Paper Title:Fertigation System to Conserve Water and Fertilizers Using Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

This Paper is based on crop monitoring system to maintain proper soil pH level and soil water content for citrus tree.MSP430 Microcontroller based Automatic Fertigation System. The goal is to conserve the water and fertilizer through Fertigation System. Wireless sensor network for communication between sensory unit and main station is used. ZigBee network is used for wireless communication. ZigBee technology is IEEE 802.15.4 Standard using data rate of 250 kbps on 2.4 GHz ISM band. It is expected to provide low power and low cost connectivity, results in long battery life for several months to several years. Main sensors are (a) Soil Moisture Sensor and (b) Soil pH sensor. The MSP430G2533 16 bit RISC processor is used.Fertigation is an application of water soluble fertilizers through micro-irrigation systems. Application of dry fertilizers remains on soil and causes loss of nutrients due to leaching and volatilization. In this paper analyzing soil pH value and soil moisture content is required for healthy plant using soil pH sensor and soil moisture sensor and controlling entire system using wireless sensor network. Test has been carried out on Citrus tree as it is major fruit crop. It is grown in more than 140 Countries. Micro-irrigation System and Fertigation management is one of the main concerns of Citrus fruit production. The aim is to create crop monitoring system with soil moisture sensor and soil pH sensor based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for precise irrigation and fertilizer supply to produce profuse crop production while diminishing cost and assisting farmers in real time data gathering. WSN in agriculture helps in distributed data collection and monitoring in harsh environments. There is a great need to modernize the conventional agricultural practices for the better productivity. Due to unplanned use of water, the ground water level is decreasing day by day and solubility of the fertilizers in irrigation water contains various chemical constituents some of which may interact with dissolved fertilizers with undesired effects which may leads to inferior quality of fruit production.


Keywords:Fertigation System, Soil Moisture Sensor, Soil pH Sensor, Wireless Sensor Network.