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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 44210

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Muhammad Sultan

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Interests: developing energy efficient heat- and/or water-driven temperature and humidity control systems for agricultural storage; greenhouse; livestock; poultry applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yuguang Zhou

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: physical and chemical properties of agricultural feedstock; thermal conversion, gasification, and pyrolysis of biomass; clean combustion, emission monitoring, and pollutant control for household cooking/heating; bioenergy equipment development; green conversion of biomass; agricultural product processing engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Walter Den

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Guest Editor

Institute of Water Resources Science and Technology, Department of Sciences and Mathematics, Texas A&M University, San Antonio, TX, USA
Interests: wastewater purification; sustainable water consumption

Dr. Uzair Sajjad

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
Interests: developing mechanical and energy technologies for various applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation from our previous Special Issue “Sustainable Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Engineering Applications”, which was successfully closed in September 2021, and we wish to attract publications focused on agricultural engineering technologies and applications. Food security, sustainable agriculture, and poverty alleviation are the key themes of the 2030 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). These are directly linked with agricultural mechanization, automation and robotics, high-efficiency irrigation systems, farm energy systems, post-harvest handling and processing, wastewater management, and the associated sustainable bioenvironment. Such agricultural engineering studies are the need of the 21st century, particularly from the viewpoint of the agricultural water–energy–food security nexus. Moreover, the wide range and interdisciplinary nature of research for agricultural engineering technologies as well as the proliferation and technological advancement in agricultural engineering technologies will be the focus of this special collection. It will include engineering technologies and applications related to farm mechanization, farm energy, farm environment, smart farming, intelligent agriculture, conservation agriculture, on-farm irrigation, precision agriculture, food processing and storage, livestock and poultry sheds, wastewater management, etc. The Special Issue will comprise original research, review, case studies, and/or recent progress/scenarios in the abovementioned research areas.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sultan
Prof. Dr. Yuguang Zhou
Prof. Dr. Walter Den
Dr. Uzair Sajjad
Guest Editors

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Keywords

precision farming
food security
smart and sustainable agriculture
farm mechanization and robotics
next-generation greenhouses
sprinkler and drip irrigation systems
aquaponics, hydroponic, and aeroponic farming
renewable energy and agriculture
solar dryers and solar pumping
temperature/humidity control in agriculture
biomass, biogas, and bioenergy
water/wastewater treatment

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 5565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of UVA Ultraviolet Disinfection System for Nutrient Solution Residual Liquid and Development of Microbial Online Monitoring System

by Xinzhong Wang, Weiquan Fang and Zhongfeng Zhao

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010173 - 22 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2043

Abstract

If the nutrient solution used in the hydroponic system is recycled and reused without disinfection, the plant diseases are likely to spread. The current disinfection system still cannot conduct online monitoring of microorganisms at the same time as disinfection. In this paper, a UVA ultraviolet disinfection system and an online microbial monitoring system are proposed, which can conduct online monitoring at the same time as disinfection. This system includes the design of the disinfection system, the microbial online detection system and the microfluidic chip. The practical performance of the disinfection system and the microfluidic chip was verified by means of simulation and experiment. The relationship between the working power (P) of the UVA ultraviolet sterilizer used and its irradiance (Ee) is P = 29.98 Ee. The direct influencing factor of the ultraviolet disinfection rate of the nutrient solution residual liquid was the ultraviolet light irradiation dose. When the power of the ultraviolet lamp (radiation flux) is 30 W, the optimum wavelength is close to 300 nm, and the absorbance value is approximately 0.07. The error between bioluminescence detection and laboratory culture detection error is 0.002. The disinfection method and microfluidic chip proposed in this paper can be used in a greenhouse hydroponic system to reduce the impact of harmful microorganisms in the nutrient solution return on plants, and improve the effect of the return solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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14 pages, 3566 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Prediction of Total Nitrogen in Soil Surface Layer Based on Machine Learning

by Zunfang Liu, Haochuan Lei, Lei Lei and Haiyan Sheng

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 11998; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141911998 - 22 Sep 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2348

