A Method of Monitoring of the Bulb of Quinoa Plantations Orientated to the Dosing of the Water Volume for Drip Irrigation Systems

Abstract

The present work proposes a method of electronic monitoring of physical variables of the plant's wet bulb, in order to properly dose the water volume required for drip irrigation systems. The method has the ability to be conditioned to the need of the plant, in order to maintain an optimum level of humidity in the crop field, as it would be achieved in a laboratory. The monitoring is carried out on the percentage of humidity and the electrical conductivity of the soil. For this, sensors are used that are properly calibrated in the operating ranges of 10 to 30% for humidity and 1.2 to 1.7 ds/m for electrical conductivity [1]. The electronic equipment developed for the implementation of the method uses 3 humidity sensors placed at different depths and 1 electrical conductivity sensor for monitoring salinity. Based on the information sent by these sensors in real time, the activation times of the solenoid valve that makes up the drip irrigation system are adjusted.