Development of Electronic Wetting Front Detector for irrigation scheduling

Abstract

Water is an important for plants growth, development and generating good crop yield. The rate of consumption of water by the crops depends on the type of crop, stage, soil characteristics and local climatic conditions. Irrigation scheduling takes care of when and how much water is to be applied to a crop during the entire the growing period. This calls for optimal water management, equipment, and labor in developing countries. An Electronic Wetting Front Detector was developed for irrigation scheduling by estimating the optimum soil moisture content present at the root-zone depth of the crops. The device measures the volumetric water content using electrical resistance of the soil and alarms the growers for the need of irrigation through its LED indicator installed in the device. The device was further calibrated and validated in the laboratory as well as in the farmer's field near Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India. The device was tested and calibrated in the laboratory with the soil present in a container along with the Tensiometer fixed in the same container of soil and the data of the gravimetric soil moisture content was compared for accuracy by using regression analysis. Similarly, validation was also performed in the farmer's field and the result showed that it has a higher accuracy for measuring the soil water content. The developed device interprets readings from the sensors and alarms the farmer of overirrigation or underirrigation based on the sensors data. The EWFD developed is new intervention since the device could be easily used by farmer to understand the soil water content and schedule irrigation with respect to crop needs by alarming the farming. Therefore, the device may prove a valuable contribution to the list of other scientific instruments used for measuring the soil water content. The device can be used perfectly for scheduling irrigation.