Cultivation Under Artificial Environment To Increase

Productivity And Monitoring Required Parameters

Mr. R. Nagaraju (Asst.Proffessor) D. Poojitha M. Mahitha

Electronics & Communication Engineering Electronics & Communication Engineering Electronics & Communication Engineering
Annamacharya Institute of Technology and Annamacharya Institute of Technology and Annamacharya Institute of Technology and
Sciences Tirupathi, India Sciences Tirupathi, India Sciences Tirupathi, India

M. Pandu Ranga B. Kiran kumar Reddy

Electronics &Communication Engineering Electronics &Communication Engineering
Annamacharya Institute of Technology and Annamacharya Institute of Technology and
Sciences Tirupathi, India Sciences Tirupathi, India

ABSTRACT
In recent survey of FAO, the plant growth rate in India is 1.9% but agricultural productivity is 1%.
According to this survey, upcoming years of 21st century in India the food is inadequate for the
continuous growth in population. To overcome this problem, there is a need to keep track of necessary
conditions and parameters, which are required for plant growth and increases productivity. Hence, we
came up with a solution by using sensors like soil moisture sensor to keep track of the moisture,
temperature and humidity sensor to monitor the weather and LDR to check the presence of light. There
are actuators like a cooling fan, DC pump and a light bulb to maintain artificial environmental conditions.
Result shows that it is possible to grow a plant as early as possible, when compare to normal growth of
plant in natural environmental conditions. Through IoT cloud base, the continuous monitoring of changes
in environmental parameters and able to modify them and make sure that increase in productivity.
Keywords— IDE board, Greenhouse, Sensors, Actuators, IoT Cloud base, Threshold values,
Environmental parameters.

INTRODUCTION
The climatic conditions may prevent the growth of certain plants in certain areas. So, there arises a
need to import fruits or vegetables at a higher price. The key aim of modern agriculture is to enhance the
growth of the plants for a maximum yield. Greenhouse does justice to this by replicating a different
climate and constantly grow food in a larger proportion. It maintains the microclimatic parameters in a
correct ratio as per the requirement of the plants. It has also reduced the labor for the maintenance thus
making the system useful for the small scale agriculturists. This paper proposes the adoption and control
of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, light intensity using sensors and actuators. The main purpose of
this project is to grow crops anywhere, however the climatic parameters be. Usage of greenhouse
replicates different climatic conditions, allowing the crops to grow that are not meant to be cultivated in
that area. Meanwhile making the greenhouse automated makes it much easier to monitor and control the
growth of crops. This proposed system is used for a single plant cultivation and can be developed for
mass production. Our proposed system is economical, portable and has low maintenance which can be
incorporated in rural area.

LITERATURE SURVEY
Previous systems used LCD to display the parameters of greenhouse but in this project, we made
this greenhouse automated as well as to display parameters using GSM module. We also implement the
operations of the greenhouse using the Arduino microcontroller. We have used Arduino UNO R3 for
controlling and GSM module for data communication. Solar panel is used as the source of power for our
project. Tomato has been planted inside this automated greenhouse for experimental purposes. The
environmental parameters that we are controlling within our greenhouse are relative humidity, light
intensity, temperature, and soil moisture value. The required environmental parameters for this tomato
plant is Temperature – 26 C, Light Intensity – 650 lux, Soil Moisture – 65%, Humidity – 65%. Here all
the sensors are connected with Arduino and actuators are connected with a 4-channel relay. We have
used an exhaust fan to reduce the humidity and fresh air comes through this vent to keep the system
under normal conditions. A 40W bulb is used to provide artificial lighting. A motor pump is used for soil
irrigation. Under these constant environmental parameters the rate of plant growth is doubled.
A. Plant Science
Temperature and light intensity greatly influence the growth of plants. Process like Photosynthesis,
respiration, flowering and transportation requires subsequent temperature and light intensity. Each species
have its own threshold of environmental parameters. The relationship of perennial crops with
temperature is more complex when compared with annual crops. Perennial crops should be exposed for
a number of hours to some temperature below threshold before flowering occurs. Temperature scarcity
may cause the plant’s tissues to stop growing. At low temperatures, the collision between the enzymes
and substrates increases which results in the decrease of photosynthesis rate. High temperatures can also
cause plant enzymes stop growing and making them inactive. Pollination, the most sensitive stage of the
plant growth can be easily affected by the temperature extremes. The Intergovernmental Panel Climate
Change (IPCC) has stated that the expected climatic changes will be 2-3 degree Celsius within the next
20-30 years. Therefore, monitoring and controlling the temperature is very essential. Humidity also plays
an important role in the health of plant growth. Humidity in air can create impact in the flow of water
inside the plant. Most of the water taken inside by the plant is used in transpiration. Water is taken
through the roots and sent out through the pores in the leaves resulting in the cooling of plants. Under
low humid conditions Co2 entering the plants through pores gets reduced. This retards the plant growth.
High humid conditions can cause moisture loss in the plants and leads to fungal diseases. Formation of
water droplets on the top of plants reduces transpiration. Hence controlling of humidity is also an
essential factor. All organisms need food to sustain. Thus in plants food is processed by sunlight using a
process called photosynthesis. All plants are autotrophs, which means they can prepare food on their
own by absorbing nutrients, minerals, water and carbon di oxide. To combine these ingredients, plants
need some energy. They acquire that energy from sunlight using chlorophyll. Thus, light intensity is the
main factor for photosynthesis and has a direct effect on the growth of plant. This can be effectively
viewed by comparing plants that grow in darkness with the plants that grow under normal lighting
conditions. A plant grown under darkness tends to lack chlorophyll which is shown by their pale
yellowish colored leaves. They have tall and lean stems, small leaf and spindled root. Plants grown
under normal lighting conditions shows different response. They have tall and stout stem with large
leaves. Transpiration is reduced and the water from root is evaporated only through leaves. One should
take utmost care in selecting soil conditions. The transportation of water and nutrients depend on the soil
quality.

