reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright appears on all such copies.-1-Risk Management Tools in Precision Agriculture
The application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and deep learning to different domains has become increasingly popular in the last several years. In particular, such models have been used in the agriculture domain to identify... more
The application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and deep learning to different domains has become increasingly popular in the last several years. In particular, such models have been used in the agriculture domain to identify plant species, identify plant stresses, and estimate crop yields. Although there has been much success in applying these techniques to the agriculture domain, these works contain many shortcomings that are hindering their chance for adoption in practice (e.g., lack of domain knowledge, predicting only specific stress types, etc.). We address issues of previous works for the task of plant stress identification by applying a hierarchical classification approach employing confidence as a means to determine the specificity of a classification. This work is a collaboration between computer science and agricultural engineering experts.
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Environmental pollution due to excessive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in agricultural production has become a serious issue of concern worldwide. Farmers are under increasing pressure to adopt farming practices that maintain high crop... more
Environmental pollution due to excessive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in agricultural production has become a serious issue of concern worldwide. Farmers are under increasing pressure to adopt farming practices that maintain high crop yields as well as reduce environmental footprints. Among options for addressing these challenges is the use of in-season N management practices that result in good synchronization between N fertilizer supply and crop demand, thereby reducing the chances of N loss and improving crop N use efficiency. The objectives of this study were to a. Determine the impact of timing and rate of N application on corn yield; and b. Compare the economics of in-season N management practices with the baseline management practice that involves application of large quantities of N prior to planting and a small portion of N at planting. Twenty-four treatments, with combinations of four fertilization times (i.e., pre-planting, at-planting, mid-season, and late-season) and ...
Precision agricultural technologies have provided farmers, practitioners and researchers the ability to conduct on-farm or field scale research to refine farm management, improve long term crop production decisions, and implement... more
Precision agricultural technologies have provided farmers, practitioners and researchers the ability to conduct on-farm or field scale research to refine farm management, improve long term crop production decisions, and implement site-specific management strategies. The limitations of these technologies must be understood by those using them to conduct field scale research to gain useful knowledge from such investigations. Therefore, this paper will address how several precision agriculture technologies can be successfully used to conduct research at a field scale level. Discussions will include yield monitors, variable-rate, auto-swath technologies, guidance systems and GPS/GNSS correction services along with proper setup of machinery equipped with these technologies. The importance of selection, calibration, maintenance, and management will be covered and how these can impact results and thereby decisions made from utilizing these technologies for research purposes. Users must und...
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Remote sensing (RS) technologies provide a diagnostic tool that can serve as an early warning system, allowing the agricultural community to intervene early on to counter potential problems before they spread widely and negatively impact... more
Remote sensing (RS) technologies provide a diagnostic tool that can serve as an early warning system, allowing the agricultural community to intervene early on to counter potential problems before they spread widely and negatively impact crop productivity. With the recent advancements in sensor technologies, data management and data analytics, currently, several RS options are available to the agricultural community. However, the agricultural sector is yet to implement RS technologies fully due to knowledge gaps on their sufficiency, appropriateness and techno-economic feasibilities. This study reviewed the literature between 2000 to 2019 that focused on the application of RS technologies in production agriculture, ranging from field preparation, planting, and in-season applications to harvesting, with the objective of contributing to the scientific understanding on the potential for RS technologies to support decision-making within different production stages. We found an increasin...
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... color textures as further described by Shearer (1986). Color images of leaf canopies of seven cultivars of nursery stock were used to demonstrate classification power of this new approach. ... To characterize visual plant canopy... more
... color textures as further described by Shearer (1986). Color images of leaf canopies of seven cultivars of nursery stock were used to demonstrate classification power of this new approach. ... To characterize visual plant canopy textures using color co-occurrence matrices. ...
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... continues, the need for automated inspection and grading systems also increases.Mechanized systems harvest a greater percentage of misshapen or injured fruit when compared with the labor intensive manual harvest methods. ...
