Ryszard Holownicki

• Research Institute of Horticulture in Skierniewice

Three non-ionic adjuvants, Agral, Silwet, and Greemax, at three concentrations, were applied on apple leaves with the use of hollow cone nozzles (TR) and air-induction nozzles (ID) to verify the assumption that adjuvants may improve spray coverage obtained by coarse droplets, and thereby ensure both satisfactory application quality and an environme...

This paper presents the results of the analysis of thermal issues and energy efficiency of three types of accumulators; namely stone-bed; water and phase change. Research experiments were carried out during April–October 2013 in a standard commercial semi-cylindrical high plastic tunnel with tomato cultivation of 150 m². A stone-bed accumulator; wi...

Conventional air-assisted sprayers with hydraulic nozzles generate large radial spray plumes which produce significant off-target losses and can consume high power (20–30 kW). Also, it is not uncommon to see these machines treating dwarf orchards, where the spray losses at the full leaf stage may be over 80% of applied spray volume. Significant red...

A surplus of solar energy is observed in plastic tunnels for most of the growing season in many countries. The idea of storage of that energy in heat accumulators and further recovery is known for several decades and has been studied in different countries, usually in a laboratory scale. The presented paper discloses the preliminary results of the...

The paper presents results of the analysis concerning the process of storing and discharging the liquid type battery. A system comprising a recuperator, a battery tank, a circulating pump and a ventilator, was analysed. Hot air obtained from the perforated conduits system from the laboratory tunnel was pumped through a recuperator. The heat storing...

The paper presents the results of research which showed the energy effects when used in foil tunnel heat accumulator. The study was conducted in two tunnels (with and without heat accumulator) and two cycles of growing cucumbers, i.e., in the cultivation of spring and autumn. The heat accumulator is divided into three segments of varying capacity c...

Rola mechatroniki w rozwoju łódzkiego rolnictwa i przetwórstwa rolno-spożywczego.

The paper presents results of analysis of the air flow through the rock - bed storage. Air was collected from the inside of the plastic tunnel and pressed to the segments of the storage with area was 18.7 m2 and volume was almost 13.1 m3. The research was carried out from March to October 2013. The cycle of the storage work (charging or discharging...

The article presents the rock-bed accumulator which is a key part of a wider study focused on developing a comprehensive technology of surplus heat storage, which is currently wasted in glasshouses and plastic tunnels horticulture production. The majority of earlier experiments in this field have realized in laboratory scale in different climatic z...

The protected crop cultivation in the moderate climate requires heating almost every day during the season, either for raising the temperature, or for reduction of air humidity. The required amount of heat might be partially met by accumulation of excessive heat from conversion of solar energy entering the plastic tunnel or greenhouse. The typical...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of heated soil on the population of bacteria, fungi and nematodes inhabiting the soil of tomato cultivar “Tamaris” growing in peat and coconut substrates. In addition, these media were tested in two different containers: cylinders and slabs. The total number of bacteria and fungi was significantly hi...

The study was conducted in a plastic tunnel in which the heat storage system was installed in the stone accumulator. The system consists of a suction pipe warm air fan and perforated pipes placed in the stone's accumulator. The accumulator used a bed of stone (porphyry-type stones of dimension in the range 37 mm to 65 mm). In the accumulator, there...

According to the new EU directive on sustainable use of pesticides (EC 2009/128) calibration of sprayers has to be implemented in the EU Member States. It is also required in the environmental and operators’ safety context of different documents and guidelines determining the implementation of good practices or the compliance with standards of cert...

Operator exposure to spray applied with knapsack sprayers was measured in the open field during the spraying of the low, medium and high plants (strawberries, young apple orchard and bearing fruits one). The samples were attached to the protective clothes in 13 locations. The BSF fluorescent tracer was added to the spray. The operator exposure was...

Faulty but still operating agricultural pesticide sprayers may pose an unacceptable health risk for operators. The computerized models designed to calculate exposure and risk for pesticide sprayers used as an aid in the evaluation and further authorisation of plant protection products may be applied also to assess a health risk for operators when f...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of applying thermography as a method for measuring the temperature of crops under cover. The thermal imaging allowed the demonstration of temperature differences between the observed objects. It made also possible the quick determination of the temperature gradient in plastic tunnels without a n...

The paper presents results of the analysis related to determination of the value of the coefficient of heat permission through the cover of a facility and thermal issues (temperature, heat amount) at discharging a stone accumulator. For calculation of this coefficient, relation including inside temperature change as a function of variable amount of...

Efficiency of the air circulation system of a rock bed heat accumulator is a key factor for its overall effectiveness. The objective of the paper was to compare the air flows through the com-plete air circulation system of such accumulator for different solutions of the sealing system. The experimental objects were three 3-sectional rock bed accumu...

