ISHS Acta Horticulturae 399: Greenhouse Environment Control and Automation
A COMPUTER CONTROLLED IRRIGATION SYSTEM FOR MUSKMELON USING STEM DIAMETER SENSOR |
| Authors: | N. Sato, K. Hasegawa |
| Keywords: | stem diameter, relative water content, computer, irrigation, muskmelon, Cucumis melo var. reticulatus Naudin |
| Abstract:
Watering systems for the cultivation of muskmelon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus Naudin) needs both dry and wet controls depending on the plants' stage of growth. For automatic control of watering, continuous measurement of water content in the plant is necessary. In this study, we used a stem diameter sensor as an index of the water content of the plant. We studied the relationship between the stem diameter and the relative water content of the leaf of the muskmelon and found a high correlation coefficient (r=0.897). We developed an automatic watering system that consists of personal computer, I/O-interfaces, spray irrigation facilities, photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) sensor and laser through beam stem diameter sensor. The fruits watered by this system had almost the same quality that watered by humans. | |
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