Automatic Wheat Lodging Detection And Mapping In Aerial Imagery To Support High-Throughput Phenotyping And In-Season Crop Management,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln & Huazhong Agricultural University & Ministry of Agriculture
Automatic Wheat Lodging Detection And Mapping In Aerial Imagery To Support High-Throughput Phenotyping And In-Season Crop Management, Biquan Zhao, Jiating Li, P. Stephen Baenziger, Vikas Belamkar, Yufeng Ge, Jian Zhang, Yeyin Shi
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Latest advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) allow us to detect crop lodging in a more precise and accurate way. However, the performance and generalization of a model capable of detecting lodging when the plants may show different spectral and morphological signatures have not been investigated much. This study investigated and compared the performance of models trained using aerial imagery collected at two growth stages of winter wheat with different canopy phenotypes. Specifically, three CNN-based models were trained with aerial imagery collected at early grain filling stage only, at physiological maturity only, and at …
Ground And Aerial Robots For Agricultural Production: Opportunities And Challenges,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ground And Aerial Robots For Agricultural Production: Opportunities And Challenges, Santosh Pitla, Sreekala Bajwa, Santosh Bhusal, Tom Brumm, Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Dennis R. Buckmaster, Isabella Condotta, John Fulton, Todd J. Janzen, Manoj Karkee, Mario Lopez, Robert Moorhead, Michael Sama, Leon Schumacher, Scott Shearer, Alex Thomasson
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Crop and animal production techniques have changed significantly over the last century. In the early 1900s, animal power was replaced by tractor power that resulted in tremendous improvements in field productivity, which subsequently laid foundation for mechanized agriculture. While precision agriculture has enabled site-specific management of crop inputs for improved yields and quality, precision livestock farming has boosted efficiencies in animal and dairy industries. By 2020, highly automated systems are employed in crop and animal agriculture to increase input efficiency and agricultural output with reduced adverse impact on the environment. Ground and aerial robots combined with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques …
Field Assessment Of Interreplicate Variability From Eight Electromagnetic Soil Moisture Sensors,
2020
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Field Assessment Of Interreplicate Variability From Eight Electromagnetic Soil Moisture Sensors, Tsz Him Lo, Daran Rudnick, Jasreman Singh, Hope Njuki Nakabuye, Abia Katimbo, Derek M. Heeren, Yufeng Ge
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Interreplicate variability—the spread in output values among units of the same sensor subjected to essentially the same condition—can be a major source of uncertainty in sensor data. To investigate the interreplicate variability among eight electromagnetic soil moisture sensors through a field study, eight units of TDR315, CS616, CS655, HydraProbe2, EC5, 5TE, and Teros12 were installed at a depth of 0.30 m within 3 m of each other, whereas three units of AquaSpy Vector Probe were installed within 3 m of each other. The magnitude of interreplicate variability in volumetric water content (θv) was generally similar between a static …
Development And Application Of A Performance And
Operational Feasibility Guide To Facilitate Adoption
Of Soil Moisture Sensors,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Development And Application Of A Performance And Operational Feasibility Guide To Facilitate Adoption Of Soil Moisture Sensors, Meetpal S. Kukal, Suat Irmak, Kiran Sharma
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Soil moisture sensors can be effective and promising decision-making tools for diverse applications and audiences, including agricultural managers, irrigation practitioners, and researchers. Nevertheless, there exists immense adoption potential in the United States, with only 1.2 in 10 farms nationally using soil moisture sensors to decide when to irrigate. This number is much lower in the global scale. Increased adoption is likely hindered by lack of scientific support in need assessment, selection, suitability and use of these sensors. Here, through extensive field research, we address the operational feasibility of soil moisture sensors, an aspect which has been overlooked in the past, …
Effects Of Farrowing Stall Layout And Number Of Heat Lamps On Sow And Piglet Production Performance,
2020
Iowa State University
Effects Of Farrowing Stall Layout And Number Of Heat Lamps On Sow And Piglet Production Performance, Suzanne M. Leonard, Hongwei Xin, Tami M. Brown-Bandl, Brett C. Ramirez, Somak Dutta, Gary A. Rohrer
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Most farrowing facilities in the United States use stalls and heat lamps to improve sow and piglet productivity. This study investigated these factors by comparing production outcomes for three different farrowing stall layouts (traditional, expanded creep area, expanded sow area) and use of one or two heat lamps. Data were collected on 427 sows and their litters over one year. Results showed no statistical differences due to experimental treatment for any of the production metrics recorded, excluding percent stillborn. Parity one sows had fewer piglets born alive (p < 0.001), lower percent mortality (p = 0.001) and over-lay (p = 0.003), and a …
