1. Parameter optimization and experiment of air-assisted pollination device.
- Author
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Ding Suming, Xue Xinyu, Fang Jinbao, Sun Zhu, Cai Chen, Zhou Liangfu, and Qin Weicai
- Subjects
- *
AGRICULTURE , *POLLINATION , *ORCHARDS , *POLLEN , *MECHANIZATION - Abstract
The planting area of orchard and fruit production in China is at the top in the world, but there are the disadvantages of the late development of orchard pollination device and the relatively low level of mechanization, so poor pollination has become the main factor influencing the improvement of orchard yield and quality, and seriously hampered the development of Chinese fruit industry. Pollination is the key process in the fruit production, and sufficient and well-distributed pollination can be helpful to increase the outputs and improve the quality. Artificial pollination is widely used in fruit production in recent years, which is labor intensive and with low productivity and process restricted, and cannot adapt to large-scale production. Thus, in order to make full use of the pollen, the technique and machine used for the pollination are needed. Pollination technique, particularly air-assisted pollination technique, is an inevitable trend for fruit production. In order to further study the pollination technique, the pollination testbed was designed. The testbed consisted of a pollination device, direct current stabilized power supply, definite time relay and glassslid. The nozzle diameter, shrinkage pipe diameter and motor voltage were taken as the influencing factors. The dusting rate, solid mass concentration and pollen coverage were used as test indices in the experimental study. Orthogonal rotational quadratic combination test with three factors and three levels was made to evaluate the combined influence of the factors on the test index value, and then regression equations to describe the relationships between the factors and each assessment index were established by using the regression analysis and response surface analysis with the software Design-Expert 8.0.6. The optimum combination of input parameters was obtained and verified, and the experimental verification of the mathematical model was also conducted. The results showed that trial factors had great effects. The significant effects of nozzle diameter, motor voltage and shrinkage pipe diameter on reducing the dusting rate were in a decreasing order. The significant effects of nozzle diameter, motor voltage and shrinkage pipe diameter on reducing solid mass concentration were in a decreasing order. The significant effects of motor voltage, shrinkage pipe diameter and nozzle diameter on increasing pollen coverage were in a decreasing order. The best model of the integrated pollination parameters was as follows: when the nozzle diameter was 5 mm, the shrinkage pipe diameter was 7.5 mm and motor voltage was 8.0 V, dusting rate was 1.70 g/min, solid mass concentration was 17.28 g/m³, and pollen coverage was 77.71%. Through comparing the mathematical model and the experimental result, it turned out that the relative errors of all the property indices between the two were less than 6%, which meant that the model established was useful and could be used for predicting and optimizing. The field experiment was conducted in a kiwi grove where "Hongyang" kiwi trees were grown, and the results showed that pollen coverage was 67.11%. Compared with the field result, the laboratory experiment turned out that the error range was less than 16%. It can provide theoretical and experimental basis for further study of pollination mechanism and developing pollination machinery, and also greatly promote the progress of industrialization and large-scale manufacture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015