IoT Based Precision Irrigation for Indoor Maize Cultivation

Due to the critical issues of water and climate change challenges, conserving water in agriculture is becoming more and more crucial. These days, the goal of agricultural research is to maximize agricultural productivity while minimizing water usage. This study present IoT based automatic irrigation system for greenhouse maize cultivation. A weather station equipment, soil moisture sensor and a timer-based system were applied to accurately calculate the timing of irrigation operations and to determine the volume of water needed by the plants. The experiment involved supplying water to maize test crops located in a greenhouse. The evapotranspiration and water loss data are generated in a graph to show the relation. The plant water request data was computed and compared to water used for irrigation data to present the accuracy of the system. The total of water used by 56 unit of maize from day 1 to the harvesting day is about 3553.44 litre and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of water need and water used value is 3.18%.