Influence Of Watershed Characteristics On Streambed Hydraulic Conductivity Across
Multiple Stream Orders,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Influence Of Watershed Characteristics On Streambed Hydraulic Conductivity Across Multiple Stream Orders, Olufemi P. Abimbola, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Troy E. Gilmore, Jesse T. Korus
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Streambeds are critical hydrological interfaces: their physical properties regulate the rate, timing, and location of fluxes between aquifers and streams. Streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv) is a key parameter in watershed models, so understanding its spatial variability and uncertainty is essential to accurately predicting how stresses and environmental signals propagate through the hydrologic system. Most distributed modeling studies use generalized Kv estimates from column experiments or grain-size distribution, but Kv may include a wide range of orders of magnitude for a given particle size group. Thus, precisely predicting Kv spatially has remained conceptual, experimental, …
Cover Crop Productivity And Subsequent Soybean Yield In The Western Corn Belt,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cover Crop Productivity And Subsequent Soybean Yield In The Western Corn Belt, Katja Koehler-Cole, Roger W. Elmore, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Charles A. Francis, Charles Shapiro, Christopher A. Proctor, Sabrina J. Ruis, Derek M. Heeren, Suat Irmak, Richard Ferguson
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Cover crops (CC) in corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations may prevent N loss and provide other ecosystem services but CC productivity in the western Corn Belt is limited by the short growing season. Our objective was to assess CC treatment and planting practice effects on CC biomass, spring soil nitrate concentrations, and soybean yield at two rainfed sites in eastern and one irrigated site in south-central Nebraska over 4 years. Cover crop treatments (cereal rye [Secale cereale L.] [RYE] and a mix of rye, legume, and brassica species [MIX]) were planted …
Calibration Of A Common Shortwave Multispectral Camera System For Quantitative Agricultural Applications,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Calibration Of A Common Shortwave Multispectral Camera System For Quantitative Agricultural Applications, J. Burdette Barker, Wayne Woldt, Brian Wardlow, Christopher Michael Usher Neale, Mitchell S. Maguire, Bryan Leavitt, Derek M. Heeren
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for collecting multispectral imagery of agricultural fields are becoming more affordable and accessible. However, there is need to validate calibration of sensors on these systems when using them for quantitative analyses such as evapotranspiration, and other modeling for agricultural applications. The results of laboratory testing of a MicaSense (Seattle, WA, USA) RedEdge™ 3 multispectral camera and MicaSense Downwelling Light Sensor (irradiance sensor) system using a calibrated integrating sphere were presented. Responses of the camera and irradiance sensor were linear over many light levels and became non-linear at light levels below expected real-world, field conditions. Simple linear …
High-Throughput Screening Of Clinically Approved Drugs That Prime Nonviral Gene Delivery To Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
High-Throughput Screening Of Clinically Approved Drugs That Prime Nonviral Gene Delivery To Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Tyler Kozisek, Andrew Hamann, Albert Nguyen, Michael Miller, Sarah Plautz, Angela K. Pannier
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Background: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are intensely researched for applications in cell therapeutics due to their unique properties, however, intrinsic therapeutic properties of hMSCs could be enhanced by genetic modification. Viral transduction is efficient, but suffers from safety issues. Conversely, nonviral gene delivery, while safer compared to viral, suffers from inefficiency and cytotoxicity, especially in hMSCs. To address the shortcomings of nonviral gene delivery to hMSCs, our lab has previously demonstrated that pharmacological ‘priming’ of hMSCs with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone can significantly increase transfection in hMSCs by modulating transfection-induced cytotoxicity. This work seeks to establish a library of transfection …
Deep Learning Predicts Microbial Interactions From Self-Organized Spatiotemporal Patterns,
2020
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Deep Learning Predicts Microbial Interactions From Self-Organized Spatiotemporal Patterns, Joon-Yong Lee, Natalie C. Sadler, Robert G. Egbert, Christopher R. Anderton, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Janet K. Jansson, Hyun-Seob Song
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Microbial communities organize into spatial patterns that are largely governed by interspecies interactions. This phenomenon is an important metric for understanding community functional dynamics, yet the use of spatial patterns for predicting microbial interactions is currently lacking. Here we propose supervised deep learning as a new tool for network inference. An agent-based model was used to simulate the spatiotemporal evolution of two interacting organisms under diverse growth and interaction scenarios, the data of which was subsequently used to train deep neural networks. For small-size domains (100 mm x 100 mm) over which interaction coefficients are assumed to be invariant, we …
