Mango(Mangifera indica)is an important,and popular fruit in Bangladesh.However,the post-harvest processing of it is still mostly performed manually,a situation far from satisfactory,in terms of accuracy and throughput...Mango(Mangifera indica)is an important,and popular fruit in Bangladesh.However,the post-harvest processing of it is still mostly performed manually,a situation far from satisfactory,in terms of accuracy and throughput.To automate the grading of mangos(geometry and shape),we developed an image acquisition and processing system to extract projected area,perimeter,and roundness features.In this system,images were acquired using a XGA format color camera of 8-bit gray levels using fluorescent lighting.An image processing algorithm based on region based global thresholding color binarization,combined with median filter and morphological analysis was developed to classify mangos into one of three mass grades such as large,medium,and small.This system achieved an accuracy of 97% for projected area and Feret diameter,79% for perimeter,and 36% for roundness.To achieve a finer grading,two different grading features could be used in sequence.The image grading system is simple and efficient and can be considered a suitable first stage to mechanizing the commercial grading of mangos in Bangladesh.Moreover,the method has the potential to be applied to other crops with suitable adjustments.展开更多
Conservation agriculture(CA)based production systems may help in achieving more sustainable intensification of cropping systems that use less labour and energy and have higher profit margins,in addition to soil conser...Conservation agriculture(CA)based production systems may help in achieving more sustainable intensification of cropping systems that use less labour and energy and have higher profit margins,in addition to soil conservation and environmental impact mitigation advantages.But these objectives can only be achieved when the right mechanization options,including appropriate crop establishment equipment,are in place to assist in timely field operations.An urgent need exists,therefore,to fine tune and re-adjust the existing two-wheel tractor(2WT)operated seed drills,with specific reference to the design of blade and furrow openers,while at the same time considering performance in different soil types and environments.To this end,experiments were conducted during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 at two BARI Regional Agricultural Research Stations in Jamalpur and Barisal,Bangladesh,on a loam and clay loam soil,respectively,to evaluate five types of furrow opener for strip tillage.Shoe and modified shoe-type furrow openers were tested and compared with three inverted-T furrow openers with rake angles of 75°,65°and 55°.The newly designed inverted-T furrow openers were narrower than the shoe-type openers;they also had a longer,hollow shanks and provided better options for adjustment to achieve the desired seeding depth and line spacing.Compared to shoe-type openers,better seeding depth,uniformity and higher degree of seed coverage were recorded with use of the inverted-T furrow opener with a 65°rake angle.This resulted in better seed coverage in the furrow,a higher emergence rate index,and the highest emergence percentage of maize and mung bean.Our research findings can be generalized to smallholder production systems on loam and clay loam soils where farmers utilize 2WT operated seed drills for crop establishment in both traditional and conservation agriculture-based planting systems.展开更多
基金partially supported by the TWAS(Ref.:13-311 RG/ITC/AS_C)MoICT,Bangladesh(code:3-0001-2801-5965).
文摘Mango(Mangifera indica)is an important,and popular fruit in Bangladesh.However,the post-harvest processing of it is still mostly performed manually,a situation far from satisfactory,in terms of accuracy and throughput.To automate the grading of mangos(geometry and shape),we developed an image acquisition and processing system to extract projected area,perimeter,and roundness features.In this system,images were acquired using a XGA format color camera of 8-bit gray levels using fluorescent lighting.An image processing algorithm based on region based global thresholding color binarization,combined with median filter and morphological analysis was developed to classify mangos into one of three mass grades such as large,medium,and small.This system achieved an accuracy of 97% for projected area and Feret diameter,79% for perimeter,and 36% for roundness.To achieve a finer grading,two different grading features could be used in sequence.The image grading system is simple and efficient and can be considered a suitable first stage to mechanizing the commercial grading of mangos in Bangladesh.Moreover,the method has the potential to be applied to other crops with suitable adjustments.
基金The authors gratefully acknowledge the USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA-BD), and the CSISA Phase III project supported by USAID Washington and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for funding this researchAdditional support was provided by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) to support the lead author’s PhD research.
文摘Conservation agriculture(CA)based production systems may help in achieving more sustainable intensification of cropping systems that use less labour and energy and have higher profit margins,in addition to soil conservation and environmental impact mitigation advantages.But these objectives can only be achieved when the right mechanization options,including appropriate crop establishment equipment,are in place to assist in timely field operations.An urgent need exists,therefore,to fine tune and re-adjust the existing two-wheel tractor(2WT)operated seed drills,with specific reference to the design of blade and furrow openers,while at the same time considering performance in different soil types and environments.To this end,experiments were conducted during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 at two BARI Regional Agricultural Research Stations in Jamalpur and Barisal,Bangladesh,on a loam and clay loam soil,respectively,to evaluate five types of furrow opener for strip tillage.Shoe and modified shoe-type furrow openers were tested and compared with three inverted-T furrow openers with rake angles of 75°,65°and 55°.The newly designed inverted-T furrow openers were narrower than the shoe-type openers;they also had a longer,hollow shanks and provided better options for adjustment to achieve the desired seeding depth and line spacing.Compared to shoe-type openers,better seeding depth,uniformity and higher degree of seed coverage were recorded with use of the inverted-T furrow opener with a 65°rake angle.This resulted in better seed coverage in the furrow,a higher emergence rate index,and the highest emergence percentage of maize and mung bean.Our research findings can be generalized to smallholder production systems on loam and clay loam soils where farmers utilize 2WT operated seed drills for crop establishment in both traditional and conservation agriculture-based planting systems.
