Chengming Sun

Rice and wheat grain counting method and software development based on Android system

We proposed a fast rice and wheat grain counting methods based on mobile phones.A new formula on image feature points and the number of grains was put forward.The counting time of this study is generally less than conventional methods. Thousand grain weight is the main component of rice and wheat yields, and an important indicator for variety breeding and cultivation management. Grain counting is an essential step for thousand grain weight measurement. Among several current counting methods, manual counting is laborious and time-consuming; electronic counting devices are expensive; the counting accuracy based on image segmentation processing is not high; and their uses are inconvenient. This study attempts to develop an application program (APP) for fast rice and wheat grain counting based on Android mobile phones for convenient use. The study identifies the relationship between image feature points and the number of grains, explores the measurement method of image feature points, and compares it with existing counting methods in terms of similarities and differences. The study also formulates grain counting calculations and develops an application program that is easy to operate. The high accuracy of this counting method has been demonstrated by tests of different varieties. The error ratio are below 2%. The program has a short running time. The counting time is generally less than one second (1s) for no more than 400 seeds. The program is convenient and easy to operate. The counting and batch-processing operations are simple. In summary, the grain counting method built in this study can be used as an effective rice and wheat grain counting tool. This study also provides a reference for the development of application programs for grain counting of other kinds of crops.

Evaluation of Seed Emergence Uniformity of Mechanically Sown Wheat with UAV RGB Imagery

The uniformity of wheat seed emergence is an important characteristic used to evaluate cultivars, cultivation mode and field management. Currently, researchers typically investigated the uniformity of seed emergence by manual measurement, a time-consuming and laborious process. This study employed field RGB images from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to obtain information related to the uniformity of wheat seed emergence and missing seedlings. The calculation of the length of areas with missing seedlings in both drill and broadcast sowing can be achieved by using an area localization algorithm, which facilitated the comprehensive evaluation of uniformity of seed emergence. Through a comparison between UAV images and the results of manual surveys used to gather data on the uniformity of seed emergence, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) was 0.44 for broadcast sowing and 0.64 for drill sowing. The RMSEs of the numbers of missing seedling regions for broadcast and drill sowing were 1.39 and 3.99, respectively. The RMSEs of the lengths of the missing seedling regions were 12.39 cm for drill sowing and 0.20 cm2 for broadcast sowing. The UAV image-based method provided a new and greatly improved method for efficiently measuring the uniformity of wheat seed emergence. The proposed method could provide a guideline for the intelligent evaluation of the uniformity of wheat seed emergence.

Characterization of the 3D structure of a cultivated land surface and its influence on wheat seedlings growth using Kinect

The quality of wheat emergence has a significant impact on the subsequent growth and development of seedlings. The structure of cultivated land surfaces is an important factor influencing wheat seedlings growth. However, few studies have investigated this. In this study, three-dimensional structural parameters of cultivated land surfaces were collected using 3D imaging equipment, and the effects of different grades of lands on the emergence and growth of wheat were evaluated. The evaluation criteria for the soil blocks was designed according to the ISO-25178-2 standard, and the wheat emergence rate, speed, tillering capacity per plant, dry weight per plant, and final yields of different grades of cultivated land were investigated. The results indicated that the three-dimensional information obtained through the Kinect sensors was reliable. The deviation of measured values from the factual values was trivial. The value of R2 was greater than 0.99**. The value of RMSE was less than 2 mm. These results describe a method for obtaining three-dimensional structures of land surfaces using 3D cameras and the evaluation of wheat emergence capacity. It can be used as a reference for obtaining three-dimensional cultivated land structures or other similar objects.

Head rice rate measurement based on concave point matching

Head rice rate is an important factor affecting rice quality. In this study, an inflection point detection-based technology was applied to measure the head rice rate by combining a vibrator and a conveyor belt for bulk grain image acquisition. The edge center mode proportion method (ECMP) was applied for concave points matching in which concave matching and separation was performed with collaborative constraint conditions followed by rice length calculation with a minimum enclosing rectangle (MER) to identify the head rice. Finally, the head rice rate was calculated using the sum area of head rice to the overall coverage of rice. Results showed that bulk grain image acquisition can be realized with test equipment, and the accuracy rate of separation of both indica rice and japonica rice exceeded 95%. An increase in the number of rice did not significantly affect ECMP and MER. High accuracy can be ensured with MER to calculate head rice rate by narrowing down its relative error between real values less than 3%. The test results show that the method is reliable as a reference for head rice rate calculation studies.

