Crop Period Research Articles

Effect of weather parameters on the seasonal incidence of rice leaf folder (Cnaphalocrosis medinalis, Gunee)

Study was undertaken to determine the effect of weather parameters on rice leaf folder during 2015-16 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra Jagatsinghpur, Odisha. The leaf folder infestation was monitored through light trap catches and the infestation percentage was observed during crop period and correlated with weather parameters. Results indicated that the peak activity of rice leaf folder was in the third week of September with 25.39 per cent leaf infestation. It was associated with 30.71 0C to 22.79 0C maximum and minimum temperatures and 92.00 and 45.00 per cent morning and evening relative humidity with the association of 65.8 mm rainfall. The correlation study revealed that the number of rice Leaffolder infestation were significantly correlated with maximum temperature (r= 0.465) and minimum temperature (r=0.381). Increasing temperature within upper threshold of the species promoted leaf folder growth. and showed negative and non significant correlation with average rainfall (r = - 0. 15), morning relative humidity (r = - 0.14) and evening relative humidity (r = - 0. 12).

Investigation of Climate Variability Over High Rainfall Zone of Tamil Nadu, India

Rainfall is one of the most important climatic variables that determine the spatial and temporal patterns of climate variability of a region, which also provides useful information for the planning of water resources, agricultural production, and others. Climate change is one of the most significant worldwide issues talked among scientists and researchers, and one of the consequences of climate change is the alteration of rainfall patterns. 'India's population and the economy is linked to climate-sensitive activities, including rainfed agriculture and excess climate anomalies, deficient and flooded rainfall years have a dramatic impact on the economy as well as on the living conditions of the inhabitants of the affected region. An understanding of current and historical trends and variation is inevitable to her future development, especially in agricultural and hydrological sectors. In the present study, historical weather data for 33 years (1981-2013) was analyzed for rainfed cropping season (September - December) to understand the climatic variability in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The maximum daily air temperature increased on average by 0.02°C per year, whereas minimum daily air temperature remained constant during the rainfed cropping season. The high rainfall zone receives an annual and rainfed cropping average rainfall of 1307and 672 mm, respectively. Analysis of rainfall during rainfed cropping period over 33 years showed ten years had standard RF, nine years had deficit rainfall, six years had below standard RF, one year had above standard RF and seven years had excess RF. Analysis indicates that the deficit condition prevailed in every alternate year in recent decades. The onset of rainfed cropping season varied over the years (1981-2013), 13 years had onset in the slot from 1st to 5th September, and in others, years onset occurred between 6 and 30th September. Cessation also had a variation over 33 years and 16 years had cessation from 26 to 31st December while remaining years had cessation in the period of 1-25th December. LGP ranged from 57 to 143 days, with an average LGP of 106 days. Dry spell varied from 3 to 12 days with the mean of 6 days, and wet spell varied from 2 to 8 days with an average of 5 days.

A statistical investigation on relationship between weather parameters and chickpea yield in Jamnagar district of Gujarat state

An attempt has been made to quantify the effect of climate change on chickpea production and relationship between weather parameters and yield of chickpea crop in Jamnagar district of Gujarat state. Crop production and productivity depend on climate in general and weather in particular. The productivity of the crop depends on soil characteristics and weather conditions during season. The present study of forecasting of gram crop yield for Jamnagar district based on weekly average data of weather parameters viz. minimum temperature (X1), maximum temperature (X2), morning relative humidity (X3), afternoon relative humidity (X4), sunshine hours (X5) and total annual rainfall of past year (X6) were analyzed for the crop weather relationship to develop regression model. The time trend (T) was also included as explanatory variable. The data pertaining for the period of 30 years weather and crop yield records of Jamnagar district were collected. The approach used for forecasting yield was original weather variables and week wise approach. The time trend was include as an explanatory variable. For this district, the model of 14 weeks period (week wise approach) was selected. Result revealed that the model of 14 weeks crop period could be suggested as a pre-harvest forecast model. The variation explained by this model was 86.17% (R2) and simulated forecast error was less than 7%. The model for Jamnagar district can be used for providing pre-harvest forecast two weeks before expected harvest.