Abstract

In order to satisfy the basic requirements of sustainable agricultural development, it is important to understand the spatial distribution characteristics of soil total nitrogen (TN) content to better guide accurate fertilization to increase grain yield. To this end, this paper constructs three inversion models of partial least squares regression (PLSR), back propagation neural network (BPNN) and support vector machines (SVM) with remote sensing data to predict the TN content in Datong County, Xining City, Qinghai Province, China. The results showed that the average TN content was 1.864 g/kg, and the coefficient of variation (CV) was 30.596%. The prediction accuracy of the SVM model (R² = 0.676, RMSE = 0.296) among the three inversion models was higher than that of the BPNN model (R² = 0.560, RMSE = 0.305) and the PLSR model (R² = 0.374, RMSE = 0.334). The model with the highest accuracy predicted the spatial distribution of TN, and TN content showed a spatial distribution trend which was high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and gradually decreased from north to south. This study provides reference basis and support for soil fertility evaluations and sustainable agricultural development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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30 pages, 11650 KiB

Open AccessArticle

TRNSYS Simulation and Experimental Validation of Internal Temperature and Heating Demand in a Glass Greenhouse

by Misbaudeen Aderemi Adesanya, Wook-Ho Na, Anis Rabiu, Qazeem Opeyemi Ogunlowo, Timothy Denen Akpenpuun, Adnan Rasheed, Yong-Cheol Yoon and Hyun-Woo Lee

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8283; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148283 - 6 Jul 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4267

Abstract

The energy demand in greenhouses is enormous, and high-performance covering materials and thermal screens with varying radiometric properties are used to optimise the energy demand in building energy simulations (BES). Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) software is a common BES tool used to model the thermal performance of buildings. The calculation of the greenhouse internal temperature and heating demand in TRNSYS involves the solution of the transient heat transfer processes. This study modelled the temperature and heating demand of two multi-span glass greenhouses with concave (farm A) and convex (farm B) shapes. This study aims to investigate the influence of the different BES longwave radiation modes on greenhouse internal temperature in different zones and the heating demand of a conditioned zone. The standard hourly simulation results were compared with the experimental data. The results showed that the standard and detailed modes accurately predicted greenhouse internal temperature (the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) > 0.7 for all three zones separated by thermal screens) and heating demand (NSE > 0.8) for farms A and B. The monthly heating demand predicted by the simple and standard radiation modes for farm A matched the experimental measurements with deviations within 27.7% and 7.6%, respectively. The monthly heating demand predicted by the simple, standard, and detailed radiation modes for farm B were similar to the experimental measurements with deviations within 10.5%, 6.7%, and 2.9%, respectively. In the order of decreasing accuracy, the results showed that the preferred radiation modes for the heating demand were standard and simple for farm A, and detailed, standard, and simple for farm B. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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15 pages, 2099 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Long-Term Fertilizer Reduction in Greenhouse Tomato-Cucumber Rotation System to Assess N Utilization, Leaching, and Cost Efficiency

by Yucong Geng, Muhammad Amjad Bashir, Ying Zhao, Jianhang Luo, Xiaotong Liu, Feng Li, Hongyuan Wang, Qurat-Ul-Ain Raza, Abdur Rehim, Xuejun Zhang and Hongbin Liu

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4647; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084647 - 13 Apr 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2132

