Algerian Journal of Engineering and Technology

Drought Analysis of Wheat in Humid (Wales) and Dry (Iraq) Conditions

2023-05-15T23:06:28+01:00

It is necessity to examine the relationships between droughts and plant yields, which are affected by climate change. In this study, by choosing sample countries from the Middle East and Northern Europe, It was aimed to determine the relationship between wheat yields and drought. Considering that Wales represents the wet conditions and Iraq represents the dry conditions in the World, in this study, the drought conditions of these two countries were analyzed with standard precipitation index (SPI), standard runoff index (SRI) and palmer drought severity index (PDSI). In Cardiff, it was determined that the meteorological humidity increased and there is a normal climate in terms of hydrologic. This led to an increase in wheat yields. In terms of meteorologic drought, Iraq cities from arid to humid are Kirkuk, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, respectively. Agriculturally, they are listed as Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, respectively. It was determined that wheat yield decreases in Iraq were caused by non-climatic factors. Generally, it was determined that drought periods spread homogenously throughout Iraq. Nevertheless, It is determined that drought is much more widespread and severe in Iraq in 2003, 2004 and 1964. In future dry years, production should be supported with irrigation and fertilization in Wales and Iraq.

Effects of holder pasteurization operating parameters on pasteurized raw milk quality

2023-05-04T08:09:30+01:00

A batch pasteurizer could be considered a closed system and it mostly makes use of heat, stirring, or agitation and speed variation as a process parameter for pasteurization. This study investigates if these parameters support the holder pasteurization method using White Fulani cow breed milk samples. The milk samples were pasteurized at 63°C for 30 minutes with slight but insignificant variations in pH values up to 7.55. The stirring speeds used in this study were 30 rpm, 36 rpm, and 42 rpm. The results showed a significant difference in the microbial loads and phytochemical values due to the study treatments. The microbial loads varied between 1.05* 10⁴CFU/ml to 8.25*10⁷ CFU/ml while the phytochemical values were between 0.12 mg/ml to 27.67 mg/ml. The milk samples were poor in phenol and flavonoid but their differences were significant at p≤0.05 after pasteurization. The speed of 30 rpm and 36 rpm did not show a significant difference at p≤0.05 in the fungi counts after the pasteurization. The blade shapes considered were anchor, helical, and vane. These blade shapes used contributed to the holder pasteurization process.

Local sensitivity analysis of the AquaCrop model outputs for wheat under Semi-Arid water stress condition

2023-05-04T08:10:08+01:00

The FAO AquaCrop model has been extensively reported to simulate wheat growth and productivity in response to environmental conditions in many parts of the world. However, the calibration of the model could be tedious due to its large number of input parameters. The complexity in the model evaluation could be simplified by conducting a prior sensitivity analysis (SA), which information on it is hard to come-by in the North-eastern Nigeria. The SA of the model’s output variables to its input parameters was conducted using the local sensitivity analysis (LSA) technique. An early maturing REYNA-28 wheat variety was used under water deficit conditions in the semi-arid North-eastern Nigeria. The analysis revealed that the simulation of grain yield was highly influenced by days-to-flowering (DtF), normalized water productivity (WP*), reference harvest index (HI_o), crop coefficient when the canopy is complete but prior to senescence (K_cTrx) and maximum effective rooting depth (Z_x) with sensitivity coefficients (SCs) of 1.23, 1.05, 0.83, 0.75 and 0.61, respectively. Biomass yield was highly sensitive to days-to-emergence (DtE), WP*, K_cTrx, number of plants per hectare (den), soil surface covered by individual seedlings at 90 % emergence (cc_s) and initial canopy cover (cc_o). The sensitivity of canopy cover was more to its related parameters such as DtE, maximum canopy cover (CC_x), days-to-maximum canopy cover (DtCC_x), canopy growth coefficient (CGC), cc_s, cc_o, den and days-to-start of senescence (DtSS). Stress parameters were found to be either insensitive or with negligible sensitivity except lower soil water depletion threshold for canopy expansion (P_exlw). The analysis also revealed that the model outputs were insensitive to half of the model’s input parameters. These parameters could be fixed within their ranges in order to simplify the model and ease its calibration. The influential/sensitive parameters on the other hand require higher consideration during data collection, fine-tuning and calibration. This work can be validated using different SA techniques and wheat variety and under different environmental condition.

Comparative Study of Biogas Yield from Animal Manure in Barn and Farm

2023-05-04T08:10:41+01:00

To improve the biogas yield from animal manure must be taken into consideration the quality of manure. It is clear that the difference in the method of pasture has an important impact on biogas production. The study aims to compare the amount of biogas produced from manure animals in barns (closed pastures) and animals in farms (open pastures). The study included different types of manure cows, sheep, and poultry. Experiments were performed in a 2 L plastic bottle digester in a water bath at a 37°C mesophilic range. The proportion of the mixture of animal manure and water used was 1:1 during the 12-day hydraulic retention time (HRT). The gas produced was measured by the volumetric water replacement method. The results showed that the barn manure had higher biogas production than the farm manure approximately 3 times because their feed had concentrated nutritional supplements.

Postharvest shelf life extension of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum) using X-rays in Benue State, Nigeria

2023-05-04T08:11:14+01:00

This paper investigates the postharvest shelf life extension of cucumber and irish potato using X-rays, in Benue State, Nigeria. The selection of samples for the research was done from the traditional markets in Gboko for similar properties as depicted in the literature. For both products, six samples each with one kept as the control sample were X-ray irradiated with 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100kVp of X-rays. An ambient storage temperature range of 27 – 30^oC was recorded. The measured density, moisture content M.C (%), and pH were in the intervals: 0.934-1.201 g/cm3 , 94.98-98.67%, and 6.1-4.2 for cucumber, and 0.0874-1.0867 g/cm3 , 70.82-79.93%, and 8.9-7.2 for irish potato respectively. The percentage mass shrinkage ( dM%) of the control and 100kVp X-ray irradiated samples were: 45.0% and 31.6% for cucumber, and 23.8% and 20.5% for irish potato respectively. The mass shrinkage (dM ) was found to increase during preservation and higher kVp values extended the shelf life of the products. The 90-100kVp of X-rays was effective in preserving cucumber for an additional 7 – 8 days and irish potato for additional 10 – 15 days of storage. In essence, cucumber and irish potato can be stored by exposure to specific kVp values of diagnostic X-rays.