ВЛИЯНИЕ ПОГОДНЫХ УСЛОВИЙ ВЕГЕТАЦИОННОГО ПЕРИОДА НА ПРОДУКТИВНОСТЬ ЗЕРНОВОГО СОРГО

Global warming is currently having a measurable effect on Earth, so the process is bringing about significant changes in weather conditions during the vegetation period of the main field crops. This is true for the arid steppe conditions of the Donbass territory. The authors conducted a field experiment to evaluate climatic factors' effect on the productivity of various early maturing grain sorghum hybrids on ordinary chernozem in Luhansk National Agrarian university's experimental field 2015–2019. The study obtained the strongest direct correlation between the yield of hybrids and the amount of precipitation for April – September (r = 0,84–0,99) or only correlated with precipitation for August (r = 0,75–0,98). A moderate and high correlation was found between the yield of hybrids and the hydrothermal coefficient (HTC) for April – September (r = 0,53–0,89) and a high correlation with the HTC for August (r = 0,67–0,99). The average monthly air temperature in summer did not show a significant correlation with the sorghum yield. The crop yield had an average (r = 0,52–0,66) and strong (r = 0,90) direct correlation with the mass of 1000 grains, a strong correlation (r = 0,92) with the height of plants, and a strong correlation (r = 0,76–0,99) with the duration of the vegetational season of sorghum. The early-maturing hybrid Yankee and the medium-early maturing hybrid Puma Star showed the closest correlation between the sorghum crop and the amount of precipitation for August (r = 0,91–0,98) and the Selyaninov HTC for August (r = 0,87–0,99). In 2015–2019, the Puma Star hybrid demonstrated the highest grain yield, significantly higher than other hybrids (56,5–77,6 C/ha), due to the higher grain weight obtained from the panicle (42,5–49,8 g) and the weight of 1000 grains (21,8–28,2 g). The Puma Star hybrid showed an extreme dependence of the yield on the mass of 1000 grains (r = 0,96 ± 0,01).

Crop Productivity and Climatic Conditions: Evidence from Hungary

Hungarian agriculture is expected to experience greater risks due to more variability in crop productivity due to increasing yearly average temperatures and extreme precipitation patterns. This study investigates the effect of changing climatic conditions on productivity, using a Hungarian sample of crop producers for a 12-year time period. Our empirical analysis employs True Fixed Effects frontier models of Farm Accountancy Data Network data that are merged with specific meteorological data representatively maintained for seeding, vegetative, and generative periods for cereals, oil seed and protein crops, along with soil quality and usage-related data. Estimations indicate that climate variables have significant impacts on technical efficiency. In addition, calculation suggest that an increase in temperature during seeding and vegetative periods, combined with higher precipitation levels in May and June, will reduce crop farmers’ production frontier. Estimations explain the variance, while the technical efficiency (TE) scores emphasize the impact of the difference in soil quality and its water absorption capacity.

Effect of organic mulches on agronomic parameters – a case study of tomato crop (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Purpose ThePresent study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of locally available organic mulches on moisture retention, yield and irrigation water use efficiency in tomato crop. Methods The crop was grown in a randomized complete block design using pine needle mulch, wheat straw mulch and rice straw mulch as treatments and no mulch serving as control. Results Mulches were able to increase the soil moisture retention through 0.1 m to 0.5 m soil depth. Though mulches behaved differently in soil moisture retention at various depths, the average moisture retention observed for pine needle mulch, rice straw mulch, wheat straw mulch and no mulch was 22.18 %, 21.01 %, 18.52 % and 18.23 %, respectively. The mulches brought about a soil temperature reduction to an extent of 3.3 °C in maximum daily temperature and 1.4-1.8 °C in average soil temperature at 14:00 o'clock during the crop period. The positive effect produced on soil hydrothermal environment was directly reflected through increased leaf area index, plant height and yield. The trend of favourable effect produced by mulches on growth parameters was pine needle mulch > rice straw mulch > wheat straw mulch > no mulch. Mulching increased irrigation water use efficiency by 28.9%, 26.6 % and 12.5 % in pine needle mulch, rice straw mulch and wheat straw mulch, respectively over no mulch. Conclusion Locally available organic materials can effectively be used to increase soil moisture retention, enhance yield and irrigation water use efficiency in tomato crop.