Abstract

Technology-oriented approaches to reduce chemical fertilization in agroecosystems without influencing the vegetable yield is a proficient method for sustainable agriculture and environmental safety. However, short-term studies are not capable to indicate the effects of various inputs in a long run; therefore, a six-year experiment was conducted in Ningxia, China. The experimental units were: no fertilizer control (CK: 0 kg N ha⁻¹), chicken manure (M: organic N 362 kg ha⁻¹), reduced chemical fertilizer (RCF: chemical N 992 kg ha⁻¹ + organic N 362 kg ha⁻¹), and conventional fertilizer (CF: chemical N 1515 kg ha⁻¹ + organic N 362 kg ha⁻¹). The study aimed to assess the effects of reduced fertilization on yield, nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE), N leaching, and the economic benefits. The results achieved herein indicate that RCF has significantly improved the NUE, reduced N leaching (23.7%), and improved the N economic benefit (NEB, 41.8%) as compared to the CF. Based on yield, net benefit, and NUE conditions, the optimum N application range was 634–821 kg N ha⁻¹ for tomato and 556–778 kg N ha⁻¹ for cucumber. The study concluded that reduced chemical application of N is an important factor to control environmental pollution and improve fertilizer use efficiency. Further experiments are suggested to examine the optimum N rate provision from chemical fertilizer and its ratio with organic fertilization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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26 pages, 6936 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Experimental Study of Smart Solar Assisted Yogurt Processing Unit for Decentralized Dairy Value Chain

by Syed Nabeel Husnain, Waseem Amjad, Anjum Munir and Oliver Hensel

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4285; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074285 - 4 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2577

Abstract

Yogurt production at the farm level is important for adding value to milk. In this study, a solar-assisted yogurt processing unit capable of performing the three processes of heating, fermentation, and cooling in a single unit was developed. It consisted of a circular chamber surrounded by a coil for heating by a solar vacuum tube collector and a pillow plate for cooling by a solar PV-powered chiller unit. Experiments were performed using 50, 40 and 30 L of raw milk under a constant water circulation rate of 50 L per minute for heating followed by a cooling process under 36, 18 and 6 rpm of stirrer speeds. The heat absorption rates of the milk were 5.48–0.31, 4.75–0.16 and 4.14–0.24 kW, and the heat removal rates from water ranged from 6.28–0.49, 5.58–0.49 and 4.88–0.69 kW for 50, 40 and 30 L of milk volume, respectively. The overall heat transfer efficiency was above 80% during the heating process. A stirring speed of 18 rpm was found to be optimal in terms of cooling speed and consistency of the yogurt. The total energy consumed was calculated to be 6.732, 5.559 and 4.207 kWh for a 50, 40 and 30 L batch capacity, respectively. The study offers a sustainable energy solution for the decentralized processing of raw milk, particularly in remote areas of the developing countries where access to electricity is limited. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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22 pages, 4033 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conceptualization of Bioreactor Landfill Approach for Sustainable Waste Management in Karachi, Pakistan

by Ihsanullah Sohoo, Marco Ritzkowski, Muhammad Sultan, Muhammad Farooq and Kerstin Kuchta

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3364; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063364 - 13 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4941

Abstract

Finding a sustainable approach for municipal solid waste (MSW) management is becoming paramount. However, as with many urban areas in developing countries, the approach applied to MSW management in Karachi is neither environmentally sustainable nor suitable for public health. Due to adoption of an inefficient waste management system, society is paying intangible costs such as damage to public health and environment quality. In order to minimize the environmental impacts and health issues associated with waste management practices, a sustainable waste management and disposal strategy is required. The aim of this paper is to present a concept for the development of new bioreactor landfills for sustainable waste management in Karachi. Furthermore, this paper contributes to estimation of methane (CH₄) emissions from waste disposal sites by employing the First Order Decay (FOD) Tier 2 model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and determining of the biodegradation rate constant (k) value. The design and operational concept of bioreactor landfills is formulated for the study area, including estimation of land requirement, methane production, power generation, and liquid required for recirculation, along with a preliminary sketch of the proposed bioreactor landfill. This study will be helpful for stockholders, policy makers, and researchers in planning, development, and further research for establishment of bioreactor landfill facilities, particularly in the study area as well as more generally in regions with a similar climate and MSW composition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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20 pages, 3575 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Experiments on a Batch-Type Solar Roaster—An Innovative Decentralized System for Coffee Roasting

by Faizan Majeed, Ali Raza, Anjum Munir and Oliver Hensel

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2217; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042217 - 15 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3110