Swine Slurry Characteristics As Affected By Selected Additives And Disinfectants,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Swine Slurry Characteristics As Affected By Selected Additives And Disinfectants, Jon Duerschner, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Kent Eskridge, John E. Gilley, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt, Daniel D. Snow
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Current swine industry practice is to house animals in confinement facilities which capture and store feces and urine as slurry in pits below the production area. Additives and disinfectants may be introduced into the manure pits. This study was conducted to measure the effects of additives and disinfectants on temporal changes in swine slurry characteristics. Slurry from a commercial swine production facility in southeast Nebraska, USA was collected and transferred to 57 L reactors located within a greenhouse. Selected additives and disinfectants were added to the reactors and physical properties, chemical characteristics, and antibiotic concentrations were monitored for 40 days. …
Influence Of Setback Distance On Antibiotics And Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Runoff And Soil Following The Land Application Of Swine Manure Slurry,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Influence Of Setback Distance On Antibiotics And Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Runoff And Soil Following The Land Application Of Swine Manure Slurry, Maria C. Hall, Noelle Mware, John E. Gilley, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Daniel D. Snow, Amy M. Schmidt Schmidt, Kent M. Eskridge, Xu Li
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
The environmental spread of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from the land application of livestock wastes can be a potential public health threat. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of setback distance, which determines how close manure may be applied in relation to surface water, on the transport of antibiotics and ARGs in runoff and soil following land application of swine manure slurry. Rainfall simulation tests were conducted on field plots covered with wheat residues, each of which contained an upslope manure region where slurry was applied and an adjacent downslope setback region that did …
Geostatistical Features Of Streambed Vertical Hydraulic Conductivities In Frenchman Creek Watershed In
Western Nebraska,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Geostatistical Features Of Streambed Vertical Hydraulic Conductivities In Frenchman Creek Watershed In Western Nebraska, Olufemi P. Abimbola, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Troy E. Gilmore
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
This study evaluated the spatial variability of streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv) in different stream morphologies in the Frenchman Creek Watershed, Western Nebraska, using different variogram models. Streambed Kv values were determined in situ using permeameter tests at 10 sites in Frenchman, Stinking Water and Spring Creeks during the dry season at baseflow conditions. Measurements were taken both in straight and meandering stream channels during a 5 day period at similar flow conditions. Each test site comprised of at least three transects and each transect comprised of at least three Kv measurements. Linear, Gaussian, exponential …
A Decade Of Unmanned Aerial Systems In Irrigated Agriculture In The Western U.S.,
2020
Colorado State University
A Decade Of Unmanned Aerial Systems In Irrigated Agriculture In The Western U.S., Jose L. Chavez, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Wayne E. Woldt, Huihui Zhang, Christopher Robertson, Gary W. Marek, Dong Wang, Derek M. Heeren, Saleh Taghvaeian, Christopher M. U. Neale
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Several research institutes, laboratories, academic programs, and service companies around the United States have been developing programs to utilize small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) as an instrument to improve the efficiency of in-field water and agronomical management. This article describes a decade of efforts on research and development efforts focused on UAS technologies and methodologies developed for irrigation management, including the evolution of aircraft and sensors in contrast to data from satellites. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations for UAS operation in agriculture have been synthesized along with proposed modifications to enhance UAS contributions to irrigated agriculture. Although it is feasible …
Evaluation Of Low-Cost Depth Cameras For Agricultural Applications,
2020
“Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture & University of Nebraska-Lincoln & University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Evaluation Of Low-Cost Depth Cameras For Agricultural Applications, Isabella C.F.S. Condotta, T. M. Brown-Brandl, Santosh Pitla, John P. Stinn, Késia O. Silva-Miranda
