Experience shows that for the irrigation of intensive gardens, various types of equipment and technologies are used, such as continuous irrigation (invasive), drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation and other methods. All irrigation options have some shortcomings, such as water evaporation, high water consumption, high consumption of mineral fertilizers and energy. (Research purpose) To develop an automated system for subsurface irrigation of intensive gardens with groundwater using electric pumps and solar panels, and to create a mathematical model of soil moisture distribution. (Materials and methods) Special devices shaped as pegs were designed to supply water with dissolved mineral fertilizers directly into the root system of intensive gardens. The authors investigated the pegs’ geometric parameters and the criteria for their placement in the soil, taking into account the consumption of water and nutrients. The authors examined soil mechanical composition and salinity as well as its physical and mechanical, technological properties. (Results and discussion) It was found out that the installation of the peg facilitates soil moisturizing through the central pipeline within the radius of 1.55-1.75 meters at the depth of 0.7-0.9 meters. Three-four pegs, being equidistant from each other and inclined in relation to the vertical axis by 20-30 degrees, were placed around a tree. Water consumption was determined for various irrigation methods: for furrow irrigation (control) – 1125.7 cubic meters per hectare, for continuous irrigation (invasive) – 1812.3 cubic meters per hectare, for drip irrigation – 618.6 and subsurface irrigation – 506.4 cubic meters per hectare. (Conclusions) Based on the results of the experimental study carried out in farms with intensive gardens using various irrigation methods, continuous irrigation (invasive), drip irrigation and subsurface irrigation were compared in terms of water consumption. The results show that drip irrigation and subsurface irrigation ensure less water consumption than flood irrigation, by 46 per cent and 57 per cent respectively. It was found out that subsurface irrigation ensures 57 per cent water and 25-35 per cent mineral fertilizer economy, in comparison with the other methods of providing trees with water and nutrients.

The authors showed that the cotton-textile cluster efficiency (the capacity of the machine-tractor fleet, cotton yield, the production profitability) largely depended on the use of the optimal number of tractors and agricultural machines. The existing methods (theoretical, graphic, economic and mathematical) were difficult for practical use and did not take into account the specifics of mechanized cotton growing processes. Therefore, it was important to develop a simple normative method for determining the optimal composition of the machine and tractor fleet for clusters, corresponding to the technological map for the production of raw cotton. (Research purpose) To calculate the required amount of agricultural machinery based on the established standards. (Materials and methods) The authors developed an algorithm for determining the standard coefficients of the equipment necessity per 1000 hectares of arable land. These coefficients for each type of equipment were established in the context of technological operations of growing cotton: plowing, soil preparing for sowing, sowing seeds, cultivating the soil between cotton rows, mechanized removal of growth points of the main stems and side branches of plants, defoliation with chemicals, machine harvesting and transportation of harvested cotton – raw. (Results and discussion) The authors proposed the term “model cotton-textile cluster”. They calculated the required amount of equipment for such a cluster with an area of 13,732 hectares. They determined the percentage of the machine and tractor fleet: the share of tractors – 28 percent, cultivators – 22, trailers – 19.8, cotton pickers – 13.8, the rest – 16.4 percent. They emphasized that the machines fleet could expand with the arrival of new modern machines produced by machine-building plants of the republic and imported from foreign countries. (Conclusions) The authors accepted the machine and tractor fleet of the cotton-textile cluster with the number of equipment 1660 units as rational. They proved that it ensured the implementation of all technological operations within agrotechnical terms.