Solar Energy Application in Indian Irrigation System

The electricity deficit and high diesel costs influence the pumping needs of urban water supply and irrigation; hence, the use of solar power for water pumping is a viable alternative to traditional water pumping systems dependent on grid power and diesel. In recent decades, attention has been given to clean and renewable energies from the vast majority of countries’ priorities in the environmental and economic sectors. Agricultural sector is backbone of Indian economy as population increases demand of water also increases. Extract and transfer of water to agriculture and drinking is equals high-energy consumption. One of the best solutions is to use of an abundant and almost free solar energy to supply energy in all sectors, especially the irrigation sector. In the growth period of crops, when irrigation is often required, there are a high of solar radiation comes from the sun. This study shows that in India, like many other developing countries, the weakness of using this important source, the program of converting solar energy, and photovoltaic pumping systems use. This paper summarizes solar energy development and its application in the irrigation system and comparing them with the conventional diesel pumps. The expected results of this paper are to encourage the politicians, statesmen, and professionals to planning and policy-making the use of the green energy industry in the water sector that could pump water to the villages and agriculture and jump in the energy sector to the economic and Sustainable development.

Introduce canopy temperature to evaluate actual evapotranspiration of green peppers using optimized ENN models

Canopy temperature (Tc) was introduced using the Elman Neural Network (ENN) optimized by Mind Evolutionary Algorithm (MEA) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods to improve the predicting accuracy of actual evapotranspiration (ET) of green peppers. The improving planting methods, rainwater harvesting partial plastic film mulching and regulated deficit irrigation (MFR-RDI) with straw mulling, had been employed to save irrigation water. The results indicated that MEA-Elman1 (RMSE = 0.349 mm/d, MAE = 0.303 mm/d, NS = 0.951) and GA-Elman1 (RMSE = 0.487 mm/d, MAE = 0.404 mm/d, NS = 0.913) models can accurately estimate the ET of green peppers, indicating that the Tc can well improve the accuracy of both MEA-Elman and GA-Elman models in predicting ET under the condition of MFR-RDI. Furthermore, the results showed that the performance of MEA-Elman model was better than GA-Elman model under the same factors. Based on the above results, different input factors in different growth periods of crops has been adopted using the MEA-Elman4 model to further improve the predicting accuracy of ET. Indeed, the MEA-Elman4 model exerted the best performance (RMSE = 0.339 mm/d, MAE = 0.285 mm/d, NS = 0.954), which should be given priority to predict the ET of green peppers.

Current agro-climatic potential of Patagonia shaped by thermal and hydric patterns

Changes in thermal and hydric patterns affect crop growth. This research is aimed to assess temporal and spatial trends of 18 climatic and agro-climatic thermal and hydric indices in the north of Argentine Patagonia (39°–44°, south latitude), to establish the current and potential suitability of this region for agriculture in a context of climate change. The period of study was 1970–2016, and it was focused on the last 20 years. Regional warming was indicated by the average increases of annual mean temperature (+ 0.2 °C decade−1), mean maximum temperature of the warm trimester (+ 0.3 °C decade−1), and extreme maximum temperature of the warmest month (+ 0.6 °C decade−1) during 1970–2016. This trend was also found in the 1996–2017 period. Mean minimum temperature of the cold trimester showed an uneven spatial and temporal trend, with increasing temperatures during 1970–2016 (+ 0.1 °C decade−1), but a negative trend (− 0.1 °C decade−1) over the last 20 years, which leads to an increasing regional trend in temperature amplitude. Negative trends in extreme minimum temperatures of April (− 0.3 °C decade−1), July and October (− 0.2 °C decade−1) imply more significant risks of cold damage for crops that exhibit sensitive phenological stages during this time. Thermal agro-climatic indices showed negative trends in winter chill (− 15.8 chill hours decade−1 considering the Weinberger method and − 20.8 chill hours decade−1 using Sharpe method) and higher accumulation of warm semester growing degree days (+ 38.8 GDD5 °C and + 32.3 GDD10 °C decade−1). Climatic and agro-climatic water indices showed that most of the region experienced decreasing water availability, mainly in the central-south and Andean subregions, showing annual precipitation trends of − 11.5 and − 31.2 mm decade−1, respectively). If these thermal and hydric trends are maintained in the future, the region will evolve into an area of greater energetic availability but with some restrictions: lower winter chill that would affect very high-chill cultivars cultivated in the warmest regions, higher risk of extreme thermal events during crucial phenological periods of specific crops, and decreasing water availability that would mainly affect dryland farming and river basin recharge.

