Preface

Food Security, sustainable agriculture, and poverty alleviation are the key themes of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). These are directly aligned with agricultural mechanization, automation and robotics, high-efficiency irrigation systems, farm energy systems, post-harvest handling and processing, and associated sustainable environment. Such agricultural, biological, and environmental engineering studies are the need of the 21st century, particularly from the point of view of the agriculture–energy–food security nexus.

Therefore, this book *Technology in Agriculture* focuses on the wide range and interdisciplinary nature of the research for agricultural engineering technologies. It provides the reader with a comprehensive review of recent developments, perspectives, and opportunities in agricultural engineering technologies and applications. It also discusses biosystem technologies and applications related to farm mechanization, farm energy, smart farming, intelligent agriculture, conservation agriculture, and precision agriculture. The book consists of twenty-five chapters organized into four sections: "Agricultural Equipment Engineering" (Chapters 1–9); "Biosystems Engineering and Applications" (Chapters 10–18); "Energy Systems Engineering" (Chapters 19–21); and "Computer Applications in Agriculture" (Chapters 22–25).

Chapter 1 discusses real-time sensory information for remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines. Chapter 2 reviews advancements in spraying technology. Chapter 3 presents the approach and impacts of the technologies for the African agricultural transformation program. Chapter 4 describes the implementation of innovations and best practices for resilient agricultural systems in Africa. Chapter 5 reviews works related to soil compaction in agricultural areas under the influence of intensive machinery use. Chapter 6 discusses the potential of wood, bamboo, and other natural reinforced materials for developing agricultural machinery. Chapter 7 discusses the domestic production of fish using recirculating water. Chapter 8 provides updates related to precision vegetable farming technologies. Chapter 9 examines technological solutions and specific equipment for improving degraded grasslands.

Chapter 10 discusses the application of biofertilizers in maize. Chapter 11 considers the past, present, and future applications of nanotechnology for crop production. Chapter 12 examines the application of the fungi *chaetomium* in agriculture. Chapter 13 presents synchrotron-based techniques for soil analysis. Chapter 14 describes the bioinoculants in technological alleviation of climatic stress in plants. Chapter 15 examines the strategies and programs for enhancing nutrient use efficiency. Chapter 16 gives updates related to plant growth stimulators in modernized agriculture. Chapter 17 explains the role of nanoparticles in abiotic stress. Chapter 18 discusses the evolution of the soil-based agriculture and food system.

Chapter 19 discusses adsorption-based atmospheric water-harvesting technology. Chapter 20 reviews the applicability of solar energy technology for agricultural applications. Chapter 21 experimentally investigates a parabolic solar water distillation system.

Chapter 22 provides the key concepts related to precision in agriculture decisionmaking using a machine learning approach. Chapter 23 uses a deep learning technique to detect tomato leaf diseases. Chapter 24 presents a non-linear fuzzy controller design for intelligent greenhouse management. Finally, Chapter 25 discusses CAN-Bus development, utilization, and future potential in networking massaging for off-road mobile equipment.

The editors are pleased to share emerging research in the field of agricultural engineering technologies and applications in agricultural equipment engineering, biosystem engineering, energy systems engineering, and computers in agriculture. This book is useful not only for agricultural engineering professionals but also for associated agricultural scientists. We would like to thank the authors for their valuable contributions to this book.

> **Fiaz Ahmad and Muhammad Sultan** Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

## Section 1
