Researchers at Harper Adams University are currently conducting research on a new automated potato irrigation system. The technology is being developed taking into account the lower water consumption, and this fact will not affect the quality and quantity of the crop, the special correspondent of the ZERNO publication, who visited the University (Harper Adams University), reports.
Worldwide, approximately 80% of the available and valuable freshwater resource is used to irrigate crops. Usually, for growing potatoes, the water consumption is quite large, and, as a rule, farmers tend to water at once the entire field on which this crop is planted. But such irrigation is quite harmful, because the soil throughout the site may include various textures, such as sand or clay, with different water-holding capacity. The dynamics of soil moisture and water requirements for crops should be considered together, and the field should be divided into zones. For the convenience of monitoring these indicators, you can use soil moisture sensors. This device will help control the dynamics of soil moisture.
However, the accuracy of the indicators of moisture sensors may not be high enough, because this factor is affected, for example, by the texture of the soil. So far, there has been insufficient research to integrate these soil moisture sensors into a robust automated system that provides support to farmers so that they can use the right amount of water at the right time.
The goal of the Harper Adams University study is to develop and implement an automated wireless sensor network for precision potato irrigation.
At the beginning of the study, a researcher at Harper Adams University, Olutobi Adeyemi, carefully calibrated three types of soil moisture sensors. The greenhouse was used to control the moisture content of light, medium and heavy soil taken from fields on the University's farm. Soil samples were placed in pots. After that, the reaction of three types of humidity sensors was evaluated, depending on the influence of factors such as salinity and temperature. Subsequently, Olutobi was able to develop a mathematical model to compensate for these factors.
As a result, soon all data will be combined to create an automatic and more accurate potato irrigation system with low water consumption.
Source: http://www.zerno-ua.com