Nugroho, A.P., Okayasu, T., Inoue, E., Hirai, Y., Mitsuoka, M.

Agriculture faces many challenges in the production system, such as climate and weather, field conditions, crop types, soils types and conditions, and so on. Farmers consider many aspects to optimize the “on-farm” process by their long-term experiences. Various informatization agricultural supporting systems have been developed using ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to improve agricultural productivity. Authors have developed the ICT-based agricultural supporting system called the “Agri-eye” in which a field monitoring, crop growth and quality evaluation, work recording, and online data offering and sharing sub-systems were incorporated. On the other hand, an actuation subsystem for controlling and managing agricultural facilities in a greenhouse such as a heater, water pumps, circulation fans, a CO2 generator, etc. has been introduced. In this study, an actuation framework is developed as a useful method for monitoring and controlling local facilities and machineries. The method can be used for controlling particular device with adjusting parameter from Agrieye server to meet the cultivation requirement. Furthermore, the validity of the developed framework was verified to monitor and control air temperature in laboratory test box. read more

Nugroho, B.D.A.

Although there has been a high relationship between global climate and rainfall in Indonesia, little evidence is available for relationship between Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and rainfall pattern in highland of country. This study evaluates the relationships between Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and rainfall distribution pattern in Gunungkidul district, highland of South-Central Java, Indonesia. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) approach was used to summarize the average of SSTs during rainy season (October to March) for the El Niño monitoring regions: IOBW (Indian Ocean Basin-Wide), Niño. West and Niño. 3. Monthly rainfall data was collected from Agricultural Government of Gunungkidul district. In this area, rainfall was highest in the southern and western mountainous areas, especially near the coast, and SSTs values were highly correlated with rainfall in those areas. Almost all sub districts in Gunungkidul district has significant correlations between PC1 SSTs and rainfall during October-November-December (OND). read more

Ngadisih, Bhandary, N.P., Yatabe, R., Dahal, R.K.

West Java Province is the most landslide risky area in Indonesia owing to extreme geo-morphological conditions, climatic conditions and densely populated settlements with immense completed and ongoing development activities. So, a landslide susceptibility map at regional scale in this province is a fundamental tool for risk management and land-use planning. Logistic regression and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models are the most frequently used tools for landslide susceptibility assessment, mainly because they are capable of handling the nature of landslide data. The main objective of this study is to apply logistic regression and ANN models and compare their performance for landslide susceptibility mapping in volcanic mountains of West Java Province. In addition, the model application is proposed to identify the most contributing factors to landslide events in the study area. The spatial database built in GIS platform consists of landslide inventory, four topographical parameters (slope, aspect, relief, distance to river), three geological parameters (distance to volcano crater, distance to thrust and fault, geological formation), and two anthropogenic parameters (distance to road, land use). The logistic regression model in this study revealed that slope, geological formations, distance to road and distance to volcano are the most influential factors of landslide events while, the ANN model revealed that distance to volcano crater, geological formation, distance to road, and land-use are the most important causal factors of landslides in the study area. Moreover, an evaluation of the model showed that the ANN model has a higher accuracy than the logistic regression model. read more

Purwantana, B., Horio, H., Kawamura, T., Shoji, K.

The mechanization of swampy land is required for developing a cultivation area for rice production. However, existing cultivating machines available cannot be effectively used in swampy and land conditions. A prototype of a rotary cultivator having a flail knife was developed. The possibility of its introduction is discussed after some preliminary experiments. The flail-type rotary cultivator was capable of cutting up to 95% of the grass in short lengths with little stubbles left on the ground. The critical cutting speed was about 19 m/s peripheral speed of the flail knife. An up-cut configuration produced shorter chopped grass and proper trajectories of the cut material for effective windrowing. read more

Nugroho, A.P., Okayasu, T., Hoshi, T., Inoue, E., Hirai, Y., Mitsuoka, M., Sutiarso, L.

This study focuses on the development and evaluation of a remote field environmental monitoring and control framework, implementing a local-global management strategy to overcome the unstable network connection in the rural area. The framework consists of environmental monitoring and control node as the local management subsystem (LMS), and the web data providing and system management as the global management subsystem (GMS) to establish a simple and flexible remote environmental monitoring and control based on a cloud platform. The supporting features are online and offline environmental monitoring, synchronization of system configuration, actuation, and offline management. Two field tests were conducted to verify its performances and functionalities, (1) environmental monitoring on tropical horticulture cultivation in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and (2) implementation of the monitoring and control for automatic drip irrigation control based on soil moisture content for tomato. As the result of the first test, the developed framework could help to maintain the sustainability of environmental monitoring under unstable network connection over 80% availability of the data with local offline measurement up to 24% of the total entries. From the second test result, the framework could support the real-time monitoring and control of soil moisture content as well as increase the system flexibility in the adjustment of the system configuration remotely. The control system has 0.78% error (E) and 99.2% in-range soil moisture content (L < xt < U) measurement during the 10-days observation. We concluded that the proposed framework might become a useful tool for a simple remote environmental monitoring and control under unstable network connection in the rural area. The framework has the potential to be adopted in cloud-based tropical horticulture supporting system, aimed for long-term environmental monitoring and controlling local facilities. read more

Salokhe, V.M., Gee-Clough, D., Tamtomo, P.

