Article,
Irrigation Fuzzy Controller Reduce Tomato Cracking
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), (2011)
Abstract
Sunlight heats the greenhouse air temperature and tomato cracking decreases marketable product up to 90\%. A shade screen reduced incoming radiation during warm and sunny conditions to reduce tomato cracking. A fuzzy controller managed greenhouse irrigation to reduce tomato cracking using as variables solar radiation and substrate temperature. The embedded controller presented 9 rules and three assumptions that made it operate better. Signal peaks were removed and control actions could take place ten minutes after irrigation. Irrigation was increased during the peak hours from 12:00 to 15:00 h when it was required by the fuzzy controller; meanwhile water containing the nutrient solution was removed during very cloudy days with limited photosynthesis. After three continuous cloudy days irrigation should be scheduled to avoid plant nutrient problems. Substrate temperature in volcanic rock can be used as real time irrigation sensor. Tomato cracking decreased to 29\% using the fuzzy controller and canopy temperature never exceeded 30&\#186;C.
