Kazuto Shigeta

Distinguishing Damaged and Undamaged Chaff in Rice Whole Crop Silage by Image Processing

Rice whole crop silage is used to feed cattle in Japan. The silage contains grains of rice, which are not easily digested because the chaff is indigestible. Partially removing the rice chaff by mechanically scratching the unhulled rice surface was used to make the rice in the chaff digestible, however, it is not easy to inspect the scratching effect objectively. This paper describes the process of distinguishing between damaged chaff and undamaged chaff using image processing, programmed using Java2 SDK. To identify the damaged part on the surface of the chaff, color difference (brown and light white) was used. The chafed rice images were labeled individually for application to image processing one by one. RGB (red, green and blue) channels in a 24-bit color image were divided into three stacks. In the three stacks, the red slice owned more pixel value than any other slice, which reflected the difference between the chaff and damaged part. By adjusting the threshold appropriately, it could distinguish between damaged chaff and undamaged chaff with a probability of more than 90%. Furthermore, the rate of discernment became about 100% by adding shape analysis. This program will be integrated into rice whole crop silage processing equipment. These results are useful not only for the effective use of cattle feed, and maintaining healthy milk and beef cattle, but also for various other image processing uses, for example to distinguish small defects on the surface of grain.

A New Processing Machine to Increase Digestible Grain Rate for Whole Crop Rice Silage

Whole crop rice silage(WCRS) is fed to dairy cows and beef cattle in Japan. The silage contains grains of rice, which are not easily digested because the chaff is indigestible. This paper describes a new type crusher to make chaff digestible. In order to develop a WCRS processing device to decrease indigestible unhulled grain, a chaff removal and grain crushing test using the new device was conducted. Forces required to remove chaff from unhulled rice were measured in three different directions; this test showed that shearing forces were the most effective to remove chaff. Tearing off rice chaff partially by mechanically scratching the unhulled rice surface is adopted to make rice in the chaff digestible. A processing device for WCRS equipped with a new shape rotor was designed, and it could remove chaff from unhulled rice grain continuously without any problem. This machine will be useful for processing better WCRS.

Trial of Detection Ultrasonic Wave Through Raw Forage Crops

The target of our research is to develop a technology for objectively measuring the density in a silo. In the present paper, we attempted to detect ultrasonic waveforms through shredded raw forage crops in order to obtain foundational data on measuring forage crops’ densities by nondestructive means. A function generator, oscilloscope, transmitting ultrasonic transducer, and receiving ultrasonic transducer were used in these experiments. Forage samples that had been formed to cylindrical cells, were made from shredded alfalfa and whole-crop rice. A well-spread ultrasonic wave could be emitted by ultrasonic transducer when rectangle or pulse waves were generated from the function generator. A 16V amplitude rectangle ultrasonic wave could pass through 75mm thick cylindrical forage samples of 650kg/m3 or greater density.

Development of Energy Saved Working System on Upland Farming

The measure to acquire the mechanized working technique with high energy utilization efficiency was studied by optimizing a combination of a tractor with a work equipment.1) After the load characteristic of a main work equipment for tractors was measured, it was found that the work equipment for tilling required the heaviest power, came next the work equipment for harvesting, breaking and leveling and the work equipment for control, fertilizing and sowing required the lightly power.If these operations are performed by one tractor, a large tractor suitable for tilling would be required and the output utilization ratio of the tractor would be too small for other operations.2) After the influence of the factor on the load characteristic of the work equipment was measured by a plow and rotary tiller, it was recognized that both the required power and fuel consumption have a constant primary linear relationship with the travel speed, working width, depth and hardness of soil respectively.3) When about 80% of the tractor maximum output was used that the fuel consumption per horsepower and fuel consumption work volume were high. Further, in the rotary cultivation with a certain area, the smaller the tractor was, the wider the working width was, and the lower the travel speed was, the less the fuel consumption was.4) The “Balanced Load System” which adapts the load for the work equipment with the tractor output by making the work equipment load uniform is regarded as a working method with high energy utilization effciency. The balanced load system was calculated by varying the working width whereby the load for the work equipment can be easily increased and decreased. As a result, a non-realistic working width was given, however it was considered reasonable that this system should be based on a 30 PS class tractor.5) In a tilling operation with a particularly great load, the tractor for use could be reduced to half in size and the fuel consumption be reduced by about 30% without reducing the work efficiency and accuracy by dispersing the load by means of partial cultivation.