Accelerated wear testing of enamel coated mild steel rings was conducted to investigate wear characteristics relative to those of uncoated mild steel rings. The tests were conducted in sandy soil and on sand papers of silicone carbide. Results of the studies were expressed in terms of weight loss and wear rate in relation to the test duration. It was observed that over a period of 120 h of testing in sandy soil, the amounts of wear of enamel coated rings and the uncoated mild steel rings were almost the same. The tests on sand papers showed that enamel coated rings wore faster than the mild steel rings. The rate of wear of the enamel coated rings, however, was not so high as to render the process impractical for use in improving the performance of soil-engaging devices used in agriculture. read more

Palm / coconut sugar is highly produced and patronized in Indonesia and also in South East Asia.

Information :
Department of Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Agricultural Technology
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Jl. Flora No.1 Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281
INDONESIA

Anggrahini, S., Pranoto, Y., Efendi, Z. 

Sorghum flour was either naturally fermented or inoculated by Lactobacillus plantarum at 37 °C for 36 h. Changes in bacteria, pH, acidity, protein, in-uitro protein digestibility (IVPD), starch content and in-uitro starch digestibility (IVSD) were monitored every 4h. Pasting properties were carried out only in the native sorghum flour, and two types of fermented flour with highest improved IVPD and IVSD. Results showed that both fermentation types increased total bacteria by 5 log, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) by 5 log, and proteolytic bacteria by 2-3 log cycles. The pH decreased from 5 to 3 with the increased of titratable acidity. Natural and L. plantarum fermentations for 36 h improved IVPD by 46.89% and 92.08%, respectively, and increased IVSD by 71.48% and 65.63%, respectively. The highest IVSD enhancement (78.69%) was shown by L. plantarum for 28 h. Fermentation decreased gelatinization temperature (GT), increased peak viscosity (PV) and hot paste viscosity (HPV). The greatest improved viscosities were shown by L. plantarum. read more

Darmadji, P., Izumimoto, M.

The effect of chitosan in meat preservation, including microbiological, chemical, sensory and color qualities, was examined. In liquid medium, chitosan (0·01%) inhibited the growth of some spoilage bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis IFO 3025, Escherichia coli RB, Pseudomonas fragi IFO 3458 and Staphylococcus aureus IAM 1011. At higher concentrations (0·1 and 1·0%) it inhibited the growth of the meat starter cultures, Lactobacillus plantarium IAM 1216, Pediococcus pentosaceus IAM 12296 and Micrococcus varians IFO 3765. In meat, during incubation at 30°C for 48 h or storage at 4°C for 10 days, 0·5-1·0% chitosan inhibited the growth of spoilage bacteria, reduced lipid oxidation and putrefaction, and resulted in better sensory attributes. Chitosan also had a good effect on the development of the red color of meat during storage. read more

Rahayu, E. S., Nakayama, J., Watanabe, K., Jiang, J., Matsuda, K., Chao, S. -H., Haryono, P., La-Ongkham, O., Sarwoko, M.-A., Sujaya, I. N., Zhao, L., Chen, K.-T., Chen, Y.-P., Chiu, H.-H., Hidaka, T., Huang, N.-X., Kiyohara, C., Kurakawa, T., Sakamoto, N., Sonomoto, K., Tashiro, K., Tsuji, H., Chen, M.-J., Leelavatcharamas, V., Liao, C.-C, Nitisinprasert, S., Ren, F.-Z., Tsai, Y.-C., Lee, Y.-K.

Asia differs substantially among and within its regions populated by diverse ethnic groups, which maintain their own respective cultures and dietary habits. To address the diversity in their gut microbiota, we characterized the bacterial community in fecal samples obtained from 303 school-age children living in urban or rural regions in five countries spanning temperate and tropical areas of Asia. The microbiota profiled for the 303 subjects were classified into two enterotype-like clusters, each driven by Prevotella (P-type) or Bifidobacterium/Bacteroides (BB-type), respectively. Majority in China, Japan and Taiwan harbored BB-type, whereas those from Indonesia and Khon Kaen in Thailand mainly harbored P-type. The P-type microbiota was characterized by a more conserved bacterial community sharing a greater number of type-specific phylotypes. Predictive metagenomics suggests higher and lower activity of carbohydrate digestion and bile acid biosynthesis, respectively, in P-type subjects, reflecting their high intake of diets rich in resistant starch. Random-forest analysis classified their fecal species community as mirroring location of resident country, suggesting eco-geographical factors shaping gut microbiota. In particular, children living in Japan harbored a less diversified microbiota with high abundance of Bifidobacterium and less number of potentially pathogenic bacteria, which may reflect their living environment and unique diet. read more