Abstract
The price of melon varies with its quality. It is very difficult to control the quality of melon in various growing stages, because irrigation management in a green house influences the fruit quality. In this study, the intelligent irrigation systems were developed using the know-how extracted from an expert. Fuzzy control and On-off control for irrigation were examined. Changes in soil moisture content were predicted by Fuzzy control systems with various climate sensors. As the results, the performances in Fuzzy control and On-off control were respectively 52% and 40% water saving compared to the manual irrigation by an expert. The qualities of fruits by Fuzzy control and On-off control were almost the same results from the manual irrigation.
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Kazuhiro Nakano
Journal: AFITA
Year: 2002
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Both the Fuzzy control area and On-off control area gave considerable water savings over the Manual-irrigation area, while both produced fruit of similar quality (sugar content and grade) to that in the Manual-irrigation area. The above shows that the present systems for automatic irrigation control of greenhouse melons are effective. Moreover, no clear difference was seen between the Fuzzy control and On-off control areas. In the future, it will be necessary to conduct cultivation experiments under different soil conditions, and then based on the results to improve the system and increase its general applicability
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