This study aimed to clarify the work performance of harvesting corn grains by the axial-flow combine equipped with a corn header, because the sale of corn headers began in Japan in response to the growing interest in corn grain production in upland fields that were converted from paddy fields. An evaluation of the harvesting operation accuracy conducted in the forage field of NARO revealed lower head losses when a corn header was used as compared to when a reel header was used, whereas the total threshing losses, the damaged grains, and impurities remained similar for both the headers. The effective field capacities measured in the upland fields converted from paddy fields were in the range of 42–59 a h^-1 under weed-free conditions, which are 1.2–1.6 times higher than those reported in a prior study involving the use of a reel header. This effectiveness could be estimated based on corn grain moisture content of less than 30%, in contrast to less than 25% recommended by combine harvester manufacturers, for harvesting using a reel header. We believed that the 5％ increase in the upper limit of the corn grain moisture content, when harvesting using the corn header, can alleviate the risk of stem lodging during Japanese typhoon season. This is because it allows harvesting to be advanced by approximately 10 days as compared with the conventional schedule using the reel header, which depends on the cultivation condition. However, compared with other grains, damaged corn grains and impurities were observed when harvesting using either the corn header or the reel header. Therefore, studies focusing on factors such as variety selection and improvements in threshing and separation methods to reduce damaged grains and impurities should be conducted in the future.

We developed an implement that ridges, forms small furrows on ridges, localizes application of fertilizers at the bottom of furrows and sows above fertilizers. Effects of the mounting position of the soil-covering plates on soil thickness　covering fertilizers and seeds was investigated. The working speed upper limit was investigated. We investigated the effect of seedling emergence rate, growth rate and yield of autumn-direct-sown onion with or without furrow and phosphate fertilizer. Characteristics of the implement were that the furrow-forming unit was mounted below the top board of the ridging unit, the side walls of the furrow-forming unit were extended toward the sowing unit. Fertilizers and seeds were dropped at the furrow-forming unit and were covered with soil that made by shaving the side walls of furrows using the soil-covering plates. In the soil-covering plates settings tests, the soil-covering plate for seeds had room for improvement, but it was possible to control soil thickness covering fertilizers and seeds that the mounting position of the soil-covering plate for fertilizers was adjusted. In working speed tests, seeds were pushed to the side of the furrow for higher working speed, it was hard to ridge at working speed of over 1.2 km/h. As the result of growing test, seedling emergence of sowing at furrows on the ridges tended to be earlier than the case of sowing on the ridges. Growth rate and yield of sowing at furrows on the ridges in addition to localizing application of fertilizer below seeds were increased compared to the case of sowing at furrows on the ridges and the case of sowing at the ridges.

Cattle manure is scored to indicate cattle health. Scoring is done by visual observation related to images and appearance features. Nevertheless, the score standard remains obscure. Few reports have described numerical indexes for this score. This study examined quantification of manure characteristics, which is the basis of cattle health judgment to reduce burdens on livestock managers and to facilitate skill acquisition. We investigated cattle manure moisture characteristics by measuring the moisture contents of manure sampled from Japanese black calves. Subsequently, we verified the classification accuracy of manure images based on manure moisture characteristic using deep learning object detection. The range of manure moisture contents was 75.7–93.8%. Manure with moisture contents of 89–91% is spread widely on the bedding. Manure with moisture contents of 92–94% is in a liquid state. Therefore, this manure went under the bedding （rice husk）. The bedding covered the manure. Scores were divided into three levels with moisture content of 6%, four levels with 5%, five levels with 4%, and six levels with 3%.　Then, the AI models were made. The F1 score of the AI model was 0.80 for three classification levels, 0.73 for four levels, 0.62 for five levels, and 0.53 for six levels. The F1 score of the AI model for three classification level and four level were significantly higher than the AI model for five level and fix level. So, when the manure score classifies by deep learning, three classification level, and four level are effective.

We compared weed vegetation and ground workability after autonomous robotic weeding and hand weeding on experimental plots at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan, over a four-month period (July to November 2019). The index used for the volume of weeds was the multiplied dominance ratio (MDR) (m³ m^-2), calculated as the product of the plant coverage ratio (m^-2 m^-2) and plant height (m). Weeds were classified by growth form: erect, branched, procumbent, tussock, rosette, and liane. After weeding, weed vegetation and ground workability were evaluated, and the difference in weed biomass between before and after weeding was quantified for each plot. Furthermore, the difference in the degree of weediness between summer and fall for a plot with various types of vegetation was quantified using the MDR. The types of vegetation and their growth amounts depended on the weeding method. Observation of the autonomous robotic weeding revealed that it was more effective for erect form weeds than branched form weeds and that it suppressed the growth of weeds. There was a positive correlation between the total MDR for each plot and the duration of robotic weeding. Furthermore, the affection to the root operating time could be quantified using the MDR of each growth form as explanatory variables. These results demonstrate that the MDR is useful for evaluating robotic weeding in a field with various forms of weeds.

There are a variety of work processes in agriculture, and subdividing the work allows roles to be divided according to the characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, agriculture has great potential as a place of employment for people with disabilities. However, there are issues that some of the work involving planting and growing in the ground are difficult for them depending on the characteristics of their disability, and that the amount of work drastically declines during the winter season as plant growth slows down. In this study, after making culture media, sowing, and so forth at a conducive area for working with planters in a special-needs school, I attempted to solve the issues by “mobile cultivation” in which the planters are moved to the cultivation site, and by root area heating cultivation at night. The survey was conducted on two items. For the first item, the mobile cultivation was organized based on the agricultural work analysis table and was analyzed from the descriptions of the students’ work mode and the teacher’s interview data. For the second item, the planters were installed on heated mats in the mobile cultivation to simply perform the root area heating cultivation, and changes in soil temperature, electricity costs, and harvests were investigated. The results showed that the work difficulty level in the mobile cultivation is lower than that of the conventional method, and that the work is repetition of simple patterns, and thus all students could understand and implement the method. In addition, performing the root area heating through the mobile cultivation shortened the cultivation period for turnips and spinach, and yielded the equivalent or more harvests than the conventional method, and the electricity cost was approximately 25.8（turnip） and 15（spinach） yen per plant. These findings suggest the usefulness of the “mobile root area heating cultivation” for people with intellectual disabilities.