Abstract

About 70% of the harvested coffee is exported to the industrialized nations for value addition due to lack of processing and logistic facilities in developing coffee producer countries, thus leaving behind a marginal economic return for the growers. This research was conducted to investigate the roasting capacity of an innovatively developed batch-type directly solar radiated roasting system for the decentralized processing of coffee using solar energy. Central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed to design the experiments to optimize the coffee roasting process. Experimental results revealed that with an average solar direct normal irradiance (DNI) of 800 W/m², the roaster was capable of roasting a batch of 2 kg coffee beans in 20, 23, and 25 min subjected to light roasts, medium roasts, and dark roasts, respectively at a drum speed of two revolutions per minute (rpm). The batch-type solar roaster has the capacity to roast 28.8–36 kg of coffee beans depending on dark to light roasting conditions on a clear sunny day with DNI ranging from 650 to 850 W/m². The system thermal efficiency during coffee roasting was determined to be 62.2%, whereas the roasting efficiency at a corresponding light roast, medium roast, and dark roast was found to be 97.5%, 95.2%, and 91.3%, respectively. The payback period of the solar roaster unit was estimated to be 1038 working sunshine hours, making it viable for commercialization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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12 pages, 2691 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quality Evaluation of Lemon Cordial Stored at Different Times with Microwave Heating (Pasteurization)

by Faiqa Malik, Muhammad Nadeem, Ammara Ainee, Rabia Kanwal, Muhammad Sultan, Aqsa Iqbal, Samy F. Mahmoud, Garsa Ali Alshehry, Huda Abdalrahman Al-Jumayi and Eman Hassan Ahmed Algarni

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 1953; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14041953 - 9 Feb 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3455

Abstract

Consumer interest in food quality and safety has shifted over time, as consumers increasingly prefer minimally processed items. As a result, numerous non-thermal approaches have been implemented due to their potential to preserve the nutritional profile of products along with lengthening their storability. Microwaving, a green processing technique, volumetrically heats the product because of the interactions developed between charged ions, polar water molecules of foodstuff and the incoming electromagnetic waves. The study was mapped out to investigate the effect of microwave exposure time (60, 90 and 120 s) at fixed power (1000 W) and frequency (2450 MHz) on physicochemical properties, phytochemical constituents, antioxidant potential and microbial counts of lemon cordial stored at refrigerated temperature (4 ± 2 °C). The mentioned parameters were analyzed after an interval of 30–90 days. Statistical findings illustrated a highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) impact of microwave treatment and storage on titratable acidity, pH, total soluble solids, total phenolic contents, total flavonoids contents, antioxidant potential and total plate count. Sample microwaved for 120 s showed the highest pH values (2.45 ± 0.050), total soluble solids (56.68 ± 2.612 °B) and antioxidant activity (1212.03 ± 716.5 µg—equivalent of ascorbic acid per 100 mL of cordial); meanwhile, it exhibited the lowest total plate counts (1.75 ± 0.144 Log 10 CFU/mL). Therefore, microwaving can be suggested as a suitable alternate to traditional pasteurization techniques as well as to chemical preservatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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25 pages, 124693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating Evaporative Cooling Assisted Solid Desiccant Dehumidification System for Agricultural Storage Application

by Ghulam Hussain, Muhammad Aleem, Muhammad Sultan, Uzair Sajjad, Sobhy M. Ibrahim, Redmond R. Shamshiri, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Usman Khan and Muhammad Bilal

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1479; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031479 - 27 Jan 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2774