   

The authors showed that the main technological process in the combined and separate methods of fiber flax harvesting is deseeding or separating the seed part of the crop from the stems. It was confirmed that there is a direct impact of this process success on seed and straw losses, the fiber yield and quality, the heap composition, the labor intensity and energy consumption of flax drying and processing. (Research purpose) To develop a technology for stripping fiber flax with a comb deseeder during harvesting, to study the deseeder’s specifications and operating modes. (Materials and methods) The authors studied the technological process of stripping flax with a comb deseeder. An experimental plant of a comb deseeder was designed. A model of theoretical calculation was proposed based on the physical and mechanical properties of fiber flax and agrotechnical requirements for its harvesting. (Results and discussion) The authors theoretically determined the comb deseeder’s optimal height, operation kinematic mode, stripping cleanliness, the radius of the stripper drum. Laboratory studies were conducted. It was shown that threshing seeds in the field will reduce the loss of flax seeds by 10 per cent and the stem waste due to tangling during the harvesting process – by 18 per cent. It will also reduce the number of harvesting vehicles, personnel, and the cost of product. The authors identified an opportunity to increase productivity by increasing the width of the header grip: for example, the width of a grain harvester header is about 4 meters, and the width of a flax harvester header is 1.52 meters, that is, the productivity of flax harvesting will increase 2.6 times at the same speed, and 3 times at a higher speed. It was possible to eliminate one piece of equipment – a heap separating machine, since the technological operation of heap processing is carried out by a grain harvester. (Conclusions) The authors presented a theoretical substantiation of the comb deseeder’s operating parameters and modes for stripping fiber flax in the field. The authors proposed a model to determine them based on the physical and mechanical properties of flax and agrotechnical requirements for its harvesting.

The authors showed that the short fiber of oilseed flax was usually obtained from a tangled mass of broken stems. However, recently, the question of the processing possibility of the culture whole stems left after harvesting into long fiber was raised. (Research purpose) To study the possibility of obtaining long fiber from oil flax stems on various technological equipment with the substantiation of the fiber characteristics. (Materials and methods) Whole oil flax stems of various qualities of six different varieties were taken. The samples were processed on an SMT-500 machine and in an ALS-1 crumpling and scutching machine, after which the quality parameters of the long fiber were determined. (Results and discussion) The authors found that most of the quality indicators of oil flax trusts corresponded to the fiber flax trusts characteristics, but the fiber strength had unacceptably low values. The number of flax stems from oil flax did not exceed 0.5, and the yield of long fiber varied from 0.4 to 11 percent, which was much lower than from fiber flax, so the fiber bulk fell into waste. It was determined that on the SMT-500 machine it was impossible to obtain a long fiber of even the lowest number due to the small value of the gristle length, and after the ALS-1 machine, the number of the long fiber was not higher than 8. During the analysis of individual characteristics of the long fiber from oilseed flax, it was determined that oil flax fiber was thicker, less strong and flexible in comparison with fiber flax. (Conclusions) The authors proved that long fiber could be obtained from flax whole stems, but of poor quality. They determined that up to 67 percent of flax varieties could be processed into long fiber. Of the flax types considered, oilseed flax seeds revealed the best quality-grade LM-98 and the worst – Biryuza and Rucheek. 

The authors showed the necessity to develop a rear-wheel drive hybrid mobile agricultural vehicle with electric drive and power plant. (Research purpose) To develop and study a new kinematic scheme of a mobile vehicle based on a self-propelled tractor T-16 chassis, which provides increased reliability, comfortable working conditions for the operator, a significant improvement in the environmental situation, and better economic efficiency. (Materials and methods) The authors listed the advantages of the new hybrid vehicle kinematic scheme. They gave the comparative technical characteristics of a diesel engine and an asynchronous electric motor. They developed a new methodology for calculating gas turbine engine technical parameters and described the production process of an electric drive with a capacity of 11 kilowatts to drive the driving wheels. The authors gave a thermal design of the compressor parameters, turbine. They calculated the excess air ratio. According to the parameters obtained, a K27-145 turbocharger was chosen, which simultaneously served as a turbine and a compressor of a gas turbine engine. A kinematic diagram was created with a gas turbine electric generator, storage batteries, an asynchronous frequency-controlled motor and a mechanical gearbox. (Results and discussion) The authors proposed to use a mobile vehicle as a mobile power plant: an output socket with a voltage of 220-230 volts operated from an inverter connected to batteries; the second socket – with a three-phase voltage of 400 volts – from the generator of the power gas turbine plant. (Conclusions) It was proved that the proposed hybrid mobile vehicle design on a battery and a gas turbine was capable of operating throughout the entire working day, and to provide 16 horsepower of a diesel engine, it was enough to install an asynchronous electric motor with a capacity of 7.5 kilowatts. The authors calculated the compressor performance of the gas turbine engine, which was 0.178 kilograms per second. The geometric parameters of the combustion chamber and the technical characteristics of the turbocharger were determined.

