Development and experiment of the intelligent control system for rhizosphere temperature of aeroponic lettuce via the Internet of Things

Tarek Mahrous Korany Mohamed, Jianmin Gao, Mazhar Tunio

Abstract


Currently, in the conventional aeroponic system the collection of data for crop performance is quite slow, whereas such data are typically collected manually. Correspondingly, the root zone temperature is one of the most important factors affecting plant growth in aeroponics cultivation. This study aimed to obtain temperature and relative humidity data inside an aeroponic system based on the Internet of things (IoT) and automatically cool the root zone using a novel low-cost effective technique for cooling via a cooling fan connected to the Arduino board. The results revealed that the newly designed system could monitor and record the data in real-time on an internet server per hour. Furthermore, the temperature and humidity data can be displayed on the smartphone application, and be sent to the personal email weekly as an excel sheet. This system was able to maintain the temperatures inside the roots chamber between 28.7°C-29.2°C while the maximum external temperature was 38.1°C, and the average temperature in the traditional aeroponics system was fluctuating between 29.5°C-31.5°C. The newly automated cooling system root zone system of this study showed an optimization of lettuce growth characteristics. It significantly increased the lettuce absorbance of inorganic nutrients such as N, P, and K by 45.5%, 66.6%, and 45.0%, respectively, and revealed an increment of fresh weight, total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, total carbohydrate, and total amino acids by 131.0%, 26.2%, 41.9%, 30.7%, 6.2%, respectively in comparison with the conventional aeroponic system. Therefore, this study may play a significant role in the aeroponic monitoring and control, for providing more suitable growth parameters and achieving the least human interaction.
Keywords: aeroponics, IoT, rhizosphere temperature, lettuce, intelligent control system
DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221503.6530

Citation: Mohamed T M K, Gao J M, Tunio M. Development and experiment of the intelligent control system for rhizosphere temperature of aeroponic lettuce via the Internet of Things. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(3): 225–233.

Keywords


aeroponics, IoT, rhizosphere temperature, lettuce, intelligent control system

Full Text:

PDF

References


Lakhiar I A, Gao J M, Syed T N, Chandio F A, Buttar N A, Qureshi W A. Monitoring and control systems in agriculture using intelligent sensor techniques: A review of the aeroponic system. Journal of Sensors, 2018; Article ID 8672769. doi: 10.1155/2018/8672769.

Asaduzzaman M, Saifullah M, Mollick A S, Hossain M M, Halim G M, Asao T. Influence of soilless culture substrate on improvement of yield and produce quality of horticultural crops. Soilless culture-Use of substrates for the production of quality horticultural crops. Intech, 2015; 25: 1–32. doi: 10.5772/59708.

Sakamoto M, Suzuki T. Effect of root-zone temperature on growth and

quality of hydroponically grown red leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Red Wave). American Journal of Plant Science, 2015; 6(14): 2350. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2015.614238.

Niam A G, Suhardiyanto H. Root-zone cooling in tropical greenhouse: A review. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019; 557(1): 012044. doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/557/1/012044.

Wellem T, Setiawan B. A microcontroller-based room temperature monitoring system. International journal of computer applications, 2012; 53(1): 7–10.

Masstor N. Temperature alert alarm system (TAAS). Doctoral dissertation. Universitiy Putra Malaysia, 2015; 39p.

Kesarwani K, Pranav S M, Noah T N, Kavitha K V. Design of temperature based speed control system using arduino microcontroller. International Journal of Chemical Sciences, 2016; 14(S3): 753–760.

Nandagiri K, Mettu J R. Implementation of weather monitoring system. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 2018; 118(16): 477–493.

Turner N J, Luczaj L J, Migliorini P, Pieroni A, Dreon A L, Sacchetti L E, et al. Edible and tended wild plants, traditional ecological knowledge and agroecology. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 2011; 30(1-2): 198–225. doi: 10.1080/07352689.2011.554492.

Pink D A, Keane E M. Lettuce: Lactuca sativa L. In: Genetic Improvement of Vegetable Crops, 1993; pp.543–571.

Choong T W, He J, Qin L, Dodd I C. Identifying heat-resistant recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of lettuce in the tropics: productivity and root phenotyping. In: ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1004: International Symposium on Soilless Cultivation, 2012; 1004: 173–180.

He J, Tan L P, Lee S K. Root-zone temperature effects on photosynthesis, 14 C-photoassimilate partitioning and growth of temperate lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv.‘Panama’) in the tropics. Photosynthetica, 2009; 47(1): 95–103.

Sago Y, Watanabe N, Minami Y. Zinc biofortification of hydroponic baby leaf lettuce grown under artificial lighting with elevated wind speed and root zone temperature. Journal of Agricultural Meteorology, 2018; 74: 173–177.

Jie H, Kong L S. Growth and photosynthetic responses of three aeroponically grown lettuce cultivars (Lactuca sativa L.) to different rootzone temperatures and growth irradiances under tropical aerial conditions. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 1998; 73(2): 173–180.

Carotti L, Graamans L, Puksic F, Butturini M, Meinen E, Heuvelink E, et al. Plant factories are heating up: hunting for the best combination of light intensity, air temperature and root-zone temperature in lettuce production. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021; 11: 2251. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.592171.

