Review of IoT and electronics enabled smart agriculture

Review of cutting-edge weed management strategy in agricultural systems

In the past few years, UAV application in agriculture has increased significantly due to higher efficiency and safety, simple operation, reduced labor requirements, and saving chemicals as compared to conventional sprayers. The UAVs are widely used in agriculture, providing flexibility and more profit to farmers. In recent years, research has been conducted on various operational parameters of UAV, and there has been no experiment or study on the effect of operational parameters and drift characteristics of UAV and control of thrips in pigeon pea crop. Therefore, this study evaluated the effect of the operational parameters of a UAV-based spraying system on the performance of agrochemical application in pigeon pea crop to control thrips. A field study was conducted to determine the performance parameters in terms of droplet deposition density, droplet size, coverage, spray deposition, and relative span at different flight heights (1.5, 2, and 2.5 m above the crop canopy) and flight speeds (2, 2.5, and 3 m/s). Water-sensitive papers (WSPs) were placed at three canopy zones (bottom, middle, and top zones) of the pigeon pea plant. The maximum droplet density, droplet size, coverage, spray deposition, and relative span factor at the top, middle, and bottom canopy zones were 54.00, 50.17, and 46.33 droplets/cm²; 244.80, 239.88, and 235.37 µm; 10.53%, 10.09%, and 9.78%; 0.764, 0.714, and 0.672 µl/cm²; and 0.98, 0.96, and 0.93, respectively, at a flight height of 1.5 m and a flying speed of 2 m/s. Spray deposition was negligible in off-target zones. The field capacity, field efficiency, and application rate of the UAV were found to be 2.62 ha/h, 60.64%, and 77.86 L/ha, respectively. The maximum control efficacy of thrips on the top, middle, and bottom pigeon pea canopy was 92.45%, 90.12%, and 88.11% after 10 days of spraying experiment. This study provides recommendations for optimal operating parameters (height: 1.5 m and speed: 2 m/s) for efficient agrochemical application, benefiting manufacturers, farmers, and UAV operators for more effective and efficient spraying on pigeon pea crops.

Millet production has significantly increased to fulfill the nutritional needs of the increased population across the globe. Around the world, millions of people suffer from shortages of food and hunger. In the last few years, food supply has been influenced by many factors, such as changes in climate, increased population, and a slowing economy. Furthermore, many countries face undernutrition and overnutrition problems. Achieving nutritional and food security requires a transformative shift in the agricultural sector. Providing everyone with access to cheap, healthy, and affordable food as well as a nutritious diet is one way to reach our goal. The present study uses preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analyses (PRISM) to study the search strategy for recent advancements. Bioactive substances, minerals, and properties of cereal grains are impacted by various processing methods like parboiling, decoration, heating, soaking, germination, and fermentation. This paper aims to study the nutrient qualities and processing of antinutrient reduction methods, the nutritional composition of millets, their effects on consumption, and the nutritional characteristics of medicinal use. The highest dietary fiber content is in pearl millets (11.49%), followed by maize (10.20%). Millets contain carbohydrates, antioxidants, and biologically active compounds such as phenolic acids, carotenoids, flavonoids, minerals, and vitamins. The appropriate consumption of millets helps to reduce diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, and malnutrition because of their low glycemic index, being gluten-free, and increased major nutrients. But overdose of millet consumption causes goitrogenic effects, kidney stones, thyroid dysfunction, allergic reactions, high sugar levels, and weight gain. Considering the modifications within millets’ nutritional value brought on by the process may benefit the food business, scientists, and consumers in choosing the best processing method to maximize nutrient content, boost nutrient bioavailability, and assist in promoting food and nutrition security.

The conventional manual weed management is one of the labour intensive and expensive operation in crop production as it involves low efficiency, time consuming, human drudgery and higher cost of operation. The use of self-propelled rotary weeder for mechanical weeding reduces the drudgery and ensures a comfortable posture of operator or farmer during weeding operation. Hence, a self-propelled narrow crop rotary weeder was developed by department of Farm Machinery & Power Engineering, COAE&T, CCS HAU, Hisar during the winter (Rabi) season of 2016 and was evaluated for its performance in mustard crop having row to row spacing of 45 cm. Three forward speeds (1.6, 1.8 and 2 km/h), two blade lengths (180 and 195 mm) and three speeds of rotor (330, 360 and 390 rpm) were selected for its evaluation and results were compared with manual hand weeding using Kasola (tool smaller than spadi in size). The effective field capacity of 0.09 ha/h, field efficiency of 67.98%, weeding efficiency of 80.12% and plant damage of 2.9% were observed at the best combination of operational variables i.e. rotor speed of 360 rpm, blade length of 180 mm and forward speed of 1.6 km/h. The labour requirement with rotary weeder was reduced to 11.11 man-h/ha when compared to 160 man-h/ha for manual hand weeding. Thus, rotary weeder saved 93% of labour and 75.45% of cost of operation in comparison to manual hand weeding using Kasola in mustard crop.