A microcontroller - Based Irrigation Scheduling Using FAO Penman-Monteith Equation

This study uses the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Penman-Monteith equation to develop a crop water algorithm needed to automate the supply of specific amount of water to crops, depending on their different crop water requirements. This was done to deviate from the practice of supplying the same amount of water to different crops during irrigation practices which could lead to over-irrigation or under-irrigation resulting in pest infestation and eventually low yield. The crop water requirement for cocoyam, spinach and tomatoes were estimated using data from FAO. A microcontroller-based smart irrigation device incorporated with real-time clock was developed to supply the right amount of water to crops at the right time and duration daily. The implementation was done using a laboratory-scale irrigation test bed and experimental results reveal the effectiveness of the developed system in the automation of crop-specific irrigation systems and in line with their Crop Water Requirement (CWR). Possible applications include greenhouses where researchers have to apply a specific amount of water to crops for experiments; horticultural gardens and nurseries to mention a few.