Efficient Water-Saving Irrigation Solution for Direct Seeding Rice under No-Tillage after Cultivating Wheat

In order to explore the water-saving irrigation pattern of direct rice for high yield and excellent quality under no-tillage after wheat, the research was carried out on the experimental farm of Yangzhou University in the year 2005, which selected Wuxiangjing 14 and Lianjiajing 1 as the experimental cultivar. The semi-arid irrigation and general irrigation regime were employed under 3000 thousand basic seedling per hectare with Lianjiajing 1 and wuxiangjing 14. The productivity was similar between the two types of irrigation regime. There was no remarkable difference on the yield components, leaf area index, photosynthesis potential, net assimilation rate, and dry matter at different stage, milling quality and appearance quality, the cooking quality and nutrition quality. But all these aspects in the semi-arid irrigation treatment had a trend of decrease. The rice under semi-arid irrigation regime was strong; their leaves color were light, and the N content of the stem and grain were lower than those of conventional irrigation regime. Semi-arid irrigation saved the amount of water by one third, compared with the general irrigation regime. On the basis of the research, semi-arid irrigation with appropriately improved seeding pattern under no-tillage after wheat could be one of approaches to gain high yield and excellent quality, but the best combination need to be confirmed through further experiments.

Three-dimensional construction of rice organs based on C# and OpenGL

Morphological visualization is one of the key technologies for constructing virtual plant. The three-dimensional organ maps of rice are constructed by OpenGL, combining the characteristics of short development cycle and easy operation and maintenance of C#, and the design methods of object-oriented are used to construct the maps. Each rice organ is abstracted into different classes by using C#, and each class is independent and related through the interface. By adding mouse events, the morphological characteristics of rice organs can be observed from different angles, and the realistic three-dimensional effects can be showed.

The nitro-saving solution for high yield of direct seeding rice after cultivating wheat

In order to solve the problem of nitrogen over-use in high yield direct seeding rice after cultivating wheat, the research explored different nitro-saving cultivation method from 2008 to 2009, by increasing the rice planting density to enhance yield on wheat stubble. This study set up a test of different direct seeding density in 2 years continuously with 150 kg nitrogen application dose per hectare (as much as 50%–60% nitrogen application dose in regular high yield cultivation condition). By analyzing the productivity, constituent factors, index of quality, RVA of rice, dynamics of leave and tilling, dry matter accumulation etc, the results showed that in conditions of 300 million basic seedlings per hectare, the yield was similar to the conventional nitro-use cultivation. This solution not only relieved the pressure of fertilize on environmental pollution by saving 100–120kg nitrogen per hectare, but also the improved benefits exceed the prime cost of increased use of seeds. This breakthrough innovation provided an alternative for the research of high quality direct seeding rice.

Analysis on Spatial -Temporal Landscape Pattern and Ecological Security in Zhangjiagang City Using 3S Technologies and CA Model

In order to certain the landscape pattern and ecological security in Zhangjiagang, the landscape characteristics of urbanization phase and suburbanization phase were analyzed, using remotely sensed imageries between 1991-2006, land use maps and GIS technology, combined with urban-suburban-rural gradient research. Based on the landscape changing and its driving force analysis, the regional Cultivated Land Instability Degree (CLID) of 2004 was defined and calculated. The ecological security of Zhangjiagang between 2003-2007 was also assessed to research the impacts of urbanization on urban ecological security. The urbanization process in Zhangjiagang matched the cyclic model and the diffusion wave theory and for casted the future land use/cover using CA Model. The effects of urbanization appeared in urban areas firstly, and then in rural areas. Two kinds of urban expansion patterns were detected in Zhangjiagang. The first one was from edge-expansion to infilling growth, the second one was from edge-expansion to spontaneous growth, and then to edge-expansion. Among all the agricultural ecological deficit, the largest proportion was the grassland ecological deficit, and agricultural ecological deficit increased by 16.22% from 2003 to 2007. This study had proved that the agricultural development was not sustainable in Zhangjiagang in recent years.