Research Interests: Algorithms, Image Processing, Computers, Vision, Grading, and 3 moreColour, Sorting, and Utilization
ABSTRACT The environmental effect of weed control systems has stimulated research into new practices for weed control, such as selective herbicide application methods on weed-infested crop areas. This research used the color co-occurrence... more
ABSTRACT The environmental effect of weed control systems has stimulated research into new practices for weed control, such as selective herbicide application methods on weed-infested crop areas. This research used the color co-occurrence method (CCM) texture analysis to determine the effects of plant maturity on the accuracy of weed species classification of digitized images. Two different experimental combinations of weed species and maturity level were examined. The weed species evaluated were ivyleaf morningglory, giant foxtail, large crabgrass, and velvetleaf, with soil image sets added to each experiment. One study examined classification accuracies for two weed species at three maturity levels, and the second study examined four weed species at two maturity levels. For each species-maturity level combination, 40 digital images were collected from a manually seeded outdoor plant bed. Digitized images were transformed from the red–green–blue (RGB) color format into hue–saturation–intensity (HSI) format to generate CCM texture feature data. Stepwise variable reduction procedures were used to select texture variables with the greatest discriminant capacity. Then discriminant analysis was used to determine the classification accuracy for the two different experiments. When using HSI texture statistics, discriminant analysis correctly classified weed species within and across maturity levels with an accuracy above 97% for both experimental groups. These image processing algorithms demonstrate potential use for weed scouting, weed infestation mapping, and weed control applications using site-specific farming technology. Nomenclature: Ivyleaf morningglory, Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacq. IPOHE; giant foxtail, Setaria faberi Hermm. SETFA; large crabgrass, Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. DIGSA; velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medik. ABUTH.
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... Mechanical methods have not been found to be commercially useful, primarily because of difficulty of in-line installation, sanitation problems associated with mechanical devices, and lack of equipment reliability (Dave McKenna, 1991,... more
... Mechanical methods have not been found to be commercially useful, primarily because of difficulty of in-line installation, sanitation problems associated with mechanical devices, and lack of equipment reliability (Dave McKenna, 1991, Foss Food Technology, Minneapolis, MN ...
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Soil surveys provide information about the location of eroded areas across landscapes, but not at a scale that may be necessary for land use planning, precision agriculture, and conservation management. The objective of this paper was to... more
Soil surveys provide information about the location of eroded areas across landscapes, but not at a scale that may be necessary for land use planning, precision agriculture, and conservation management. The objective of this paper was to determine whether site-specific information and logistic regression could be used to improve the spatial resolution of soil surveys. This study was conducted on fragipan soils developed from loess in a western Kentucky agricultural field. Information about the presence and severity of erosion was obtained from a highly detailed first-order soil survey and less detailed second-order county soil surveys. Digital terrain attributes (slope, length-slope factor, wetness), reflectance (visible, red-NIR, and NIR), soil electrical conductivity, and direct contact electrical conductivity were used as regressor variables. Binary variables were assigned a value of one if they were located in eroded map phases and if slope values were greater than or equal to t...
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... Mg and Zn prediction models indicated that these soil properties may not provide reliable results. These results and conclusions are from Shelby County soils within the Kentucky bluegrass region. Acknowledgements ... 10:215. Reeves,... more
... Mg and Zn prediction models indicated that these soil properties may not provide reliable results. These results and conclusions are from Shelby County soils within the Kentucky bluegrass region. Acknowledgements ... 10:215. Reeves, JB, GW McCarty, and JJ Meisinger. 1999. ...
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Maps identifying areas prone to channel erosion within agricultural fields could be useful for conservation planners. The objective of this study was to test an approach for creating such maps with logistic regression and neural networks.... more
Maps identifying areas prone to channel erosion within agricultural fields could be useful for conservation planners. The objective of this study was to test an approach for creating such maps with logistic regression and neural networks. Survey grade elevation measurements were obtained from on a Central Kentucky farm. The elevation measurements were used to create 4 by 4-m digital elevation models (DEMs) from which terrain attributes were derived. Areas exhibiting evidence of erosion caused by overland water flow sufficient to justify the placement of grassed waterways were identified. The terrain attributes were used as predictor variables and models were fit using the field assessments of soil erosion. Leave-one-field-out validation analysis was conducted to assess the quality of predictions maps. For the models created with logistic regression, an average of 14% of the 4 by 4-m grid cells in noneroded areas were incorrectly classified as being eroded and 16% of cells in eroded ...
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The environmental benefits of grassed waterways (GWWs) including erosion control and sediment reduction in runoff are well documented. The USDA-NRCS provides funding to producers for the establishment and maintenance of approved waterways... more
The environmental benefits of grassed waterways (GWWs) including erosion control and sediment reduction in runoff are well documented. The USDA-NRCS provides funding to producers for the establishment and maintenance of approved waterways in these areas if a field has sufficient erosion resulting from concentrated water flow. The first step in successfully establishing a grassed waterway is for an NRCS conservationist to make a site assessment to determine if sufficient erosion exists to warrant mitigation. This involves traversing fields to locate physical evidence of prior erosion which can be a time consuming and expensive process. Precision agriculture technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) may improve the efficiency of locating areas for GWWs per NRCS guidelines. In a previous study, a model was developed with considerable predictive capacity that identified where erosion resulting from concentrated water flow was likely t...
