Monitoring and control of aeroponic growing system for potato production

Abstract

Aeroponic is the method of cultivating plants inside a conditioned air environment without the use of soil or water medium. This method grows plants suspended in a closed or semi-closed environment (chamber) by spraying the plant's dangling roots and lower stems with nutrient-rich solution. Under this circumstances, controlled environment has a strong potential to improve plants' developmental stages, health, and growth. In the recent decade, aeroponic system is applied intensively for the purpose of growing potato in order to produce disease-free potato seed and in order to have a pesticides-free cultivation environment. It is also predicted that the aeroponic method will be able to lower potato farmers' cost of operation and increase their yields. A monitoring and control system intended for water and nutrients distribution has been designed to support the optimal application of aeroponic cultivation system for seed-potatoes production. The monitoring system was used to monitor the chamber's parameters such as temperature and humidity. meanwhile, the control system was used to manage actuators in delivering water and nutrients. Temperature and humidity data will be displayed on the LCD and be transmitted to computer to facilitate easier monitoring on the plant growing chamber. The overall system has been designed and implemented to receive user-defined setting points by using the keypad. Microcontroller system will automatically regulate actuators for distribution of water (pump and nozzle) and distribution of nutrients (ultrasonic mist maker, fan, and pump). The pH measurement results at various points showed that the nutrient (pH = 5.8) were successfully spread inside the growing chamber. The average measured-temperature and humidity of growing chamber during the water and nutrients delivery process are 19.6 °C and 83.3% RH, respectively, which meet the environmental requirements for potatoes to grow productively. The system was tested in potato seed greenhouse at Vegetables Research Institute (Balitsa), Ministry of Agriculture, in Lembang, West Java, Indonesia.