Abstract

The study aims to investigate Maisotsenko cycle evaporative cooling assisted solid desiccant air-conditioning (M-DAC) system for agricultural storage application. Conventional air-conditioning (AC) systems used for this application are refrigeration-based which are expensive as they consume excessive amount of primary-energy. In this regard, the study developed a lab-scale solid silica gel-based desiccant AC (DAC) system. Thermodynamic performance of the developed system was investigated using various adsorption/dehumidification and desorption/regeneration cycles. The system possesses maximum adsorption potential i.e., 4.88 g/kg-DA at higher regeneration temperature of 72.6 °C and long cycle time i.e., 60 min:60 min. Moreover, the system’s energy consumption performance was investigated from viewpoints of maximum latent, sensible, and total heat as well as latent heat ratio (LHR), which were found to be 0.64 kW, 1.16 kW, and 1.80 kW, respectively with maximum LHR of 0.49. Additionally, the study compared standalone DAC (S-DAC), and M-DAC system thermodynamically to investigate the feasibility of these systems from the viewpoints of temperature and relative humidity ranges, cooling potential (Q_p), and coefficient of performance (COP). The S-DAC system showed temperature and relative humidity ranging from 39 °C to 48 °C, and 35% to 66%, respectively, with Q_p and COP of 17.55 kJ/kg, and 0.37, respectively. Conversely, the M-DAC system showed temperature and relative humidity ranging from 17 °C to 25 °C, and 76% to 98%, respectively, with Q_p and COP of 41.80 kJ/kg, and 0.87, respectively. Additionally, the study investigated respiratory heat generation rate (Q_res), and heat transfer rate (Q_rate) by agricultural products at different temperature gradient (∆T) and air velocity. The Q_res and Q_rate by the products were increased with ∆T and air velocity, respectively, thereby generating heat loads in the storage house. Therefore, the study suggests that the M-DAC system could be a potential AC option for agricultural storage application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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26 pages, 8593 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of the Height in a Colombian Multi-Tunnel Greenhouse on Natural Ventilation and Thermal Behavior: Modeling Approach

by Edwin Villagrán, Jorge Flores-Velazquez, Mohammad Akrami and Carlos Bojacá

Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13631; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413631 - 9 Dec 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2932

Abstract

The dimensions of a passive greenhouse are one of the decisions made by producers or builders based on characteristics of the available land and the economic cost of building the structure per unit of covered area. In few cases, the design criteria are reviewed and the dimensions are established based on the type of crop and local climate conditions. One of the dimensions that is generally exposed to greater manipulation is the height above the gutter and the general height of the structure, since a greenhouse with a lower height has a lower economic cost. This has led some countries in the tropical region to build greenhouses that, due to their architectural characteristics, have inadequate microclimatic conditions for agricultural production. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect on air flows and thermal distribution generated by the increase of the height over gutter of a Colombian multi-tunnel greenhouse using a successfully two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The simulated numerical results showed that increasing the height of the greenhouse allows obtaining temperature reductions from 0.1 to 11.7 °C depending on the ventilation configuration used and the external wind speed. Likewise, it was identified that the combined side and roof ventilation configuration (RS) allows obtaining higher renovation indexes (RI) in values between 144 and 449% with respect to the side ventilation (S) and roof ventilation (R) configurations. Finally, the numerical results were successfully fitted within the surface regression models responses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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19 pages, 4780 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Determining the Factors Affecting the Boiling Heat Transfer Coefficient of Sintered Coated Porous Surfaces

by Uzair Sajjad, Imtiyaz Hussain, Muhammad Sultan, Sadaf Mehdi, Chi-Chuan Wang, Kashif Rasool, Sayed M. Saleh, Ashraf Y. Elnaggar and Enas E. Hussein

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12631; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212631 - 16 Nov 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2967