Complying with conservation compliance? An assessment of recent evidence in the US Corn Belt

Conservation provisions of US farm bills since 1985 have been aimed at mitigating negative environmental impacts of US agriculture. One of the long term goals has been to protect against soil erosion, with a focus specifically on highly erodible land (HEL). Conservation Compliance (CC) mandates that, in order to receive federal subsidies, farmers who plant annual crops on HEL must implement a conservation plan, with practices such as rotating crops and no-till farming. When crop prices increase, however, the incentives not to follow the plan increase, as conservation activities can reduce farmers’ profits. This study is the first to assess the performance of conservation compliance between 2007 and 2019, a period of historically high and variable crop prices, using geographical information system tools and crop data in a critical agricultural production region, the US Corn Belt. Our results indicate there was a substantial increase in continuous corn on HEL, a proxy measure for non-compliance, in several portions of the study area in correspondence with higher crop prices following the 2007 Energy Bill. This mirrored the change in crop rotations on all cropland. The increase was positively correlated with both absolute and relative corn prices. While at the height of absolute and relative corn prices there were increases in continuous corn on HEL everywhere across the study region except parts of Missouri, some of the largest changes occurred in environmentally sensitive regions and areas which use irrigation, thereby potentially creating disproportionate environmental impacts. Similar changes in continuous corn also occurred in all cropland in the region, indicating that mandatory conservation programs are as vulnerable to periods of high crop prices as voluntary programs. Better monitoring for both CC and other conservation programs is critical to ensure the policies work as intended.

Fusarium graminearum species complex occurrence on soybean and F. graminearum sensu stricto inoculum maintenance on residues in soybean-wheat rotation under field conditions.

The aims of this study were to determine the occurrence of Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) on soybean pods, seeds and roots, including rhizoplane, during the period of soybean crop in rotation with wheat and to evaluate the FGSC dynamics on wheat and soybean residues during two soybean growing seasons in rotation with wheat, particularly F. graminearum sensu stricto (FGss). Soybean roots, pods and seeds were analysed during 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons. The morphological identification of FGSC and mycotoxin analysis was done. Crop residues were taken in both soybean season in wheat rotation and FGss were quantificated by real-time PCR. The results showed that Fusarium species, mainly FGSC, survive in a soybean crop in rotation with wheat. Isolation frequency of these species was higher on soybean pods than on seeds at R6 stage. Deoxynivalenol contamination on soybean seeds was higher in the 2013/14 season in comparison with the 2012/13 season. Low isolation levels of Fusarium species and species that did not belong to FGSC were observed in soybean root, whereas in rhizoplane a higher level was observed. Fusarium species inoculum on residues remained stable during crop succession and the FGSC were recovered from both wheat and soybean residues. Real time PCR data showed a higher DNA concentration of FGss in wheat residues in the first developmental stages of soybean plants, being the levels more significant during 2012/13 season. With regard to soybean residues collected during the wheat growing stages, an increase in DNA from anthesis until wheat harvest was observed. In a no-till production system, the populations of FGSC can colonize wheat and soybean residues to become an inoculum source. This study provides new data on the occurrence of FGSC populations in soybean plant and FGss on residues in soybean-wheat rotation, a cultural practice commonly used in in Argentina.

