growing situation. Different sowing methods followed for maize are Raised bed (ridge) planting, Zero-till planting, Conventional till flat planting, Furrow planting and Transplanting. Among all these sowing methods the raised bed planting is considered as best planting method for maize during monsoon and winter seasons both under excess moisture as well as limited water availability/rainfed conditions. Presently, large farmers alone are using tractor operated machinery and implements because of high initial cost involved in the purchase of present tractors. The medium horse power tractors ranging from 31- 40 hp are most popular and are fastest growing segment. The cost of these tractors is as high as 5.0-6.75 lakhs, which is beyond the purchasing capacity of small and marginal farmers. In India, approximately 65-70% of total land holding contributes small and marginal farmers. The present study was conducted on the “Development and evaluation of minitractor drawn ridge planter for maize crop” which was carried out at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Nandyal. An attempt was made to develop ridge planter with three ridge bottoms and evaluated for its performance with ground wheel drive in terms of seed rate, seed damage, field efficiency, fuel consumption, seed to seed spacing, depth of sowing etc. Working width of developed ridge planter is 1.2 m, spacing between two furrow openers is 60 cm and no. of furrow openers are two. Good recommended seed rate was obtained through inclined plate metering mechanism compared to vertical plate metering mechanism at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations i.e. 22.78, 20.83 and 18.67 kg ha-1 , respectively. Effective field capacities of the developed ridge planter at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations were 0.16, 0.212 and 0.251 ha h-1 , respectively. Ground wheel slip of the developed ridge planter at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations was 2.45, 1.04, and 0.90%, respectively. The fuel consumption of tractor for planting of maize at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations were 2.07, 2.43 and 2.72 l h-1 , respectively. Seed miss index was less at 2.5 km h-1 speed of operation with both the inclined plate and vertical plate metering mechanisms. The spacing between seed to seed for planter with vertical plate metering mechanism was 18.76, 20.60 and 22.10 cm and with inclined plate metering mechanism was 19.23, 20.02 and 22.40 cm at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations, respectively. The average depth of planting for ridge planter with vertical plate and inclined plate metering mechanism was 42.34 and 41.67 mm, respectively. Germination of seeds was 84.33%. Plant population in one square meter for planter with vertical plate metering mechanism was 13, 10 and 9 and with inclined plate metering mechanism was 12, 10 and 8 at 2, 2.5 and 3 km h-1 speed of operations, respectively. Cost of operation for developed ridge planter and traditional method was Rs. 1785/- and Rs. 2900/- per hectare, respectively. Keywords: Inclined plate metering mechanism, Vertical plate metering mechanism, Seed to seed spacing, Field efficiency