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Concentrated water flow causes considerable erosion in agricultural fields. The objective of this study was to test whether a stochastic modeling approach could be used to determine the location of erosion channels based on terrain... more
Concentrated water flow causes considerable erosion in agricultural fields. The objective of this study was to test whether a stochastic modeling approach could be used to determine the location of erosion channels based on terrain attributes derived from 10-m level-2 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) elevation data. Logistic regression was used to develop models that predicted where erosion was likely to occur based on digital terrain attributes derived from the elevation data. The model was fit using georeferenced field observations of soil erosion. A simple two-variable model was developed for predicting erosion channels that included two topographic attributes: the length-slope factor (t score = 9.7) and the topographic wetness index (t score = 11.4). Leave-one-field-out cross-validation (average of 22% false positives and 34% false negatives) confirmed that models correctly identified many of the eroded waterway features but did not accurately predict their shapes. This work sugges...
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Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Modern rate controllers along with technologies such as automatic section control (ASC) can improve in-field input use efficiency while preventing detrimental effect of unwanted spray application in areas such as grassed waterways or... more
Modern rate controllers along with technologies such as automatic section control (ASC) can improve in-field input use efficiency while preventing detrimental effect of unwanted spray application in areas such as grassed waterways or other environmental structures. ...
ABSTRACT The objective of this research project was to design and construct an apparatus to assess the dynamic performance of GPS receivers for application in the field of precision agriculture. An I-beam track was constructed to support... more
ABSTRACT The objective of this research project was to design and construct an apparatus to assess the dynamic performance of GPS receivers for application in the field of precision agriculture. An I-beam track was constructed to support this fixture-based test system. A prototype cart was fabricated for initial testing. Positioning data were collected using both an RTK GPS system and a low-cost GPS receiver. Analysis of the RTK data showed that the track system held the receiver to within a few centimeters along the track. Comparison of the RTK and low-cost GPS receiver data demonstrate how the test track system will be used in its final form. The low-cost receiver positioning data strayed from the RTK data by as much as 1.75 meters.
Page 1. This is not a peer-reviewed article. Paper Number: 031010 An ASAE Meeting Presentation Using Low-Cost GPS Receivers for Boundary Mapping Timothy S. Stombaugh, Assistant Professor Biosystems and Agricultural ...
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Page 1. An ASAE Meeting Presentation Paper Number: 041101 Improved Mass Flow Sensing for Yield Monitoring in Grain Combines Matthew W. Veal , ASAE Member University of Kentucky , 119 CE Barnhart Building Lexington, KY 40546 , USA ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
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... Daniel M. Queiroz, ASABE Member, Professor, Departamento de Engenharia Agricola, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil; and Michael P. Sama, ASABE Member ... Notice that the slopes of Run A and B fell into each other's... more
... Daniel M. Queiroz, ASABE Member, Professor, Departamento de Engenharia Agricola, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil; and Michael P. Sama, ASABE Member ... Notice that the slopes of Run A and B fell into each other's confidence interval as well as the slopes of Run C ...
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Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. An ASAE/CSAE Meeting Presentation Paper Number: 041113 Comparison of VRT Granular Applicators John P Fulton, Assistant Professor Biosystems Engineering, Auburn University, 200 Corley Bldg, Auburn, AL Scott A Shearer, Professor ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE), and ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. 2 An ASABE Meeting Presentation Paper Number: 096726 Guidance Directrix Generation Using Laser Sensors SKPitla, Engineer Associate Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY40546,... more
Page 1. 2 An ASABE Meeting Presentation Paper Number: 096726 Guidance Directrix Generation Using Laser Sensors SKPitla, Engineer Associate Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY40546, santosh.pitla@bae.uky.edu ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
ABSTRACT An off-the-shelf low cost laser sensor was tested and evaluated both in laboratory and field conditions. The sensor identified the angular and straight edges of the laboratory test surface and replicated the straight edge profile... more
ABSTRACT An off-the-shelf low cost laser sensor was tested and evaluated both in laboratory and field conditions. The sensor identified the angular and straight edges of the laboratory test surface and replicated the straight edge profile with an error of 4%. In field conditions, the sensor identified three types of cut crop edges (wheat, alfalfa and corn) and replicated distinct shapes (triangle, curved and rectangular edges). The sensor was tested at two sensor path offset distances and three tractor/sensor speeds (3.2, 6.4 and 9.6 km/h). In all test runs the sensor detected the cut-crop edges. Standard deviations and RMSE values in determining the actual cut-crop edges for the entire field test were within 210 cm and 13 cm respectively. The sensor performed the best in the case of wheat cut-crop edge where the RMSE was 4.2 cm (sensor path offset = 1m, speed 3.2 km/h) and performed the worst in the case of alfalfa cut-crop edge where the RMSE was 16.7 cm (sensor path offset = .30 m and speed 9.6 km/h).
