Volume 25 (2021): Edition 1 (January 2021)

The aim of the paper is analysis of consumption of electric energy which is necessary to drive a farm tractor with an electric motor as a drive unit under the conditions of a drive with varied loading of the power transmission system. The object of the research was a tractor model where a combustion engine was replaced with a dc electric motor. During the tests, a decrease of voltage and current strength collected from supplying batteries as a function of tractor drive time and in relation to the mass of a tractor with a trailer, temperature of the surrounding and resistance to motion were reported, which enabled determination of the collected power and energy. For the used set of batteries, also the maximum range of the tractor drive on the paved road was determined.

A comparative analysis of performance of Diesel engines fuelled by diesel oil, methyl ester of rapeseed oil and raw rapeseed oil was performed. The analysis of external characteristics of engines powered by various fuel types was accepted for an assessment. Engine performance rates were analysed while attention was paid to power courses, moment, unit fuel consumption and hour fuel consumption, exhaust fumes temperature and exhaust smoke. Operation effectiveness of engines was assessed when they were fed with various fuel types and optimal proportions of fuel mixtures were indicated. Environmental aspects of powering the engines with traditional fuels and crop-based fuels were analysed. The total CO₂ emission in the entire process of manufacturing and combustion of fuels was accepted as a criterion. A simplified economic analysis was performed in the aspect of the underlying purpose of using crop-based fuels for propulsion of piston engines. Conclusions and recommendations that indicate directions of development concerning the analysed issue were prepared.

This paper evaluates the pathological condition of Belarusian forests with the use of monitoring of traditional forest factors and remote sensing data. The aim of the research was to assess the condition of pine forests to monitor forest degradation based on biochemical analyzes of needle samples and aviation monitoring with the use of monitoring data and remote detection. The remote shooting was carried out quasi-synchronously with the ground sampling of needles using an unmanned aircraft complex of an aircraft type. Based on the results of biochemical analyzes of needle samples, biochemical indicators that characterize the stability and physiological state of pine were determined: the level of peroxidation of membrane lipids; the release of water-soluble substances from plant tissues, which reflect the integrity of the cell walls; the content of photosynthetic pigments in the needles.

The paper discusses competitiveness of the agro-industrial sector, which is a multifaceted concept that characterizes its ability to compete in both domestic and foreign markets. Ukraine has significant opportunities to develop the agricultural sector and turn it into a highly efficient branch of economy. Favorable soil and climate conditions, and fertile land contribute to its further development, obtaining agricultural crops in volumes sufficient to meet domestic needs and build export potential. The production process of agricultural goods takes longer than in industry. Therefore, at the stage of determination of the production program of an agricultural enterprise, it is very difficult to respond on time to changes in consumer demand and increase the product competitiveness within the already established production schemes in the markets. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of growing the studied crops in a typical farm in Central Ukraine and offer a roadmap for making management decisions when planning a production program. For this purpose, a method based on calculations of the gross margin, total expenses, production thresholds, profitability, and payback of production factors was chosen.

Biohydrogen production in agricultural enterprises is an urgent matter. It is appropriate to utilize two methods of biohydrogen production: a thermochemical method – from crop-based biomass and anaerobic digestion (fermentation) method – from animal-based biomass.. It is appropriate to use gasifiers for the thermochemical method and biore-actors for fermentation method.

The theoretical potential of biohydrogen was established with due regard to the amount of biomass which is necessary for utilization in livestock agriculture, for fields fertilization as well as with the consideration of the coefficients of concordance with hydrogen equivalent and loss factor under biohydrogen production. The theoretical potential of biohydrogen from crop-based biomass in Ukraine amounts to 77 billion m³, during the period of three years (on average 25.6 billion m³ per year).