SYSTEM DESIGN
This proposed system consists of sensors, actuators, microcontroller and a relay module which is
depicted in fig 1 Inputs from sensors are fed into the A/D converters to amplify their analog signals and
are again fed into Arduino UNO. A four channel relay module acts as the intermediate between actuators
and the microcontroller. A threshold value has been set for each parameter based on the plant
requirement. This is done with the help of Arduino IDE. The entire system is divided into four units.

Fig 1
 A. Data Acquisition Unit
Here three sensors are used to feed the input environmental values to the microcontroller. The
microcontroller then compares these values with the threshold values and turns the specific actuators.
1. Temperature and humidity sensor
2. Soil moisture sensor
3. LDR

B. Data Processing Unit

The microcontroller Arduino UNO is used as the data processing unit. This unit gathers the analog
values from sensors and compares this value with threshold value and actuates the actuators.
C. Output Unit
The actuators used here are 12v cooling fan, 12v dc motor pump, 40w bulb and Heater. The four-
channel relay multiplexes these output actuators into a single unit and turns on the actuators with a
PWM signal from the microcontroller.
D. Data Monitoring Unit
A GSM module has been incorporated with Arduino to repeatedly send the microclimatic parameter
values to the user’s registered mobile number. This data comes along with parameter values in real time.

SIMULATION AND RESULTS

Fig 2
A. Lighting
When natural sunlight goes down, LDR senses it and automatically sends a low value to the
microcontroller indicating that artificial light must be turned on. This is represented in the following
flowchart.

Fig 3.1

B. Moisture Content
When soil moisture reduces below 65%, this sensor urges the microcontroller to turn on the relay
channel that is connected with the motor pump.
 Fig.3-2
C. Temperature and Humidity
A cooling fan and heater is employed in this system to provide the necessary ventilation for the plant.
Heater works when the temperature is less than the threshold value and fan comes into action when
temperature and humidity exceeds the stipulated value.

Fig.3-3 Fig.3-4

CONCLUSION
A system that set the environment to cultivates crops with the productivity rate being doubled has
been developed successfully. This system is made automatic to provide constant microclimatic
parameters. This constant supply of parameters provides plant’s necessary nutrients in surplus amount
and this greenhouse protects crops from pests.
This system can be used for small scale agriculture, providing the maximum yield of crops in
reduced time. As a result of day-to-day progression, a better yield of this tomato plant was produced.

REFERENCES
[1] C. Edwards, “What are the advantages of a greenhouse?” LIVERSTRONG.COM 14 July 2015.
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Telecommunication’2009.
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Environment. B.Eng. Project, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bharat Institute
of Technology, Meerut, India.
[4] Humidity Sensor: Types of Humidity Sensors & Working Principle,
https://www.engineersgarage.com/articles/humiditysensor.
[5] Rahali, A; Guerbaoui, M; Ed-dahhak, A; El Afou, Y; Tannouche, A; Lachhab, A. and Bouchikhi, B.
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