The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and... more
The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and its printing and distribution does not constitute an ...
Page 1. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ...
... continues, the need for automated inspection and grading systems also increases.Mechanized systems harvest a greater percentage of misshapen or injured fruit when compared with the labor intensive manual harvest methods. ...
Research Interests: Algorithms, Image Processing, Computers, Vision, Grading, and 3 moreColour, Sorting, and Utilization
ABSTRACT The environmental effect of weed control systems has stimulated research into new practices for weed control, such as selective herbicide application methods on weed-infested crop areas. This research used the color co-occurrence... more
ABSTRACT The environmental effect of weed control systems has stimulated research into new practices for weed control, such as selective herbicide application methods on weed-infested crop areas. This research used the color co-occurrence method (CCM) texture analysis to determine the effects of plant maturity on the accuracy of weed species classification of digitized images. Two different experimental combinations of weed species and maturity level were examined. The weed species evaluated were ivyleaf morningglory, giant foxtail, large crabgrass, and velvetleaf, with soil image sets added to each experiment. One study examined classification accuracies for two weed species at three maturity levels, and the second study examined four weed species at two maturity levels. For each species-maturity level combination, 40 digital images were collected from a manually seeded outdoor plant bed. Digitized images were transformed from the red–green–blue (RGB) color format into hue–saturation–intensity (HSI) format to generate CCM texture feature data. Stepwise variable reduction procedures were used to select texture variables with the greatest discriminant capacity. Then discriminant analysis was used to determine the classification accuracy for the two different experiments. When using HSI texture statistics, discriminant analysis correctly classified weed species within and across maturity levels with an accuracy above 97% for both experimental groups. These image processing algorithms demonstrate potential use for weed scouting, weed infestation mapping, and weed control applications using site-specific farming technology. Nomenclature: Ivyleaf morningglory, Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacq. IPOHE; giant foxtail, Setaria faberi Hermm. SETFA; large crabgrass, Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. DIGSA; velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medik. ABUTH.
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ABSTRACT Greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions were measured in a field experiment evaluating preplant swine effluent application methods for no-till corn (Zea mays L.) grain production. The treatments included a control, an... more
ABSTRACT Greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions were measured in a field experiment evaluating preplant swine effluent application methods for no-till corn (Zea mays L.) grain production. The treatments included a control, an inorganic fertilizer treatment receiving 179 kg N ha–1 as urea–NH4NO3 (UAN), and three effluent application methods that received a target rate of 200 kg N ha–1. The effluent treatments included surface application, direct injection, and application in combination with soil aeration. Gas emission measurements were initiated after application and collected throughout the 2007 and 2008 growing seasons using a vented chamber technique. There were no significant differences in CO2 losses, which averaged 738 and 718 g CO2 m–2 in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Placement of effluent below the soil surface by injection or aeration resulted in elevated CH4 emissions compared with the control. Injection emitted significantly more CH4 than surface applications, with emissions of 0.26 and 0.80 g CH4 m–2 from the injection treatments in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In 2007, N2O emissions were similar for the UAN, surface effluent, and aeration effluent treatments, emitting an average of 0.72 g N2O m–2. In contrast, the injection treatment emitted 0.47 g N2O m–2. In 2008, this trend was reversed, with the injection treatment emitting 0.82 g N2O m–2 and the remaining N source treatments emitting an average of 0.36 g N2O m–2. These differences between years probably resulted from differences in rainfall distribution. These results demonstrate that climatic conditions and application method need consideration when evaluating the impact of liquid manure management on greenhouse gas emissions.
