Abstract:
Abstract: To meet the requirements of automatic precision irrigation for tomato cultivation on the coco coir slabs, a transpiration feedback intelligent irrigation system was developed in this study. The system included the substrate water content detection component, the communication component, the decision component, and the irrigation component. The transpiration detection component detected tomato transpiration based on the load cell, the decision component established the precision irrigation control model based on the water holding capacity of coco coir and tomato transpiration, which accurately controlled the pump start-up and turn off, so that the irrigation amount changed with the transpiration rate. The precision irrigation control model had two modes which were normal irrigation mode and flushing mode. When transpiration amount and Electrical Conductivity (EC) value were high, the flushing mode was called, otherwise, the normal irrigation mode was called. The day was divided into four periods. The first period was from sunrise to midday, when the transpiration rate gradually increased, the water content of the substrate should be gradually irrigated to the water holding capacity; the second period was from midday to the end of flushing, when the instantaneous water content of the substrate should be maintained above the water holding capacity to flush the excess salt in the substrate; the third period was from the end of flushing to a moment before sunset, at which time the water content of the substrate should be maintained around the water holding capacity to meet the needs of high transpiration rate in the afternoon, to ensure that there was sufficient water and nutrients to meet the needs of tomato photosynthesis; the fourth period was from the moment before sunset to the second day before the start of irrigation, at which time the water content of the substrate should gradually fall back to the lower limit of the appropriate water content, so that air entered the substrate to ensure the root respiration and normal growth. The second period was the flushing stage, and there was no flushing stage under normal irrigation mode. The water contents in the coco coir slabs were kept at the appropriate range, and a certain irrigation-to-drainage ratio maintained, to benefit the root growth of tomato and absorption of nutrients, and solved the drought stress caused by insufficient irrigation and nutrient waste caused by too much irrigation. The effect of the transpiration feedback intelligent irrigation system was tested, and an irrigation system controlled by light radiation accumulation which was designed by the RIDDER company in the Netherlands was selected as control. The results showed that the irrigation amount of the transpiration feedback irrigation system increased by 9.4% compared with the control, the drainage decreased by 18%, and the drainage EC value was stable. Compared with timed irrigation, the amount of irrigation was reduced by 32% and the amount of drainage was reduced by 57% by using the transpiration feedback irrigation system, and more nutrients were absorbed and utilized by tomatoes. There were no significant differences between the fruit yield, plant height, and node number of the tomato by using the transpiration feedback irrigation system and those by using the irrigation system designed by the RIDDER company. Under the condition of 10 years of the design life of irrigation system in 5 000 m2 greenhouse, compared with the application of the irrigation system designed by the RIDDER company, the annualized cost of the intelligent irrigation system designed by this study was 20.8% lower than that by using the irrigation system designed by the RIDDER company. The transpiration feedback intelligent irrigation system could meet the requirements of automatic precision irrigation, and if the irrigation control model might adjust according to the substrate characteristic, the system could also be used for automatic precision irrigation of the Rockwool cultivation, the mixed substrate potted cultivation, and other soilless culture.