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Agronomy
Special Issues
Advances in Agricultural Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow
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Advances in Agricultural Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2024 | Viewed by 3422

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Manuel Moya Ignacio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agroforestry Engineering Area, University of Extremadura, Centro Universitario de Plasencia, 10600 Plasencia, Spain
Interests: agricultural buildings; biosystems engineering; construction engineering; agricultural infrastructures; mechanical characterization of materials
Dr. Desirée Rodríguez-Robles

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agroforestry Engineering Area, University of Extremadura, Escuela de Ingenierías Agrarias, 06007 Badajoz, Spain
Interests: biosystems engineering; agricultural constructions; optimization and numerical simulations; recycled materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In a world grappling with growing population demands and the threats of climate change, agricultural engineering must become a pivotal force that fosters a more sustainable, efficient, and resilient future. Therefore, the latest advances must be focused on the consecution of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States and outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among them, those related to No Poverty, No Hunger, Climate Action, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, or Affordable and Clean Energy should be highlighted as central to agricultural engineering.

This Special Issue aims to seek high-quality research and review articles that show novel scientific findings on the advances, developments, and innovative solutions in agricultural engineering that help to improve the level of knowledge and technology centred around pressing 21st century challenges.

Topics covered by the Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • power and machinery for modern farming and cropping systems;
  • land and water use and the environment;
  • biosystems Engineering: agricultural constructions and infrastructure;
  • automation and emerging technologies;
  • precision agriculture and precision farming;
  • bioenergy and non-food production;
  • crop production;
  • processing and post-harvest technology and logistics.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Moya Ignacio
Dr. Desirée Rodríguez-Robles
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • technology
  • energy
  • mechanization
  • automation
  • construction
  • environmental sustainability
  • greenhouse
  • irrigation
  • crop and animal production

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3819 KiB  
Article
Isolation, Identification, and Application of Endophytic Fungi from Lavandula stoechas L.: Mitigating Salinity Stress in Hydroponic Winter Cereal Fodder
by Carlos García-Latorre and María José Poblaciones
Agronomy 2024, 14(11), 2501; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14112501 - 25 Oct 2024
Viewed by 547
Abstract
Soil and irrigation water salinity is a growing global problem affecting farmland, due to poor agricultural practices and climate change, leading to reduced crop yields. Given the limited amount of arable land and the need to boost production, hydroponic systems offer a viable [...] Read more.
Soil and irrigation water salinity is a growing global problem affecting farmland, due to poor agricultural practices and climate change, leading to reduced crop yields. Given the limited amount of arable land and the need to boost production, hydroponic systems offer a viable solution. Additionally, endophytic fungi have been shown to mitigate salinity effects through symbiosis with plants. This study evaluated three endophytic fungi isolated from Lavandula stoechas L. in the grasslands of Extremadura (i.e., Diplodia corticola L11, Leptobacillium leptobactrum L15, and Cladosporium cladosporioides L16) for their ability to improve hydroponic forage production under saline conditions. In vitro experiments were conducted assessing plant growth promotion and fungal growth under salinity, followed by research evaluating the impact of fungal inoculation on hydroponic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) forages irrigated with NaCl solutions (0, 100, and 200 mM). The results showed improved fungal growth and production of plant growth-promoting substances, which could explain the improved plant germination, shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight, and yield of inoculated plants growing under salinity. Plants inoculated with L15 or L16 showed the best performance overall. L15 demonstrated broader bioactivity in vitro, potentially explaining its superior performance in both wheat and barley growth. Conversely, L16 was more effective in barley, while L11 was beneficial in wheat but detrimental in barley. This study provides a preliminary exploration of the capabilities of these fungi and their optimization for hydroponic forage production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Agricultural Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow)
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15 pages, 2170 KiB  
Article
Study of Various Mechanical Properties of Maize (Zea mays) as Influenced by Moisture Content
by Manuel Moya-Ignacio, David Sánchez, José Ángel Romero and José Ramón Villar-García
Agronomy 2024, 14(8), 1613; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14081613 - 24 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1018
Abstract
The mechanical properties of agricultural materials influence not only the loads occurring inside agricultural silos, but also the design of several types of post-harvest machinery. The loads generated by these materials inside silos can be predicted with silo calculation methodologies from their mechanical [...] Read more.
The mechanical properties of agricultural materials influence not only the loads occurring inside agricultural silos, but also the design of several types of post-harvest machinery. The loads generated by these materials inside silos can be predicted with silo calculation methodologies from their mechanical properties. It has been known for many years that these properties are highly dependent on the moisture content of the material. However, to date, there are not many studies focused on its determination. The goal of this research is the determination of the internal friction angle, apparent cohesion, angle of dilatancy and apparent specific weight of maize when different moisture contents are applied. The equipment used for this study consisted mainly of direct shear and oedometer assay apparatus. The maize samples used were moistened using a climatic chamber. Moisture contents applied to maize samples ranged from 9.3% to 17.4%. Results similar to those provided by other authors were obtained for the internal friction angle, apparent cohesion and apparent specific weight. On the other hand, the values obtained for the dilatancy angle of maize as a function of moisture content could not be compared because nothing has been published so far. The values obtained for this parameter overlap with those published for this material under ambient conditions. In addition, for the samples tested, these results did not allow confirming the existence of a direct relationship between the dilatancy angle and the moisture content. Finally, the increase in moisture content led to an increase in apparent specific weight, which differed from that published in the literature. The values provided here can be used for the optimization of storage and handling structures for granular agricultural materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Agricultural Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow)
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14 pages, 2694 KiB  
Article
Assessing Effect of Irrigation Frequency on Evaporation and Transpiration in Vineyards Using SIMDualKc Simulation Model with Measured Wet Fraction
by Gonzalo Esteban-Sanchez, Carlos Campillo, David Uriarte and Francisco J. Moral
Agronomy 2024, 14(7), 1468; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071468 - 6 Jul 2024
Viewed by 757
Abstract
Irrigation efficiency is important for the environment and the economy. SIMDualKc has been effectively used to calculate evaporation and transpiration separately in vineyards for different irrigation strategies, but not to analyze the impact of irrigation frequency. This study was conducted for the in-field [...] Read more.
Irrigation efficiency is important for the environment and the economy. SIMDualKc has been effectively used to calculate evaporation and transpiration separately in vineyards for different irrigation strategies, but not to analyze the impact of irrigation frequency. This study was conducted for the in-field adjustment of the soil wetted fraction (wf) with a time domain reflectometry (TDR) sensor as a function of different irrigation frequency treatments (T03, T07, and T15 with irrigation every 3, 7, and 15 days, respectively). Evaporation and transpiration values were estimated separately with the SIMDualKc model for different irrigation frequencies with the adjusted wf, comparing them with vineyard field measurements and analyzing the effect of different irrigation frequencies on vineyard yield. The wf in T15 was higher than that in T07, which in turn was higher than that in T03. SIMDualKc indicates the most unfavorable treatment to be the T07, with higher evaporation and lower transpiration than T15 and T03, while T15 had higher evaporation and lower transpiration than T03. Although stomatic conductance also indicates the most unfavorable case to be T07, no clear differences were found between T03 and T15. No statistically significant differences were obtained in yield. The results indicate that the differences observed between irrigation frequencies are not reflected in yield but do show up in water use efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Agricultural Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow)
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