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ABSTRACT Variable-rate technology (VRT) has been used by farmers in an attempt to better match inputs to local growing conditions. In theory, VRT minimizes over- and under-application of inputs. However, the limitations and errors of this... more
ABSTRACT Variable-rate technology (VRT) has been used by farmers in an attempt to better match inputs to local growing conditions. In theory, VRT minimizes over- and under-application of inputs. However, the limitations and errors of this technology have not been well documented. Further, standard methods for quantifying the application accuracy using VRT do not currently exist, limiting practitioners’ knowledge on performance. Therefore, a spatial data model was developed to generate “as-applied” surfaces as a means to evaluate VRT performance of two applicators. The spatial data model uses geographic information system functionality to merge applicator descriptive patterns with a field application file to generate an ‘as-applied’ surface map representing not only the actual deposition of granular fertilizer but more importantly spatial distribution. Field data were collected and used to validate the spatial model. Comparisons between the actual and predicted application rates indicated moderate to good correlations (0.62 < R < 0.88) for two applicators. Longitudinal offset such as for a global positioning system receiver impacted model performance for one applicator but not the other. A comparison of the actual application rates to the prescription maps illustrated the inconsistency of VRT performance to deliver target rates. Both applicators were only within 10 % of the target rates a small percentage of time (<45 %) during field operation. Generated as-applied surface maps highlighted errors associated with VRT along with limitations of the technology within site-specific management (SSM). Thus, as-applied surface maps provide a means to properly evaluate VRT while enhancing researchers’ and practitioners’ abilities to compare and customize SSM approaches.
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A system for measuring two-dimensional deformation in a soil bin using video image analysis was developed and evaluated. Soil was placed in the bin [1.22 (wide)×9.1 m long] in 50 mm deep layers of nominally uniform bulk density (1.35 Mg... more
A system for measuring two-dimensional deformation in a soil bin using video image analysis was developed and evaluated. Soil was placed in the bin [1.22 (wide)×9.1 m long] in 50 mm deep layers of nominally uniform bulk density (1.35 Mg m−3) to a total depth of 0.76 m. White polypropylene markers [6.4 (dia.)×25.4 mm] were placed in the soil such
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The primary objective of this project was to reduce risk of injury associated with operating a rotary mower driven by a tractor power take-off (PTO) by developing and evaluating design improvements and determining their economic... more
The primary objective of this project was to reduce risk of injury associated with operating a rotary mower driven by a tractor power take-off (PTO) by developing and evaluating design improvements and determining their economic feasibility. Researchers have concluded that alteration of machinery design has a greater impact on the reduction of accidents than safety training. Implementation of an Operator Presence Sensing System (OPSS) and removal of the PTO are the two injury-reducing, engineering modifications evaluated by this research. Hydraulic power allows this to occur by providing dynamic braking, few moving parts (removal of the PTO), and controllable power. A hydraulic circuit was developed to power the mower and to enable an OPSS. Tractor hydraulics were simulated using a hydraulic training bench. Two mower configurations were tested: 6.55 cm3 rev(-1) (0.4 in.3 rev(-1)) displacement motor with a 0.748 kg blade and 47.5 cm3 rev(-1) (2.9 in.3 rev(-1)) displacement motor with a 9.4 kg blade. A PTO-driven rotary mower was not used to test the circuit due to spatial and safety limitations of the hydraulic training bench. Results from the first mower configuration verified the concepts behind the hydraulic circuit. The second configuration verified the OPSS and indicated the applicability of the circuit to a rotary mower.
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ABSTRACT The decision to adopt different precision agriculture (PA) technologies can be difficult for producers due to the high cost and complexity encountered with different systems. Thus, a method of estimating potential savings... more
ABSTRACT The decision to adopt different precision agriculture (PA) technologies can be difficult for producers due to the high cost and complexity encountered with different systems. Thus, a method of estimating potential savings resulting from specific technologies based on operating conditions would considerably contribute the decision making process. For instance, the benefits of automatic section control can be dependent on the field size, shape, and field operation patterns. Thus, knowing the potential reduction in overlapped areas of a specific field would be desirable in order to justify the acquisition of such a technology package. Researchers have reported computational methods for estimating off-target application areas based on actual field boundaries. While the reported methods are valid, it requires a considerable amount of computational power to execute lengthy routines written on dedicated software. The goal of this study was to develop a simplified approach for estimating off-target application areas in agricultural fields considering the combined effects of field shape, field size, and implement width. The results revealed that the descriptor headland area (H) over the field area (A), presented the best relationship with off-target application. A linear model for predicting average off-target application was adjusted based on H/A and presented estimating errors within +/-6.7% at 2 standard deviations.
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... bDepartment of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0046, USA (Accepted 5 February 1991 ) ABSTRACT Gates, RS, Overhults, DG, Walcott ... if G represents a type 1 system, then the steady-state value of... more
... bDepartment of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0046, USA (Accepted 5 February 1991 ) ABSTRACT Gates, RS, Overhults, DG, Walcott ... if G represents a type 1 system, then the steady-state value of Vout due to a step disturbance will be zero. ...
