We have developed a plant imaging system with the ultimate goal of creating a plant health diagnostic method. The system was consisted of six subsystems. Each of them operated in the X-ray, visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, mid-infrared, and Terahertz frequency region, respectively. Some of them were commercial product, but several improvements were added. A mid-infrared subsystem was newly developed. The operational characteristics were evaluated by measuring transmitted light, reflected light, and radiated light from plant leaves in the frequency regions. The data were converted into indexes such as the photochemical reflectance index, the leaf water index, and transmittance of wavelengths. It was confirmed that the developed system with the indexes could offer several growth information on leaves such as physical structure, content of water and organic molecules, photosynthetic activity, and surface temperature.

In this paper, we propose a simulation model for integrated forage crop production on dairy farms in Japan, where most dairy farmers depend in large part on purchased feed. Dairy farm management requires complex decision-making across a diverse range of components from cow health to soil management. Linear programming models are commonly used as crop production management models in Japan, but non-linear programing models have become more widely available recently because users have greater access to free programming tools and software. Because the purchase of machinery and facilities is a discrete variable that takes integer solutions, we adopted a mixed integer non-linear programming model, with income maximization as the objective. The model includes five components: forage crop production, feed requirements, dairy herd size, machinery and facilities, and milking production. The focus of the present paper is on reducing purchased feed costs by producing forage crops. Specifically, we conducted a simulation of expanding the harvested area of rice for whole crop silage and observed changes in the mechanical requirements and income.