ARDUINO-OPERATED AUTOMATED FERTIGATION SYSTEM

Agriculture is one of the biggest user of our fresh waters in the world. As the population increases, the demand for water and agricultural products also ascends. But in agriculture, efficient use of water is not yet applied and lots of amounts have been wasted especially for the small-scale farmers. Aside from water, farm inputs like fertilizers are not yet fully mechanized hence energy inputs are high. Thus,this study was developed to address these problems on water and energy conservation by developing a reliable yet cheap software, microcontroller and fertigation system that would aid our farmers in the farm production. The prototype of the designed system was installed and tested at the screenhouse located in AE Complex,MSU-GSC. The performance of the system was evaluated using the Christiansen\'s Uniformity （CU)equation and Low Quarter Distribution Uniformity (DU). The system was designed to fertigate daily,at 6:30 AM and irrigate water only when the soil moisture sensor will detect 50% moisture in the soil. Results showed that the uniformity in DU of the system is 76.60% and for the CU, 80.31%. Thus, the uniformity is evenly distributed.Using the equation for the estimation of Random Uncertainty,real values of the depth falls between 5.23 to 11.19cm. A 95% confidence level was used to determine the t-value in the test.The sensors were able read the data and the system executes the task in 0.8 second. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) that was designed was able to monitor the condition of the system. The software that was developed can be used by farmers in screenhouses as of now but it can be further enhanced for larger scope in the future.