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Precision agriculture is already being used commercially to improve variability management in row crop agriculture. In the same way, understanding how spatial and temporal variability of animal, forage, soil and landscape features affect... more
Precision agriculture is already being used commercially to improve variability management in row crop agriculture. In the same way, understanding how spatial and temporal variability of animal, forage, soil and landscape features affect grazing behavior and forage utilization provides potential to modify pasture management, improve efficiency of utilization, and maximize profits. Recent advances in global positioning system (GPS) technology have allowed the development of lightweight GPS collar receivers suitable for monitoring animal position at 5-min intervals. The GPS data can be imported into a geographic information system (GIS) to assess animal behavior characteristics and pasture utilization. This paper describes application and use of GPS technology on intensively managed beef cattle, and implications for livestock behavior and management research on pasture. Key words: Livestock behavior, electronics, grazing, forage, global positioning system, geographic information system
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Research Interests: Water, Biomass, Multidisciplinary, Cellulase, Elements, and 15 moreEthanol Production, Lignin, Solubility, Glucans, Fermentation, Room Temperature, Carbohydrate metabolism, Xylans, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrolysis, Sulfuric Acid, Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation, Bioresource technology, Enzymatic hydrolysis, and corn stover
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Due to concerns with stover collection systems, soil sustainability, and processing costs to produce ethanol, there are opportunities to investigate the optimal plant fractions to collect. Wheat stover fractions were separated by hand and... more
Due to concerns with stover collection systems, soil sustainability, and processing costs to produce ethanol, there are opportunities to investigate the optimal plant fractions to collect. Wheat stover fractions were separated by hand and analyzed for glucan, xylan, acid-soluble lignin, acid-insoluble lignin, and ash composition. Internodes had the highest glucan content (38.2% zero percent moisture basis) and the other fractions
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... New technologies provide the ability to: (1) quantify yield variability in small areas of the field; (2 ... (1 998) found that eleva-tion, slope and aspect had significant ... However, even here, spatial differences in infiltration... more
... New technologies provide the ability to: (1) quantify yield variability in small areas of the field; (2 ... (1 998) found that eleva-tion, slope and aspect had significant ... However, even here, spatial differences in infiltration rates can affect water distribution and hence water availability to ...
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ABSTRACT Yield monitors have become vital reference tools for grain growers in making informed management decisions in their cropping operations. The cornerstone of a yield monitor system is the mass flow sensor, used to calculate the... more
ABSTRACT Yield monitors have become vital reference tools for grain growers in making informed management decisions in their cropping operations. The cornerstone of a yield monitor system is the mass flow sensor, used to calculate the mass flow rate of clean grain through a combine. This investigation was initiated to examine the influence of varying field slopes (both roll and pitch) on accuracy levels of a mass flow sensor for a commercially available yield monitor system. A laboratory test stand consisting of a combine clean grain elevator mounted on a gimbal fixture was used to simulate varying field slopes normally experienced during field operation of a combine. Results indicated that slope affected mass flow sensor response. Combine pitch had a greater effect than roll on mass flow measurements. While errors were observed during roll tests (-3.45% to 3.46%), they were considered small and were impractical to correct using predictive approaches. Pitch tests generated higher errors (-6.41% to 5.50%) with discernable linear trends indicating that mass flow was underestimated during aft operating conditions and overestimated during forward rotations. This trend suggests gravitational acceleration of the mass flow sensor during combine pitch may cause these errors. The use of a predictive linear model, to correct flow rates for slope, greatly decreased the overall error for the pitch results. © 2009 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
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ABSTRACT Quantifying the nutrient content of liquid swine and dairy manure immediately preceding field application has the potential to reduce environmental impact from over-applying nutrients and better match slurry application rates... more
ABSTRACT Quantifying the nutrient content of liquid swine and dairy manure immediately preceding field application has the potential to reduce environmental impact from over-applying nutrients and better match slurry application rates with the fertility needs of subsequent crops or crop removal rates. This study determined if manure solid content, storage facility, animal growth stage, and season could be used as predictors of the nutrient content of animal manures. Samples were collected from earthen storage basins and deep pits, on one farm, during liquid manure loading into a manure application wagon in 1999, 2000, and 2001. The correlation of nitrogen and phosphorus content with solids content gave good linear fits (R2 = 0.65 to 0.86) for the earthen storage basins. Data for an earthen storage basin exhibited consistent decrease in solids content by sequential load for a given day. Regression of nitrogen content versus solids content data for manure from deep-pit swine finishing facilities provided an undesirable fit (R2 = 0.19). Regression results support the conclusion that animal growth stage/storage facility affects the base TN concentration (Y-intercept) in the absence of solids. The gestation and finishing TN data suggests TN for an individual manure wagonload could be predicted if the base TN concentration, in the absence of solids, was determined. Total P was found to be highly correlated to TS, but was also affected by animal growth stage/storage facility. Deep pits showed consistent nutrient content across pumping seasons and growth stage with the exception that nitrogen content decreased slightly during fall application.