Starvation-induced lipid reserve depletion in Pratylenchus brachyurus leads to decreased infectivity in maize roots

Summary Nematode body neutral lipid (triacylglycerol) content has been related to infectivity and has direct implications in control strategies. In this study, Pratylenchus brachyurus populations were split into two groups: i) freshly hatched second-stage juveniles (J2) containing lipids stored during embryogenesis; ii) third- and fourth-stage juveniles (J3/J4) plus females that replenished their lipid reserves by feeding on maize (Zea mays) roots. These groups were subjected to starvation to study their lipid consumption dynamics by staining with Oil Red O, which binds specifically to neutral lipids. Before starvation, freshly hatched J2 had 27% of their body area stained, whereas J3/J4 and females had 75%. Freshly hatched J2 starved for 28 days at 25°C in water lost 63.8% of the original neutral lipid content, which caused a reduction of 91% of infectivity in maize roots. By contrast, J3/J4 and females exposed to the same conditions lost 56.7% of the original neutral lipid content, which resulted in less than 50% reduction in infectivity. During the period of food deprivation, J2 had a mean daily neutral lipid consumption rate of 0.63% and the other infectious stages (J3/J4 and females) had a mean daily neutral lipid consumption rate of 1.46% per day. This study adds information on the dynamics of lipid utilisation that supports the use of longer waiting periods for planting crops after fallow in soils infested with P. brachyurus as compared to Meloidogyne spp.-infested soils.

Variation and Dynamics of Soil Nematode Communities in Greenhouses with Different Continuous Cropping Periods

Continuous cropping in greenhouses can result in root-knot nematode outbreaks resulting from imbalances in the soil nematode community. However, the changes in soil nematode communities in greenhouses with continuous crop production are unclear. We compared soil nematode communities in greenhouses after 2 years (2-yr) and 10 years (10-yr) of continuous crop production by 18S rDNA high-throughput sequencing. Compared with the 2-yr greenhouse, soil in the 10-yr greenhouse showed acidification, nutrient accumulation and salinization. Bacterial-feeding nematodes (BF) were dominant in the 2-yr greenhouse over the whole growing season, but plant-parasitic nematodes (PP) were the dominant group in the 10-yr greenhouse during the late growing season. Meloidogyne gradually became the dominant group and had a relative abundance of 70.9% (maximum) in the 10-yr greenhouse. Rhabditidae, with relative abundance ranging from 99.8% to 26.8%, was the predominant group in the 2-year greenhouse. For β-diversity, hierarchical clustering analysis, unweighted UniFrac principal component analysis (PCA) and principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA) all revealed that soil nematode communities in the two types of greenhouses were significantly different. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil nematode communities in the 10-yr greenhouse were related to high soil organic material, total nitrogen, electrical conductivity and disease index of root-knot nematodes. Fisher's exact test and Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed that Meloidogyne contributed to the main differences in soil nematode communities between the two types of greenhouses. Population dynamics of Meloidogyne were divided into dormant phase, low-level increasing phase and exponential phase during the whole season. The soil nematode communities within the 2-yr and 10-yr greenhouses had significant variation and different dynamics. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of changes in the soil nematode community in greenhouses with different continuous cropping duration.

Precipitation distribution and impact of weather parameters on area, production and productivity of pigeonpea in Jalgaon district

The secondary data on area, production and productivity of pigeonpea in Jalgaon district from the year 1991 to 2018 (28 years) were collected from Epitome of Maharashtra. The data on weather parameters considering the crop period were collected from Oil Seeds Research Station, Jalgaon. Looking to the adverse climatic situation and persistent changes in area, production and productivity of pigeonpea in Jalgaon district, the present investigation was undertaken in order to study the impact of weather parameters on area, production and productivity of pigeonpea. The study revealed that the maximum number of years had recorded low and strong irregular precipitation distribution in Jalgaon district during the study period. The area under pigeonpea has been mainly influenced by wind velocity and number of rainy days in Jalgaon district. The production of pigeonpea has been influenced by number of rainy days and the productivity of pigeonpea has been influenced by rainfall and number of rainy days and indirectly influenced by relative humidity at evening in the Jalgaon district during the study period.

