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GATE 2024 Agricultural Engineering Syllabus For Core Subjects
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Subjects
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Syllabus
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Farm Machinery
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Machine Design: Design and selection of machine elements – gears, pulleys, chains, and sprockets, and belts; overload safety devices used in farm machinery; measurement of force, torque, speed, displacement, and acceleration on machine elements
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Farm Machinery: Soil tillage; forces acting on a tillage tool; hitch systems and hitching of tillage implements; functional requirements, principles of working, construction, and operation of manual, animal, and power-operated equipment for tillage, sowing, planting, fertilizer application, inter-cultivation, spraying, mowing, chaff cutting, harvesting, threshing, and transport; testing of agricultural machinery and equipment; calculation of performance parameters - field capacity, efficiency, application rate and losses; cost analysis of implements and tractors.
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Farm Power
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Sources of Power: Sources of power on the farm - human, animal, mechanical, electrical, wind, solar and biomass; bio-fuels.
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Farm Power: Thermodynamic principles of I.C. engines; I.C. engine cycles; engine components; fuels and combustion; lubricants and their properties; I.C. engine systems – fuel, cooling, lubrication, ignition, electrical, intake and exhaust; selection, operation, maintenance and repair of I.C. engines; power efficiencies and measurement; calculation of power, torque, fuel consumption, heat load and power losses.
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Tractors and Powertillers: Type, selection, maintenance and repair of tractors and powertillers; tractor clutches and brakes; power transmission systems – gear trains, differential, final drives and power take-off; mechanics of tractor chassis; traction theory; three point hitches- free link and restrained link operations; mechanical steering and hydraulic control systems used in tractors; tractor tests and performance.
Human engineering and safety in the design of tractors and agricultural implements.
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Soil and Water Conservation Engineering
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Fluid Mechanics: Ideal and real fluids, properties of fluids; hydrostatic pressure and its measurement; hydrostatic forces on plane and curved surface; continuity equation; Bernoulli’s theorem; laminar and turbulent flow in pipes, Darcy- Weisbach and Hazen-Williams equations, Moody’s diagram; flow through orifices and notches; flow in open channels.
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Soil Mechanics: Engineering properties of soils; fundamental definitions and relationships; index properties of soils; permeability and seepage analysis; shear strength, Mohr’s circle of stress, active and passive earth pressures; stability of slopes.
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Hydrology: Hydrological cycle and components; meteorological parameters, their measurement and analysis of precipitation data; runoff estimation; hydrograph analysis, unit hydrograph theory and application; stream flow measurement; flood routing, hydrological reservoir and channel routing.
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Surveying and Leveling: Measurement of distance and area; instruments for surveying and leveling; chain surveying, methods of traversing; measurement of angles and bearings, plane table surveying; types of leveling; theodolite traversing; contouring; computation of areas and volume.
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Soil and Water Erosion: Mechanics of soil erosion, soil erosion types, wind and water erosion, factors affecting erosion; soil loss estimation; biological and engineering measures to control erosion; terraces and bunds; vegetative waterways; gully control structures, drop, drop inlet and chute spillways; earthen dams.
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Watershed Management: Watershed characterization; land use capability classification; rainwater harvesting structures, check dams and farm ponds
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Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
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Soil-Water-Plant Relationship: Water requirement of crops; consumptive use and evapotranspiration; measurement of infiltration, soil moisture, and irrigation water infiltration.
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Irrigation Water Conveyance and Application Methods: Design of irrigation channels and underground pipelines; irrigation scheduling; surface, sprinkler and micro irrigation methods, design and evaluation of irrigation methods; irrigation efficiencies.
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Agricultural Drainage: Drainage coefficient; planning, design and layout of surface and subsurface drainage systems; leaching requirement and salinity control; irrigation and drainage water quality and reuse; non-conventional drainage system.
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Groundwater Hydrology: Groundwater occurrence; Darcy’s Law, steady and unsteady flow in confined and unconfined aquifers, groundwater exploration techniques; overview of groundwater recharge estimation and artificial recharge techniques.
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Wells and Pumps: Types of wells, steady flow through wells; design and construction of water wells; classification of pumps; pump characteristics; pump selection and installation.
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Agricultural Processing Engineering
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Drying: Psychrometry – properties of air-vapors mixture; concentration and drying of liquid foods – evaporators, tray, drum and spray dryers; hydrothermal treatment; drying and milling of cereals, pulses, and oil seeds.
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Size Reduction and Conveying: Mechanics and energy requirement in size reduction of granular solids; particle size analysis for comminuted solids; size separation by screening; fluidization of granular solids-pneumatic, bucket, screw and belt conveying; cleaning and grading; effectiveness of grain cleaners; centrifugal separation of solids, liquids, and gases.
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Processing and By-product Utilization: Processing of seeds, spices, fruits, and vegetables; By-product utilization from processing industries.
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Storage Systems: Controlled and modified atmosphere storage; perishable food storage, godowns, bins, and grain silos.
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Processing of Agriculture Produce: Processing of seeds, spices, fruits, and vegetables; value addition of agricultural produce.
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Dairy and Food Engineering
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Heat and Mass Transfer: Steady state heat transfer in conduction, convection and radiation; transient heat transfer in simple geometry; working principles of heat exchangers; diffusive and convective mass transfer; simultaneous heat and mass transfer in agricultural processing operations; material and energy balances in food processing systems; water activity, sorption and desorption isotherms.
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Preservation of Food: Kinetics of microbial death – pasteurization and sterilization of milk and other liquid foods; preservation of food by cooling and freezing; refrigeration and cold storage basics and applications.
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