A shortage of class 2 and class 3 tractors was observed in peasant farms. As a solution to this problem, it was proposed to develop a technological module that would increase the versatility of class 1.4 tractors by transferring them to a higher traction class. (Research purpose) The authors aimed to substantiate the nominal operating power of the engine for a tractor with a technological module. (Materials and methods) To calculate the required power, the authors proposed a method that takes into account the design features of the modular construction of a machine-tractor unit. (Results and discussion) The authors showed that for a modular power unit with a 6K6 wheel arrangement, it is necessary to consider a number of additional factors having an impact on the accuracy of the calculation: firstly, the tractor’s traction and coupling properties depend on the number of driving axles; secondly, the wheel slippage along individual axes is not the same and occurs due to a constructively conditioned kinematic discrepancy in their drive; thirdly, the three-axle transmission efficiency can be determined only as a total indicator of three transmission branches, that is, to drive the tractor front and rear wheels and, separately, to drive the wheels of the technological module. The authors compared the required engine power when using a tractor with ballast and that with a technological module.  (Conclusions) It was determined that in order to achieve the maximum traction force of adhesion on the hook when moving to the next higher traction class, it is necessary that the tractor, that the technological module is joint to, has the energy saturation of 2.00-2.41 kilowatts per kilonewton, which corresponds to traction and energy concept tractors whose engine power cannot be realized through traction. It was found that the power saturation of the tractor with the technological module will be equal to 1.59-1.65 kilowatts per kilonewton, which corresponds to the tractor of the traction concept and allows realizing the built-in engine power through traction.

The authors showed that one of the reasons for the yield loss is poor-quality determination of the infection degree of agricultural crops by pathogens. They proposed a system of liquid chemicals point application. They identified the possibility of calculating the required amount of fertilizers and protective equipment. (Research purpose) To develop a system of liquid chemicals point application for plant protection and nutrition based on a convolutional neural network model. (Materials and methods) The authors analyzed the existing methods of machine learning. When developing the system, they used the U-net-algorithm of convolutional neural networks, as well as data displaying diseases of winter and spring wheat – brown rust and powdery mildew. Each image was cropped by hand and marked up using a specialized Python library. In the course of applying the architecture, the authors experimentally chose the optimal metrics (jaccard metric), the learning rate – 0.0001 seconds, the number of epochs – 300, and other indicators. (Results and discussion) The authors found that when a new, previously unavailable image was submitted to the algorithm, it recognized the disease in a few seconds and returned to the user not only the original image, but also a mask over it. The accuracy of applying the mask to the affected area was determined – 80 percent. They showed that the predicted error on the validation data was 0.18758. In practice, it could differ from the declared one by no more than 10-15 percent. The authors suggested using the algorithm with a vision system. (Conclusions) The authors showed that technical means imperfection for plants chemicalization increased the consumption up to 30 percent relative to the volume required for point application. They developed a neural network algorithm for identifying the affected areas of plants and proposed the concept of a point chemicals application in order to reduce the costs of processing crops. It was determined that the neural network was able to diagnose the affected areas of plants in 1 second.