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Low-cost depth-cameras have been used in many agricultural applications with reported advantages of low cost, reliability and speed of measurement. However, some problems were also reported and seem to be technology- related, so understanding the limitations of each type of depth camera technology could provide a basis for technology selection and the development of research involving its use. The cameras use one or a combination of two of the three available technologies: structured light, time-of-flight (ToF), and stereoscopy. The objectives were to evaluate these different technologies for depth sensing, including measuring accuracy and repeatability of distance data and measurements at …
Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Mohsen Hozan, Jacob Greenwood, Michaela Sullivan, Steven M. Barlow
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging technique in studying cerebral hemodynamics; however, consensus on the analysis methods and the clinical applications has yet to be established. In this study, we demonstrate the results of a pilot fNIRS study of cerebral hemodynamic response (HR) evoked by pneumotactile and sensorimotor stimuli on the dominant hand. Our goal is to find the optimal stimulus parameters to maximally evoke HR in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. We use a pulsatile pneumatic array of 14 tactile cells that were attached to the glabrous surface of the dominant hand, with a patterned stimulus that …
Glucocorticoid Priming Of Nonviral Gene Delivery To Hmscs Increases Transfection By Reducing Induced Stresses,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Glucocorticoid Priming Of Nonviral Gene Delivery To Hmscs Increases Transfection By Reducing Induced Stresses, Andrew Hamann, Tyler Kozisek, Kelly Broad, Angela K. Pannier
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are under study for cell and gene therapeutics because of their immunomodulatory and regenerative properties. Safe and efficient gene delivery could increase hMSC clinical potential by enabling expression of transgenes for control over factor production, behavior, and differentiation. Viral delivery is efficient but suffers from safety issues, while nonviral methods are safe but highly inefficient, especially in hMSCs. We previously demonstrated that priming cells with glucocorticoids (Gcs) before delivery of DNA complexes significantly increases hMSC transfection, which correlates with a rescue of transfection-induced metabolic and protein synthesis decline, and apoptosis. In this work, we show …
Ultrasmall Mixed Eu−Gd Oxide Nanoparticles For Multimodal
Fluorescence And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Passive
Accumulation And Retention In Tbi,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Ultrasmall Mixed Eu−Gd Oxide Nanoparticles For Multimodal Fluorescence And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Passive Accumulation And Retention In Tbi, Badrul Alam Bony, Hunter A. Miller, Aria W. Tarudji, Connor C. Gee, Anandakumar Sarella, Michael G. Nichols, Forrest Kievit
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. TBI can have a long-term impact on the quality of life for survivors of all ages. However, there remains no approved treatment that improves outcomes following TBI, which is partially due to poor delivery of therapies into the brain. Therefore, there is a significant unmet need to develop more effective delivery strategies that increase the accumulation and retention of potentially efficacious treatments in the injured brain. Recent work has revealed that nanoparticles (NPs) may offer a promising approach for site-specific delivery; however, a detailed understanding of the …
Robotic Detection And Grasp Of Maize And Sorghum:
Stem Measurement With Contact,
2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Robotic Detection And Grasp Of Maize And Sorghum: Stem Measurement With Contact, Abbas Atefi, Yufeng Ge, James C. Schnable
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Frequent measurements of the plant phenotypes make it possible to monitor plant status during the growing season. Stem diameter is an important proxy for overall plant biomass and health. However, the manual measurement of stem diameter in plants is time consuming, error prone, and laborious. The use of agricultural robots to automatically collect plant phenotypic data for trait measurements can overcome many of the drawbacks of manual phenotyping. The objective of this research was to develop a robotic system that can automatically detect and grasp the stem, and measure its diameter of maize and sorghum plants. The robotic system comprises …
Rapeseed Stand Count Estimation At Leaf Development Stages With Uav Imagery And Convolutional Neural Networks,
2020
Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan & Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan
Rapeseed Stand Count Estimation At Leaf Development Stages With Uav Imagery And Convolutional Neural Networks, Biquan Zhao, Chenghai Yang, Yeyin Shi, Qingxi Liao, Guangsheng Zhou, Chufeng Wang, Tianjin Xie, Zhao Jiang, Dongyan Zhang, Wanneng Yang, Chenglong Huang, Jing Xie, Jian Zhang
Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications
Rapeseed is an important oil crop in China. Timely estimation of rapeseed stand count at early growth stages provides useful information for precision fertilization, irrigation, and yield prediction. Based on the nature of rapeseed, the number of tillering leaves is strongly related to its growth stages. However, no field study has been reported on estimating rapeseed stand count by the number of leaves recognized with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery. The objectives of this study were to provide a case for rapeseed stand counting with reference to the existing knowledge of the number of leaves …