Study on energy consumption of various rice establishment methods and water management practices in tank irrigated command area

Field experiments were conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, during summer 2019 to find out energy efficient rice establishment methods under irrigation management strategy. Field experiment comprised of four establishment methods in main plot viz., conventional transplanting (M1), machine transplanting under puddled soil (M2), machine transplanting under unpuddled soil (M3) and sowing with seed drill (M4). The sub plot consisted of 4 irrigation management practices viz., farmers’ irrigation practice (continuous submergence of 5 cm throughout the crop period) (I1), Irrigation after formation of hairline crack (I2), irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface (I3) and irrigation when water level reaches 10 cm below soil surface (I4). Medium duration fine grain rice variety TKM 13 was used for the study. Result of the study revealed that among the rice establishment methods higher energy output, net energy production, energy ratio and profitability was observed under machine transplanting under unpuddled soil. Among the irrigation management practices, irrigation after formation of hairline crack (I2) observed higher energy output and net energy production; whereas, energy ratio, energy productivity, energy intensity and B:C ratio were higher with irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface (I3). This study concluded that machine transplanting under unpuddled soil combined with irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface can be recommended as the suitable technology for the farmers of tank irrigated command area to get higher output energy with minimum use of input energy and also to obtain higher profit.

Characteristics of agricultural climate resource changes during the growth stages of tobacco during 1961-2017 in Panxi Region, China

It is of great significance for the sustainable development of regional agriculture to understand the changes of agricultural climate resources during the growth period of local main crops. Based on data from 15 meteorological stations in tobacco planting area of Panxi region, Sichuan, from 1961 to 2017, the average temperature, diurnal temperature range, water deficit, and radiation were used to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution of agricultural climate resources such as light, temperature, and water in the whole growth period and each growth stages respectively. From 1961 to 2017, the average temperature of tobacco during the whole growth period gradually decreased from south to north in Panxi, while temperature showed an increasing trend in most areas. The area with significantly increased temperature accounted for 54.5% of the total planting area. The diurnal temperature range in most area of the eastern Panxi and some of the central Panxi showed an upward trend, and these areas accounted for 76.4% of the whole Panxi region. Water deficit gradually decreased from south to north, with an increasing trend in the whole region. The radiation during the growth stage of tobacco was high in the southwest and low in the northeast, and the climatic tendency was positive values in the southwest. During the study period, average temperature was the highest in the period from vigorous growth to the beginning of maturity, with an overall upward trend. The diurnal temperature rage and water deficit were the highest in transplanting squatting seedling stage. Radiation was the highest at the beginning of maturity, which increased slightly at the beginning of seedling growth.

파키스탄 신드주의 밀 재배지역 생산량과 기후자료와의 상관분석

This study investigated the relationship analysis between wheat cultivated area and the climate data in Sindh province of Pakistan. The extraction of wheat cultivation area is detected using the remote sensing technique. The analysis of the study area reveals the annual mean maximum and the mean minimum temperature tends to risen with a large range of changes. The trend of average annual precipitation showed a large change, thus it was confirmed that the increase and decrease yield of wheat were depend on the various growth periods of wheat crop. The most influential factors are the annual mean precipitation and the annual mean minimum temperature at the seedling stage of wheat crop. The annual precipitation, annual mean maximum, and the annual mean minimum temperature are significant at the growth period. The annual mean maximum and the annual mean minimum temperatures are significant during the ripening stage of wheat crop in the study area. The results of the study showed that wheat production varies with climate change in the Sindh province. In addition, this study will be used as an important basis for solving crop cultivation areas and production problems caused by climate change in the region.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGY OF SOYA FLOUR ENRICHED WITH IODINE