The authors carried out field tests of differentiated fertilization system "Agronavigator-Dozator" installed on a cultivator-fertilizer for intra-soil application of granular mineral fertilizers in the conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. (Research purpose) To determine the effect of differentiated fertilization system on agrotechnical, energy, operational and technological and economic indexes of the cultivator-fertilizer in field conditions. (Materials and methods) The authors carried out agrochemical soil survey according to the officially approved method. They made an electronic task map. They used the methodology for determining the conditions of field tests, agrotechnical, energy, operational and technological and energy assessments that met the current regulatory documentation requirements. Field tests of differentiated fertilization system were carried out during the second flat-cut processing of the steam field with simultaneous intra-soil granular mineral fertilizers application. (Results and discussion) The authors found out that the use of differentiated fertilization system "Agronavigator-Dozator" reduced the actual dose of application from 95 to 40 kilograms per hectare. It was determined that the presence of a parallel driving mode in the system under study reduced the amount of overlap of adjacent aisles, thereby increasing shift productivity - from 4.25 to 4.32 hectares per hour, unit energy consumption decreased from 88.1 to 86.6 megajoules per hectare, and the specific fuel consumption decreased from 14.41 to 14.16 kilograms per hectare. The economic effect of the use of differentiated fertilization system "Agronavigator- Dozator " amounted to 630.6 thousand rubles per year. (Conclusions) The authors proved that differential fertilization system "Agronavigator-Dozator" effect the actual dose of fertilization, which decreased by 57.6 percent. It was found that a decrease in the overlap of adjacent aisles increased shift productivity, reduced specific fuel consumption and specific energy consumption by 1.7 percent. It was calculated that the total sum of money was reduced by 36 percent due to the use of differentiated fertilization system "Agronavigator- Dozator".

The authors studied the pneumohydraulic device indicators for spraying liquids for irrigation, nutrition and protection of agricultural plants, taking into account the principles of water and energy conservation, based on preliminary gas saturation of sprayed water and the use of a cavitation effect in the design of the aerator unit during ejection and supply of air under pressure. (Research purpose) To determine the technological parameters of a pneumohydraulic device for spraying liquids to obtain controlled dispersive artificial rain and substantiate the choice of its optimal technical parameters depending on the operating modes. (Materials and methods) The authors used an algorithm for calculating parameters in EXCEL or WPS spreadsheet processor and mathematical expressions. (Results and discussion) The authors theoretically determined the minimum and maximum calculated parameters of the constructive solution geometry for spraying the liquid phase: water nozzle, air nozzle channel, mixing cell, middle annular gap, outlet nozzle. They changed indicators of operating water pressure – 0.20; 0.25; 0.30 and 0.35 megapascals; air – 0.25 and 0.30 megapascals, provided the water flow rate from 0.002 to 0.010 liter per second and air – from 0.0005 to 0.0090 kilogram per second. With an increase in the water flow rate within the specified limits and the ejection coefficient from 0.5 to 0.9, a linear increase in the average annular gap diameter from 2 to 15 millimetres was revealed, as well as a nonlinear dependence of the increase in the sprayer mixing cell diameter from 5 to 20 millimetres. The authors showed the possibility of reducing the mixing cell diameter if the water pressure was increased from 0.25 to 0.35 megapascal's and the air pressure was from 0.20 to 0.30 megapascals. They obtained the parameters values for the designed and experimental samples development, which turned out to be significantly less than when operating in the air ejection mode: the outlet nozzle and the middle annular gap – by 16 percent, the air nozzle – by 23, the diameter of the mixing cell – by 50 percent or more. (Conclusions) The authors obtained calculated data to optimize technological parameters and design solutions, which would speed up the manufacture of designed and model samples of the device and its experimental testing for the generation of dispersive artificial rain drops.