The article presents discussion on the state and prospects of bioenergy development in the context of rationalization of energy crops application as resource potential of Ukraine. Along with the development of society and increase of life intensity, the needs of mankind with regard to energy resources are increasing. The reduction rates of traditional types of energy resources are progressively growing, and their shortage is increasing. In addition, Ukraine belongs to import-dependent countries in the energy sector. At the expense of its own sources, our country provides only about half of the energy needs, while domestic national economy is one of the most energy-intensive industries in the world. In this regard, there is an urgent need to search for new, alternative sources of energy. Taking into account the potential present in Ukraine, the biomass use for energy production is the most attractive option. However, along with this, there is a problem of purposeful use of the agricultural land and a competitive struggle between agricultural products for nutrition and energy purposes. At the same time, many problems arise, which concerdevelopment of an appropriate legislative framework, methodological approaches to the economic, environmental and social efficiency of production and use of biological types of energy.

An innovative method of insulation by injection to a cooling tank was investigated with consideration of a sustainable development need during production of thermo-insulation materials. An insulation material consisted of polyurethane foam. The manufacturer has chosen HFO gases for filling in the pores, since this is a product with a low environmental impact. HFO gases have a zero potential for destruction of the ozone layer and an extremely low global warming potential. Cooling tanks insulated with modern technologies of injection of polyurethane foam were investigated with regard to heat permission. They were also tested on account of occurrence of heat leakage bridges. The investigation covered also cooling furniture insulated with a conventional method of gluing ready-made polyurethane boards. The tests showed that a modern insulation technology influences reduction of the heat permission coefficient towards the presently applied technology. The investigated insulation of cooling furniture did not prove any heat leakage bridges. Therefore, it may be concluded that the technological process is correct. Cooling tanks manufactured in the present insulation technology did not show the occurrence of heat leakage bridges.

Over the last few years, hydrogen energy has shifted from a little-studied field to the main one with which leading western countries associate the prospects of their national economies. The reasons are the unprecedented pace of development of hydrogen technologies. It turned out that they are able to provide significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and thus bring closer the solution to the problem of global climate change. The first and foremost purpose of our investigation is to reveal that our country has ample opportunities to become the main supplier of hydrogen to the EU market, overtaking North Africa in the competition. Using the methods, authors studied the targets of the European funds towards development of energy production from biohydrogen, studied the potential for the implementation of hydrogen projects, possibilities of financing them and a potential ability of Ukraine to form internal and external markets for hydrogen energy. One of the main issues of Ukraine's possible participation in Europe's hydrogen energy program as a supplier and producer of renewable hydrogen is the possibility of its technically safe and cost-effective transportation to EU countries. As a conclusion to the authors’ research, the path of the hydrogen industry development in Ukraine will help to receive additional investments in the Ukrainian economy for creation of new capacities for "green" hydrogen production. In return, Europe will receive research and evolution of the bioenergy component of the economy, which will permit the safe transition of Europeans to an affordable, competitive, and stable energy system.

The article presents the issues of water saving, declining freshwater resources in the world, and the problems of drought in the context of proper and effective irrigation of various types of crops. The use of microprocessor irrigation management systems has a significant impact on the quality of the yield and the rational use of water. An example of the irrigation system construction scheme is presented. The system uses strain gauge soil moisture sensors, which can be used to determine the relative water demand of plants, depending on the growing substrate. Additional system security in the form of rainfall and wind speed sensors provide the necessary information for the correct operation of the irrigation system. Then, two universal algorithms were proposed to automate the irrigation process of plant crops due to the way water is supplied to the plants. The first algorithm is designed for systems using drip lines - they are widely used in various types of crops where there is a need to precisely supply water to the plant, such systems are destined especially for crops grown undercover or for nursery crops. The second algorithm for sprinkler-based systems is mainly used in field crops and in mushroom farms. The presented algorithms can be used to design and implement intelligent irrigation systems, and after adding an additional module – for plant fertilization.