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Page 1. 1 Trends in the Automation of Agricultural Field Machinery by: Scott A. Shearer 1 , Santosh K. Pitla 2 , Joe D. Luck 3 Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA 1. Introduction Trends ...
The importance of trade is underscored by America=s shrinking share of the world=s population. Americans now comprise only 4 percent of the world=s population and are experiencing minimal population growth, while many of the countries... more
The importance of trade is underscored by America=s shrinking share of the world=s population. Americans now comprise only 4 percent of the world=s population and are experiencing minimal population growth, while many of the countries that we trade with are ...
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ABSTRACT It may be possible to predict crop response across agricultural fields using precision agriculture technologies. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between soil electrical conductivity (EC), nitrogen rates,... more
ABSTRACT It may be possible to predict crop response across agricultural fields using precision agriculture technologies. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between soil electrical conductivity (EC), nitrogen rates, soil topography, presence of weeds, and their impact on Kentucky corn yield. Correlation, factor, and multiple linear and non-linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between the variables. Correlation results indicated a significant relationship between EC and topographic variables, nitrogen rate, presence of weeds, and yield. Factor analysis showed there are common underlying factors that were not directly measured. Linear and non-linear regression modeling indicated significant EC-Nitrogen rate interactions as well as the difficulty of explaining variation in crop yield with low R 2 of 0.12. The significance of the EC-Nitrogen interaction leads to the hypothesis that variable rate nitrogen management on the basis of EC information may be economically justified. Further analysis will be required to test this hypothesis.
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An investigation of methods to automate poultry chick sexing was performed and, as a result of the study, an algorithm for machine vision feather sexing was developed. The algorithm uses edge detection techniques applied to digitized... more
An investigation of methods to automate poultry chick sexing was performed and, as a result of the study, an algorithm for machine vision feather sexing was developed. The algorithm uses edge detection techniques applied to digitized images of the wing tips of feather-sexed chicks. Feather shaft lengths extracted by this method were then used to develop sample statistics to classify an individual image. A data set of 200 images (100 male and 100 female) was constructed, and various statistical tests were investigated to determine the accuracy of the algorithm for the sexing operation. Accuracies ranged from 50% to 89%, with the highest obtained from discriminant analysis. Several improvements are possible which may make such a technique a viable process for automating the sexing operation.
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The Yield Monitor Test Facility (YMTF) was used to evaluate the GreenStar mass flow sensor in a 9600 clean grain elevator under dynamically varying inflow rates. It was found that the GreenStar yield sensor predicted accumulated mass with... more
The Yield Monitor Test Facility (YMTF) was used to evaluate the GreenStar mass flow sensor in a 9600 clean grain elevator under dynamically varying inflow rates. It was found that the GreenStar yield sensor predicted accumulated mass with less than 4% error (under dynamically varying step and ramp flow rates) within normal operating conditions of 4.2 to 16.9 kg/s (10
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Government regulatory agencies recommend nutrient management plans (NMPs) for animal operations to reduce non-point source pollution. These plans require manure analysis for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), and use indices... more
Government regulatory agencies recommend nutrient management plans (NMPs) for animal operations to reduce non-point source pollution. These plans require manure analysis for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), and use indices to determine nutrient availability. This study evaluated a rapid on-farm method to predict TN and TP concentrations of swine slurries. A field investigation based on this rapid assessment procedure was used to evaluate the effect of a NMP on corn yield and soil fertility. Manure grab samples were collected to validate the rapid on-farm model for predicting TN and TP. A corn crop was raised on two phosphorus (P) soil test levels (medium and excessive) using three randomized complete blocks with two replications of three treatments. Rapid on-farm models were accurate (P ≤ 0.05) for predicting manure TN and TP. The rapid model manure application rate produced grain yields that were significantly higher than inorganic-N fertilization treatments (13,000 kg ha−1 versus 9,000 kg ha−1) (P ≤ 0.05). Potassium chloride extractable soil P and ammonium were not significantly different (P ≥ 0.05) in manure treatments compared with the inorganic-N treatment. Analysis of ear leaf N, P, and K and grain yields demonstrated that the rapid model manure application developed by a NMP met crop requirements.