He J, See X E, Qin L, Choong T W. Effects of root-zone temperature on photosynthesis, productivity and nutritional quality of aeroponically grown salad rocket (Eruca sativa) vegetable. American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2016; 7(14): 1993–2005.

El-Ssawy W, Abuarab M, El-Mogy M, Kassem M, Wasef E, Sultan W, et al. The impact of advanced static magnetic units on water properties and the performance of aeroponic and NFT systems for lettuce. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 2020; 29(4): 2641–2652.

Choong T W, He J, Lee S K, Dodd I C. Growing different lactuca genotypes aeroponically within a tropical greenhouse - cool rootzone temperatures decreased rootzone ethylene concentrations and increased shoot growth. Frontiers in Physiology, 2016; 7: 405. doi: 10.3389/ fphys.2016.00405.

Wellburn A R. The spectral determination of chlorophylls a and b, as well as total carotenoids, using various solvents with spectrophotometers of different resolution. Journal of Plant Physiology, 1994; 144(3): 307–313.

Farwa N, Hanif M A, Majeed M I, Zahid M. Role of macronutrients and micronutrients in the growth and development of plants and prevention of deleterious plant diseases-a comprehensive review. International Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, 2018; 14: 1–22.

Piper C S. Soil and plant analysis. Nature, 1943; 152: 370. doi: 10.1038/152370a0.

Peach K, Tracy M B. Modern method of plant analysis. Springer, Volume I, 1956.

Helrich K. Official methods of analysis, 15th ed. Arlington, USA: Association of Official Agricultural Chemist, 1990; 1: 673p.

Jackson M L. Soil chemical analysis. Prentice Hall of India. New Delhi: Privat Limited, 1973; 498p.

Singleton V L, Rossi J A. Colorimetry of total phenolics with phosphomolybdic-phosphotungstic acid reagents. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 1965; 16(3): 144–158.

Lyi S M, Heller L I, Rutzke M, Welch R M, Kochian L V, Li L. Molecular and biochemical characterization of the selenocysteine Se-methyltransferase gene and Se-methylselenocysteine synthesis in broccoli. Plant Physiology, 2005; 138(1): 409–420.

Dangi N. Monitoring environmental parameters: Humidity and temperature using Arduino based microcontroller and sensors: Microcontroller based building monitoring system. Bachelor dissertation. Helsinki, Finland: Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, 2018; 35p.

Singhala P, Shah D, Patel B. Temperature control using fuzzy logic. International Journal of Instrumentation and Control Systems (IJICS), 2014; 4(1): 4101. doi: 10.5121.ijics.2014.4101.

Bhatia V, Bhatia G. Room temperature-based fan speed control system using pulse width modulation technique. International Journal of Computer Applications, 2013; 81(5): 35–40.

He J, Qin L, Lee S K. Root-zone CO2 and root-zone temperature effects on photosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism of aeroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in the tropics. Photosynthetica, 2013; 51(3): 330–340.

Talaat N B. 24-Epibrassinolide and Spermine combined treatment sustains maize (Zea mays L.) drought tolerance by improving photosynthetic efficiency and altering phytohormones profile. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 2020; 20(2): 516–529.

Nauš J, Prokopová J, Řebíček J, Špundová M. SPAD chlorophyll meter reading can be pronouncedly affected by chloroplast movement. Photosynthesis Research, 2010; 105(3): 265–271.

Adebooye O C, Schmitz-Eiberger M, Lankes C, Noga G J. Inhibitory effects of sub-optimal root zone temperature on leaf bioactive components, photosystem II (PS II) and minerals uptake in Trichosanthes cucumerina L. Cucurbitaceae. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 2010; 32(1): 67. doi: 10.1007/s11738-009-0379-z.

Lakhiar I A, Gao J, Xu X, Syed T N, Chandio F A, Jing Z, et al. Effects of various aeroponic atomizers (droplet sizes) on growth, polyphenol content, and antioxidant activity of leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Transactions of the ASABE, 2019; 62: 1475–1487.

Sago Y, Yasutake D, Hidaka K, Yasunaga E, Eguchi T, Yoshida S, et al. Kinetics of root ion absorption affected by environmental factors and transpiration III. A kinetic model integrated with transpiration. Environmental Control in Biology, 2011; 49: 41–46.

Ntatsi G, Savvas D, Huntenburg K, Druege U, Hincha D K, Zuther E, et al. A study on ABA involvement in the response of tomato to suboptimal root temperature using reciprocal grafts with notabilis, a null mutant in the ABA-biosynthesis gene LeNCED1. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 2014; 97: 11–21.

Chadirin Y, Hidaka K, Takahashi T, Sago Y, Wajima T, Kitano M. Application of temperature stress to roots of spinach I. Effect of the low temperature stress on quality. Environmental Control in Biology, 2011; 49(3): 133–139.

Hernández V, Hellin P, Fenoll J, Molina M V, Garrido I, Flores P. Impact of high temperature stress on ascorbic acid concentration in tomato. In: VIII International Postharvest Symposium: Enhancing Supply Chain and Consumer Benefits-Ethical and Technological Issues 1194, ISHS, 2016; pp.985–990.




Copyright (c) 2022 International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2023-2026 Copyright IJABE Editing and Publishing Office