The paper presents a statistical analysis of weight and diameter of kernel obtained for eight investigated winter wheat cultivars. Preliminary analyses of experimental results, such as compliance with a normal distribution, equality of variance for particular cultivars, and occurrence of outliers proved that there is no justification for the use of a traditional one-way analysis of variance for verification of hypotheses according to which weight and diameter of grains of the investigated winter wheat cultivars do not differ. A nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used for verification of hypotheses which based on the experimental results enabled to reject both hypotheses. Further, simultaneous average weight and diameters of grain of the investigated cultivars were compared with the use of Nemenyi-Dunn test. The applied test enabled to conclude which cultivars had a significantly higher weight than the others. Analogous comparisons were carried out for the diameter of kernels of the investigated winter wheat cultivars.

The objective of the paper was to describe the impact of freeze-drying conditions on hardness of lyophilizates obtained based on soft fruit pomace. Raspberry, cherry, and grape pomace from the pressing process carried out with a low-speed rotary press constituted a research material. Immediately after the pressing process, pomaces were placed in forms, frozen, and after freezing they were freeze-dried in the pressure of 20, 42, 63, 85 and 110 Pa. The obtained lyophilizates were subjected to the measurement of hardness with the use of texture meter equipped with a penetrometer in the form of a cone with a vertical angle of 30°. The increase of pressure during freeze-drying of samples was accompanied by the increase of hardness of the obtained lyophilizates, which may affect the energy consumption of the grinding process and the nature of rehydration of the final product. Moreover, the water content of raw material, pomaces, and lyophilizates was determined. The obtained results of measurements were subjected to a statistical analysis which showed that the pressure of freeze-drying significantly diversifies the hardness of the obtained lyophilizates.

As a result of energy assessment of a pneumatic sieve separator for agricultural crops it was determined that the specific energy consumption of the experimental pneumatic sieve separator was 0.18 kW·year·t⁻¹. It is lower than in case of its domestic and foreign equivalents. For instance, the specific energy consumption of the separator of preliminary grain purification called SPO-50 (Ukraine) is 0.31 kW·year·t⁻¹, and that of the machine of preliminary grain purification called MPO-50 (Russia) is 0.38 kW·year·t⁻¹. Specific energy consumption of a pneumatic sieve separator is 1.72-2.11 times lower than in case of its domestic and foreign counterparts.

Agriculture is one of the leading sectors of the Ukrainian economy, and the state pays special attention to its development. One of directions of the state’s support for agriculture is implementation of tax preferences due to which agricultural enterprises have a lower tax burden. The optimal level of the tax burden is an important factor in ensuring the positive dynamics of business activity in agriculture, as well as socio-political stability. The objective of the article is to determine the impact of recent changes in the Ukrainian tax legislation on the tax burden of agricultural enterprises, as well as the possible impact of current draft laws. The article examines features of the tax legislation in Ukrainewith regard to agricultural producers and its changes in recent years - increasing a single tax rate, introduction of indexation of land regulatory, monetary valuation, abolition of the special regime of a value added tax. The advantages and disadvantages of using a simplified taxation system by agricultural enterprises are considered. the study’s outcome comprises recommendations for agricultural enterprises to choose a tax system with the lowest tax burden, as well as recommendations for improving the tax legislation of Ukraine using preferential VAT rates for agricultural enterprises and a tax on withdrawn capital.

Spraying with various types of agrochemical substances, including biostimulants, is one of the basic agricultural treatments affecting the yield size and quality. The selected type of spraying nozzles can influence biological effectiveness of the applied substances. A 2-year field study showed which of the investigated nozzles increase the effectiveness of foliar application of a free amino acid biostimulant. The type of nozzle used for the application of biostimulants was reported to significantly influence the biometric properties and yield of soybean cultivation. It was observed that spraying nozzles, which generate finer droplets positively influence positively the biometric properties of plants and seed yield of seed than injector nozzles, which produce coarser droplets. A significant reduction of the thousand seeds mass after applying the biostimulant with standard flat fan nozzles is an exception. A 25.61% increase in soybean yield was reported after applying the biostimulant with standard flat fan nozzles and a 11.35% increase – with injector nozzles..