Abstract

The boiling heat transfer performance of porous surfaces greatly depends on the morphological parameters, liquid thermophysical properties, and pool boiling conditions. Hence, to develop a predictive model valid for diverse working fluids, it is necessary to incorporate the effects of the most influential parameters into the architecture of the model. In this regard, two Bayesian optimization algorithms including Gaussian process regression (GPR) and gradient boosting regression trees (GBRT) are used for tuning the hyper-parameters (number of input and dense nodes, number of dense layers, activation function, batch size, Adam decay, and learning rate) of the deep neural network. The optimized model is then employed to perform sensitivity analysis for finding the most influential parameters in the boiling heat transfer assessment of sintered coated porous surfaces on copper substrate subjected to a variety of high- and low-wetting working fluids, including water, dielectric fluids, and refrigerants, under saturated pool boiling conditions and different surface inclination angles of the heater surface. The model with all the surface morphological features, liquid thermophysical properties, and pool boiling testing parameters demonstrates the highest correlation coefficient, R² = 0.985, for HTC prediction. The superheated wall is noted to have the maximum effect on the predictive accuracy of the boiling heat transfer coefficient. For example, if the wall superheat is dropped from the modeling parameters, the lowest prediction of R² (0.893) is achieved. The surface morphological features show relatively less influence compared to the liquid thermophysical properties. The proposed methodology is effective in determining the highly influencing surface and liquid parameters for the boiling heat transfer assessment of porous surfaces. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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18 pages, 9517 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Classification of a Greenhouse Environment for a Rose Crop Based on AI-Based Surrogate Models

by Showkat Ahmad Bhat, Nen-Fu Huang, Imtiyaz Hussain, Farzana Bibi, Uzair Sajjad, Muhammad Sultan, Abdullah Saad Alsubaie and Khaled H. Mahmoud

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 12166; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112166 - 4 Nov 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3067

Abstract

A precise microclimate control for dynamic climate changes in greenhouses allows the industry and researchers to develop a simple, robust, reliable, and intelligent model. Accordingly, the objective of this investigation was to develop a method that can accurately define the most suitable environment in the greenhouse for an optimal yield of roses. Herein, an optimal and highly accurate BO-DNN surrogate model was developed (based on 300 experimental data points) for a quick and reliable classification of the rose yield environment considering some of the most influential variables including soil humidity, temperature and humidity of air, CO₂ concentration, and light intensity (lux) into its architecture. Initially, two BO techniques (GP and GBRT) are used for the tuning process of the hyper-parameters (such as learning rate, batch size, number of dense nodes, number of dense neurons, number of input nodes, activation function, etc.). After that, an optimal and simple combination of the hyper-parameters was selected to develop a DNN algorithm based on 300 data points, which was further used to classify the rose yield environment (the rose yield environments were classified into four classes such as soil without water, correct environment, too hot, and very cold environments). The very high accuracy of the proposed surrogate model (0.98) originated from the introduction of the most vital soil and meteorological parameters as the inputs of the model. The proposed method can help in identifying intelligent greenhouse environments for efficient crop yields. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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13 pages, 636 KiB

Open AccessReview

Aquaculture—Production System and Waste Management for Agriculture Fertilization—A Review

by Roberto G. Chiquito-Contreras, Luis Hernandez-Adame, Gerardo Alvarado-Castillo, María de J. Martínez-Hernández, Gabriela Sánchez-Viveros, César J. Chiquito-Contreras and Luis G. Hernandez-Montiel

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7257; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127257 - 14 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5206

Abstract

Aquaculture is the fastest growing animal food production sector worldwide and is becoming the main source of aquatic animal foodstuff for human consumption. However, the aquaculture sector has been strongly criticized for its environmental impacts. It can cause discharge and accumulation of residual nutrients in the areas surrounding the production farms. This is because, of the total nutrients supplied to production ponds, only 30% are converted into product, while the rest is usually discharged into the environment to maintain water quality in aquaculture culture systems, thereby altering the physic-chemical characteristics of the receiving water. In contrast, this same accumulation of nutrients is gaining importance within the agricultural sector, as it has been reported that the main nutrients required by plants for their development are found in this aquaculture waste. The purpose of this review article is to indicate the different aquaculture production systems, the waste they generate, as well as the negative effects of their discharge into the environment. Biofiltration and bioremediation processes are mentioned as alternatives for aquaculture waste management. Furthermore, the state of the art in the treatment and utilization of aquaculture waste as a mineral source for agricultural nutrition through biodigestion and biomineralization processes is described. Finally, aquaponics is referred to as a biological production approach that, through efficient use of water and recycling of accumulated organic nutrients in aquaculture systems, can contribute to addressing the goals of sustainable aquaculture development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Engineering Technologies and Applications)

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