فهرست مطالب d. ghanbarian

The texture of fresh fruit is determined by the structural and mechanical properties of tissue. It depends on climate, maturity, variety and postharvest condition. During ripening, due to loss of turgor, degradation of starch and cell walls, the flesh of apple softens. The relationship between fruit quality and its physiological changes has been widely investigated. Using techniques according to the principles of force-deformation, impact, and vibration tests, texture of fruit and its mechanical properties can be associated, conventionally. In analyzing the vitality of biomaterials; a non-invasive technique based on the optical phenomenon is the Biospeckle method which occurs when the surface of the sample is illuminated by laser light. It seems that because of the fact that the laser light can penetrate tissue, it is possible to obtain information about the texture and cell condition from tissue under the skin. This means that, there would be a chance to detect and monitor the variation of cells and try to make a model to predict mechanical properties. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to develop prediction models based on biospeckle imaging to predict mechanical properties of ripe Golden Delicious apples. The 400 fresh and intact 'Golden Delicious' apples were harvested and were prepared for mechanical tests and biospeckle imaging. Biospeckle imaging was carried out first, followed by compression and creep test and then penetration test. During imaging, to avoid environmental reflections, the process was carried out in a dark and closed chamber. Biospeckle activity was saved as a video (AVI format) in a computer for analyzing. The THSP method was used to analyze biospeckle activity in samples. The indices which have been used for analyzing biospeckle images are divided into 3 statistical features and 4 textural features.
Apples were cut in half. One of the halves was used for cylindrical sample extraction for uniaxial compression and creep tests and another was used for penetration test. From compression tests the tangent modulus of elasticity, stress and strain of bio-yield and failure energy for toughness calculation were determined. The creep behavior was obtained by fitting the Burger's model to the experimental data. In penetration test, a stainless steel probe with a hemispherical tip was used for peeled and unpeeled samples. For each sample maximum penetration force and energy were obtained.
Prediction of mechanical property was carried out using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). To reduce the dimension of the input vector the PCA was used. Four significant adjustments were made in the structure of ANFIS in order to find the best models. The models were evaluated using RMSECV, RMSEP, MBEC, MBEP, RC, and RP. Models for modulus of elasticity prediction have Rp=0.821, 0778, 0.791, 0.880, and 0.843 for 4 compression rate and secant modulus, respectively. Clearly, the results from this research are encouraging, indicating the potential of using speckle imaging system for predicting apple fruit mechanical properties. Comparing to the all texture analysis techniques, Wavelet and GLRLM provided good results for most properties leading to select them as the best techniques for analysis of biospeckle images because of their consistency in prediction performance. Prediction model for break strain has the highest Rp (Rp=0.920) followed by the retarded time (Rp=0.890), retarded viscosity (Rp=0.886) and maximum penetration force in unpeeled case (Rp=0.883). A lower correlation (Rp = 0.728) was observed for initial viscosity. The described optical method based on biospeckle represents an innovative and reliable method for rapid and non-invasive detection of mechanical properties. The results of the evaluation showed that, as time passes, fresh apples due to the loss of water in both the elasticity and the biospeckle activity were dropped. Biospeckle imaging can accurately predict mechanical properties. The average accuracy of best prediction of mechanical properties models was R2=0.899. The present results can provide the basis of future development of in-line quality monitoring during apple quality control.

The objectives of this study were to determine the energy use efficiency and economical potential of sugar beet production in Miandoab city, West Azerbaijan province in 2011-12. Fields were classified into three groups as group I (less than 1 ha), group II (1-2 ha), and group III (more than 2 ha). Inputs and outputs data were collected from growers using questionnaire and interview methods. Results showed that the total energy input for the groups I, II and III was 40700, 46868, and 48646 MJ ha-1, respectively and the total energy output was 565488, 857657, and 1081920 MJ ha-1, respectively. Energy use efficiency for the groups I, II and III was 13.89, 18.30 and 22.24%, respectively. The total cost of sugar beet production for the groups I, II and III was 40570, 42315 and 47996 thousands Rials ha-1, respectively. The benefit-to-cost ratio for the groups I, II and III was 1.02, 1.42 and 1.56, respectively. Results of this study showed that larger farms had better energy use efficiency and economic performance.

The seedbed preparation and cereal residue present due to limit of maize (Zea mays L.) growing period are a major challenge in double cropping after winter cereals in Iran as: Shahrekord. In this research, effects of various seedbed preparation methods and crop residuea managements on vegetative growth and yield of forage maize (KSC 704) were studied in a barley-maize double cropping during 2008 in the Agricultural Research Field, Shahrekord University. Three residue management treatments including standing, partly removed and burning along with five tillage systems (moldboard+disk; chisel+disk; moldboard; chisel and furrower as the reduced tillage) were laid out in a split-block design with three replications. The results showed that although burning treatment had maximum of leaf number, plant height, leaves weight, ear weight and forage yield, but there was no significant difference with partly removed residue treatment. Residue treatments had no significant effect on number of ear per plant, stem diameter, stem weight and forage yield. Although, moldboard+disk treatment had the highest leaf area index, leaves weight, ear weight and forage yield, but there was no significant difference with moldboard treatment for all measured characteristics except leaf area index. There was no significant interaction between residue management and tillage treatments for all the measured characteristics. The results of this research indicated that using of moldboard in the case of partly removed residue would be appropriate seedbed preparation method in a barley-maize double cropping.

Poultry manure contains considerable nutrients and its application to agricultural land may boost soil fertility. In order to study the effects of poultry manure and its incorporation method with soil on soil chemical properties, a field experiment was conducted at the Ecological Research Center of Zagroos, 30 kms from northeastern of Khorramabad for two consecutive years (2004 and 2005). Treatments were arranged in a split plots layout based on randomized complete block design with four replications. Two incorporation methods of poultry manure incorporation with soil by furrower and disk+furrower as the main plot, and different amounts of broiler litter including zero, 10, 20 and 30 Mg ha-1 as subplot were considered. The results suggested that the phosphorus, zinc and cooper concentration as well as EC of soil were much greater in the disk+furrower treatment relative to the furrower treatment. However, the amount of total nitrogen and corn dry matter for the furrower treatment was significantly more than disk+furrower treatment. Averaged across years and incorporation method, maximum EC, organic matter, macronutrients and micronutrients concentration of soil and corn dry matter were obtained by applying 30 Mg ha-1 poultry manure. However, no significant differences were observed between 30 Mg ha-1 with 20 Mg ha-1 poultry manure for the EC, organic matter and potassium. The organic matter and concentrations of total nitrogen, phosphorus and micronutrients in soil for the second year were significantly greater than those for the first year. Results suggest that high rates of manure application are not sustainable and will lead to phosphorus accumulation and soil salinization. Thus, that incorporation of 20 Mg ha-1 poultry manure with soil by furrower might be appropriate for maintaining or increase of soil fertility and fairly corn production under conditions similar to this experiment.