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Reducing off-target chemical application errors can improve profitability and reduce pesticide and nutrient losses to the environment from agricultural operations. Off-target errors include: skipped-application, multiple-application, and... more
Reducing off-target chemical application errors can improve profitability and reduce pesticide and nutrient losses to the environment from agricultural operations. Off-target errors include: skipped-application, multiple-application, and unintentional-application to environmentally sensitive areas. Current spray application technologies limit the ability of producers to control pesticide application to a resolution of approximately 5–10m or greater with large self-propelled sprayers. The objective of this
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... The analyses suggested that maps for identifying eroded waterway features created with 10-m, Level-2 USGS DEMs were of acceptable quality to be used as a field tool for conserva-tion planners for a farm in Shelby County, Kentucky. ...... more
... The analyses suggested that maps for identifying eroded waterway features created with 10-m, Level-2 USGS DEMs were of acceptable quality to be used as a field tool for conserva-tion planners for a farm in Shelby County, Kentucky. ... Chow, TL, HW Rees, and JL Daigle. ...
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ABSTRACT
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While the application of precision agriculture technology to tactical, or within cropping season, decisions such as variable rate nutrient application may be an initial focus for producers, other decisions can be considered. Precision... more
While the application of precision agriculture technology to tactical, or within cropping season, decisions such as variable rate nutrient application may be an initial focus for producers, other decisions can be considered. Precision agriculture, as an information system, can provide data to help make spatially dependent strategic, or multiple cropping season, decisions. This research evaluates the economic benefit of filter strips on a diversified crop farm including corn and double cropped wheat with soybean. Economic analysis includes break-even computations permitting development of a decision-making criteria for the selection of these strips using historical yield monitor data. Results suggest that there is potential for this geographic information assisted process of filter strip delineation to increase overall net returns for producers with economically superior results to either a more naive approach of enrolling all eligible land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)or not participating in CRP. Furthermore, results suggest that information from precision agriculture, when coupled with appropriate economic analytical tools, can increase enrollment in CRP and enhance sustainabilily through increased profits and the environmental benefits from engaging in the CRP.
Research Interests: Decision Making, Sustainable agriculture, Precision Agriculture, Sustainable, Research evaluation, and 10 moreSeasonality, Economic analysis, Profitability, Soybean, Geographic Information, Economic Benefit, Spatial Dependence, Environmental benefit, Information System, and Conservation Reserve Program
Fulton et al. (2001) modeled fixed and variable-rate spread patterns of granular fertilizers and agricultural lime from a spinner spreader by modifying ASAE Standard S341.2 to include a 2-D array of collection pans. This information was... more
Fulton et al. (2001) modeled fixed and variable-rate spread patterns of granular fertilizers and agricultural lime from a spinner spreader by modifying ASAE Standard S341.2 to include a 2-D array of collection pans. This information was then used by Fulton et al. (2000) to develop a method for generating 'as-applied' surfaces using GIS functionality to convert a field record of
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The objective of this project is to develop economic, risk management decision aids for precision agriculture practitioners to identify temporal risk spatially from production. Break-even analysis, coefficient of variation and a mean... more
The objective of this project is to develop economic, risk management decision aids for precision agriculture practitioners to identify temporal risk spatially from production. Break-even analysis, coefficient of variation and a mean variance framework are used to identify risk. ...
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... Delineation of Erosion Features. One of the co-owners of the Worth and Dee Ellis Farms was informally trained by a previous NRCS conservationist in Shelby Co. ... Weed Technol. 13 : 157 164 . ↵ Chow , TL , HW Rees, and JL Daigle.... more
... Delineation of Erosion Features. One of the co-owners of the Worth and Dee Ellis Farms was informally trained by a previous NRCS conservationist in Shelby Co. ... Weed Technol. 13 : 157 164 . ↵ Chow , TL , HW Rees, and JL Daigle. 1999 . ...
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... 2 and 5 introduce an alternating current into the soil; the other four coulters measure voltage drop ... Other methods for measuring EC using direct-contact techniques exist (Crop Technol., Bandera, TX ... Data with negative values... more
... 2 and 5 introduce an alternating current into the soil; the other four coulters measure voltage drop ... Other methods for measuring EC using direct-contact techniques exist (Crop Technol., Bandera, TX ... Data with negative values indicated poor sensorsoil contact and were removed ...
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The selection of a spatial interpolation methods will impact the quality of site-specific soil fertility maps. The objective of this study was to describe and predict the relative performance of inverse distance weighted (IDW) and... more
The selection of a spatial interpolation methods will impact the quality of site-specific soil fertility maps. The objective of this study was to describe and predict the relative performance of inverse distance weighted (IDW) and ordinary kriging. Soil samples were collected on 30.5-m ...