A research on developing a technology of iodine-enriched soya flour has been conducted. The technology developed will allow the body to receive organic forms of this micronutrient, the deficiency in which causes thyroid disorders in 40% of Ukrainians and 35% of people throughout Europe. The research has shown that promising soya bean varieties to be enriched with iodine are the early-ripening varieties Almaz, Anzhelika, Kyivska 98, Faeton, Medeya, PSV 808, Podyaka, Khortytsya, Yug 30, Rusa. They are the highest in protein (42.75% on average), the maximum content of which is necessary for iodine accumulation. Besides, their cropping period is short (up to 95–105 days), which is cost-effective for a manufacturing enterprise, because there is no overlapping with the winter crops sowing time and thus, there are no periods when cultivation areas remain idle. The following parameters of steeping soya beans have been found rational: the iodine concentration in the solution 98-100 μg/g, the duration of steeping 48 hours. The mass fraction of iodine in the steeped soya beans is 126 μg/g. Longer steeping leads to microbiological spoilage of sprouted soya beans. It has been determined how iodine is distributed in cotyledons, sprouts, seed coats, and whole sprouted soya beans. This has allowed establishing that in a whole sprouted soya bean of the early-ripening soya variety Almaz, the iodine content is 126 μg/g, of which 123 μg/g is accumulated in the cotyledons of a seed, and 3 μg/g in the sprouts and the seed coats. This indicates a high level of iodine conversion into the organic form when soya seeds are steeped in potassium iodide solution. A technology of manufacturing iodine-enriched flour from sprouted soya beans has been developed. It differs from the control one in that soya seeds, washed and disinfected, are soaked in potassium iodide solution (with the iodine concentration 98–100 μg/g and the hydromodulus 1:2) for 48 hours at the solution temperature 14-16°С. Flour from sprouted soya beans contains 126 μg/g of iodine. The technology suggested can be used at hotel and catering enterprises, in sanatoria and health centres, to treat iodine-deficiency disorders, and to make food for people who need special dietetic nutrition.

Recognition of cotton growth period for precise spraying based on convolution neural network

Dynamic acquisition of crop morphology is beneficial to real-time variable decision of precise spraying operations in fields. However, the existing spraying quantity regulation has high tolerance on the statistical characteristics of regional morphology, so expensive LiDAR and ultrasonic radar can't make full use of their high accuracy, and can reduce decision speed because of too much detail of branches and leaves. Therefore, designing a novel recognition system embedded machine learning with low-cost monocular vision is more feasible, especially in China, where the agricultural implements are medium sizes and cost-sensitive. In addition, we found that the growth period of crops is an important reference index for guiding spraying. So, taking cotton as a case study, a cotton morphology acquisition by a single camera is established, and a cotton growth period recognition algorithm based on Convolution Neural Network (CNN) is proposed in this paper. Through the optimization process based on confusion matrix and recognition efficiency, an optimized CNN model structure is determined from 9 different model structures, and its reliability was verified by changing training sets and test sets many times based on the idea of k-fold test. The accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score and recognition speed of this CNN model are 93.27%, 95.39%, 94.31%, 94.76% and 71.46 ms per image, respectively. In addition, compared with the performance of VGG16 and AlexNet, the convolution neural network model proposed in this paper has better performance. Finally, in order to verify the reliability of the designed recognition system and the feasibility of the spray decision-making algorithm based on CNN, spraying deposition experiments were carried out with 3 different growth-periods of cotton. The experiments’ results validate that after the optimal spray parameters were applied at different growth periods respectively, the average optimum index in 3 growth periods was 42.29%, which was increased up to 62.24% than the operations without distinguishing growth periods.

Viral disease outbreak and diagnosis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Tamil Nadu: A new report

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important legume crop in the world. In global wide, it was cultivated during rabi season (Nov-Feb). Under India, it was cultivated during cool winter season mostly depending upon rainfall and dew distribution. In Tamil Nadu, mostly north – western districts are considered as chickpea belt. Regularly crop period, wilt or root rot diseases are highly prevalent and drastically reduced yield. Since, Rabi (2017-18) a new disease was occurred and reported that causing yield loss (40-60%) from vegetative to podding stage by failure of seed formation on mostly in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. Under extensive survey, a viral outbreak of incidence occurred due to chlorotic stunt disease, maximum recorded in Poolankinar (28.6%) on cv. CO 4 and the least incidence has been recorded in Kuppuchipalayam (12.9%) on cv. JAKI-9218 at age of 65 days old crop. Based on symptomatic diagnosis viz., chlorosis, reddening of leaf petioles, shortening internodes, bushy appearance was characterized initial stages and later failure attained in blooming and pod formation. This disease was the most prevalent in North India. Perusal of literature showed that the occurrence of this disease in Tamil Nadu seems to be new. Hence, this may be a new report based on the visual diagnosis.