The aim of presented study was preliminary evaluation of efficiency of heat storage in the rock-bed accumulator located below a commercial high plastic tunnel 15 x 9 m. The research has been conducted between 13 October and 19 October 2011, and used only one section of that accumulator containing 12.69 m3 of rock (31.5-63 mm porphyry breakstone). T...

The work, basing on available literature describes directions of research carried out in different scientific centres concerning heating a greenhouse with renewable energy sources. For the system concerned (a laboratory tunnel along with a rock-bed storage) dependencies used to estimate the amount of energy (stored in the form of heat) from the ins...

Growing vegetables in unheated polyethylene tunnel type greenhouses is a significant source of income for more than 40.000 of small farms (1-3 ha) in Poland. The article presents the objectives and scope of the project aimed on developing a comprehensive technology of surplus heat storage, which was previously wasted in under cover horticulture pro...

Streszczenie. Artykuł przedstawia wybrane składniki procesu wdrożeniowego i drogę od pomysłu do jego zastosowania w sektorze rolno-spożywczym. Wskazano na wzrost znaczenia badań naukowych w kreowaniu oryginalnych pomysłów i na potrzebę użycia do tego celu metod heurystycznych. Podkreślono potrzebę udziału twórców pomysłów w procesie wdrażania innow...

Streszczenie. W polskim rolnictwie dominują niewielkie gospodarstwa, a w przemyśle MŚP i mikroprzedsiębiorstwa. Taka struktura wymusza ukierunkowanie produkcji roślinnej na uprawę roślin ogrodniczych i niszowych dających wyższe przychody z jednostki powierzchni niż tradycyjna produkcja roślinna. Producenci maszyn rolniczych powinni specjalizować si...

Within the ISAFRUIT Project, a Crop-Adapted Spray Application (CASA) system was developed to ensure precise, efficient, and safe spray applications in orchards, according to the actual needs of the crop and with respect for the environment. The system consisted of three sub-systems: (i) a Crop Health Sensor (CHS), identifying the heath status of th...

The aim of this study was to improve the methods of thinning in order to reduce the contamination of the environment by chemical thinning agents and to increase the repeatability of the effects they produce. It has been suggested that incorrect application of the preparations for fruitlet thinning is one of the main reasons for the lack of repeatab...

Axial fans with a radial air flow have been most commonly used in fruit growing areas. These generate a large radial plume which is poorly targeted for modern intensive orchards. A high-volume directed air-jet system (HVDAS) sprayer, based on a standard axial fan has been developed to determine the influence of the air jet direction generated by th...

Environmentally safe spray techniques have been developed to use minimal pesticide inputs and apply them only when and where needed with reduced losses to the environment. In this paper, two such systems are described: (1) shielded systems that recycle spray liquid that would otherwise be lost; (2) detection systems that recognise where there are g...

A spectral detection system discriminating the targets for the non target area was tested during spray applications in apple and pear orchards. The objective of the test was to evaluate the accuracy of the system working at different application parameters and to estimate the rate of possible spray savings obtained during applications on the trees...

A spectral detection system discriminating the targets for the non target area was tested during spray applications in apple and pear orchards. The objective of the test was to evaluate the accuracy of the system working at different application parameters and to estimate the rate of possible spray savings obtained during applications on the trees...

Four treatments on very susceptible McIntosh cv. or three sprayings on Gloster cv. in conditions of relatively low PAD gave good apple scab control in 1994. In 1995 six treatments on McIntosh cv. showed good efficacy of the program, however seven treatments on Gloster cv. were not enough effective due probably to much higher PAD value. In 1995 RIM'...

Streszczenie. Komitet Techniki Rolniczej Polskiej Akademii Nauk podjął inicjatywę utwo-rzenia Sieci Naukowej "Agroinżynieria dla zrównoważonego rolnictwa, przemysłu rolno-spożywczego i obszarów wiejskich" (AgEngPol). Celem Sieci jest dalsza integracja środowi-ska zajmującego się agroinżynierią w celu stymulowania działalności innowacyjnej w sekto-r...

Streszczenie. Artykuł jest próbą zachęcenia do dyskusji nad przyszłością agroinżynierii. Przedstawiono najważniejsze kierunki prac badawczych na tle aktualnej sytuacji i perspektyw rozwoju krajowego rolnictwa i przemysłu. Badania z zakresu agroinżynierii powinny kon-centrować się rozwoju Rolnictwa Precyzyjnego, wytwarzaniu nowych biomateriałów i en...

Streszczenie. Celem badań było określenie wielkości znoszenia powietrznego i sedymenta-cyjnego oraz stopnia pokrycia próbek umieszczonych na opryskiwanym pasie herbicydowym dla dwóch rodzajów belek herbicydowych (1-i 3-rozpylaczowej). W badaniach stosowano płaskostrumieniowe rozpylacze standardowe (LU 120, OC) antyznoszeniowe (AD 120) i in-żektorow...