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VRT liquid fertilizer applicator for soil nutrient management
Muhammad Yamin1, Wan Ishak Wan Ismail2, Muhamad Saufi Mohd Kassim3, Samsuzana Abd Aziz4, Ramin Shamshiri5.
Sensor based VRT liquid fertilizer application is a suitable way to apply the nutrients for soil
management of various crops. Time and resources can be saved using this technology but
due to the special characteristics of cereal and tree crops like paddy and oil palm,
dedicated designs of VRT liquid fertilizer applicators are needed to fulfill the nutritional
requirement of respective crops. The proposed design of VRT liquid fertilizer applicator
involves soil fertility sensors, speed sensor, flow control valves, flow sensors and pressure
sensor. Design considers the variable fertilizer flow compensation with change in forward
speed of machine between 2.5-3.5 km/h. Also this design offers the transfer of data from
electronic controller to the external computer for record and performance testing of
machine by computing the lag times of flow control valves and application error of
machine. Originally, the design is for tree crop; however, with a slight modification in
controller’s program, this will also be suitable for cereal crops like paddy. To apply the
fertilizer, three DC pumps of 6.89 bar pressure and 5 L/min flow rate were used in simulation
with the flow lines of 6 mm internal diameter. Flow simulation revealed that the system was
able to achieve the 0.06 L/s at 13.73 m/s velocity at nozzles 1 and 2 (full cone nozzles) while
nozzles 3 and 4(flat fan nozzles) were delivering the same flow rate but at a little high
velocity of 13.94 m/s. A comparatively uniform distribution of fertilizer application may be
achieved using flat fan nozzles.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
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Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2021) |
H-Index
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6 |
Immediacy Index
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0.000 |
Rank |
0 |
Indexed by |
Scopus 2020 |
Impact Factor
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CiteScore (1.4) |
Rank |
Q3 (Engineering (all)) |
Additional Information |
SJR (0.191) |
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