The implementation of intelligent technologies in industrial horticulture is possible with the help of an automated system for managing production processes. (Research purpose) To develop and substantiate the parameters of an automated management system for agricultural technologies in horticulture with the ability to conduct land inspections using a mobile application. (Materials and methods) ADO.NET driver Npqsql was used for work with the database. Dapper was used as Object Relational Mapping. The web application used the Model View Controller design pattern, and Bootstrap as the css framework. Data visualization from the database was carried out using cloud technology, placing the site using a set of Internet Information Services. Jquery (a set of JavaScript functions) served as the main framework for working with the client-side of the program code. The authors also used the PostgreSql database management system. The mobile application was created in the Android studio integrated environment. (Results and discussion) The authors developed an automated system for managing agricultural technologies. They formed the structure of the hardware and software base. They created the system ability to operate in a dialogue mode with the user through forms, based on the algorithm for choosing the optimal options for technological processes in the horticultural products production. A mobile application was implemented to conduct digital land inspections. They determined the procedure for conducting land inspections by agronomists using a mobile application. (Conclusions) The authors developed a system for the automated technologies formation and management in horticulture, which provided operational processing of information flows in real time, reflecting the characteristics of the plants’ growth and state in critical phases of development. They provided modern recording devices and a mobile application operation. They showed that the system automatically optimized machine technologies for the cultivation of horticultural crops according to biological (realization of the potential biological productivity of crops) and economic (increasing the efficiency of using production resources) criteria.

The necessary condition for obtaining high yields is the management of plant production processes in closed artificial agroecosystems. It is important to control the intensity of these processes in a dynamic mode. (Research purpose) To develop a non-destructive method for controlling the plant productivity growth to create algorithms for controlling the plant production processes. (Materials and methods) The authors studied the dependence of plant productivity on leaf temperature. They determined the increase in plant leaf mass using digital scales, studied the leaf temperature and the control object with a pyrometric thermometer and measured the leaf surface area. (Results and discussion) The authors obtained the values of plant and environmental parameters and, taking into account the moisture consumption for transpiration cooling, determined the values of the lettuce leaf mass growth (Latuca sativa L.), which would be used in conjunction with other measured plant and environmental parameters to control the limiting factors in closed artificial agroecosystems. (Conclusions) The authors developed a non-destructive method to control plant productivity growth in climatic chambers using the example of Krasnyy Dubolistnyy lettuce. It was determined that the green mass growth rate had a maximum if the mass of cooling water during evaporation was 0.65 gram. That meant the plant tried to maximize the use of free energy and the productive factors that determined it. The weight values calculated from the experiment results (2.0 grams) corresponded to the data obtained at the Omsk State Agrarian University (1.9 gram) with an accuracy of 5 percent.

Productivity is one of the important performance indicators of transport and transport-technological vehicles. The authors confirmed the necessity to unify this indicator calculations for an extensive range of agricultural goods and extensive works on their movement. (Research purpose) To develop universal interconnected stages of detecting the operational productivity of transport and transport-technological vehicles when performing mechanized work in crop production. (Materials and methods) The values of operational performance were determined based on the analysis of norm-forming factors and statistical processing. A systematic approach was used to identifying individual elements of the cargo transportation cycle. The authors studied each of the methodological approaches and the mathematical tools used to calculate the performance indicators of various technical devices. (Results and discussion) After a step-by-step modeling of transport and transport-technological processes, a unified formula of the target function (optimality criterion) was obtained. Having implemented a more convenient calculation algorithm and having transformed the mathematical apparatus, the authors obtained the vehicle production rates for the transportation of mineral fertilizers to the place of their application. (Conclusions) The authors implemented a detailed mathematical description of the transport and transport-technological process stages. They identified the functional relationships between operational parameters and production and agrolandscape conditions.  A universal algorithm was developed making it possible to determine the values of the operational performance for transport and transport-technological vehicles. The authors determined the values of the coefficient enabling the unification and comparison of the algorithm for identifying the production rates for transport and transport-technological work. It was found out that with an increase in the length of transportation from 3 to 54 kilometers, this coefficient increases 3.8 times. This variation was explained by an increase in the purely transport phase of the process.