17-10-2016, 11:27 AM
1459349157-conference.2.docx (Size: 203.07 KB / Downloads: 6)
ABSTRACT:
At present many analytical laboratories that provide a chemical soil testing service, some are woefully inadequate testing only for phosphorus, potassium, pH and salinity and ignoring all other nutrients. Others can be very comprehensive but the results badly presented. This makes it difficult for the farmer in particular to make any sense out of his own soil test and puts his decisions regarding fertilizer firmly in the minds of the "experts" who are also often the manufacturers/sellers of particular types of fertilizer. Our main objective is to develop a testing system which can be used for soil analysis, which in term helps the farmers to grow and produce the proper crop. The System measures Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorous and PH of soil. In the system, nitrate and phosphorous ISE are used to measure concentration of N and K nutrient of soil.
Keywords: ph , electrical conductivity, fertigation, nitrate ISE , phosphorus ISE
INTRODUCTION:
Indian economy is mainly based on agriculture; still we are not able to make most Favorable, commercial and sustainable use of our land resources. The main reason is the lack of knowledge regarding the soil analysis for the growth of crops. The history of the farmer started intensive cultivation of early-maturing, high yielding varieties without paying much attention to the soil-nutrient status and soil health. In every state, around 9 to 10 lakhs soil samples have been received in laboratories and it is very difficult to test all the soil samples at a time by the laboratories. It takes more time to generate test reports. Hence there is a need for soil analysis to be made available to the farmer.
Optimum nutritional conditions can vary for different crops and for same crops at different times of their life cycle. For the same crops at different times of the year and the same crops under different environmental conditions. The pH and EC (electrical conductivity) are the two important indices of fertigation. They represent the whole quality and characteristics of fertilizers and water. It varies for different plants and soils.
A standard soil testing procedure and a standard method of reporting is badly needed. Also a reasoned interpretation of soil test results can only be made if other information about the soil is made available. In determining the fertility status of the soil consideration must be given to the three major components of soil fertility:
- The physical characteristics of the soil
- The biological status of the soil
- The chemical status of the soil
All these major factors interact with each other. The unfortunate trend of the last 70 years has been to use fertilizers to feed the plant rather than to feed the soil. A fertile soil will grow excellent healthy crops with good disease and pest resistance. Trying to feed crops directly may give some spectacular results but almost inevitably results in imbalances that result in unsound growth and increased postharvest problems. This places the farmer on the treadmill of continued and increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and animal health remedies.
If the soil has high salinity content, the plants growing there will not be as igorous as they would be in normal soils. Seeds will germinate poorly, if at all, and the plants will grow slowly or become stunted. If the salinity concentration is high enough, the plants will wilt and die, no matter how much we water them.
Routine soil testing can identify the soil’s salinity levels and suggest measures that can be taken to correct the specific salinity problem in the soil.
Soil analysis is a valuable tool for the farm as it determines the inputs required for efficient and economic production. A proper soil test will help ensure the application of enough fertilizer to meet the requirements of the crop while taking advantage of the nutrients already present in the soil. It will also allow us to determine lime requirements and can be used to diagnose problem areas.
It is very important that our sampling technique is correct as the results are only as good as the sample we take. Soil testing is also a requirement for farms that must complete a nutrient management plan.
OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of the work is to develop an testing system which can be used for soil analysis that helps the farmers to grow and produce proper crops and to implement “Precision Agriculture”. To provide feedback to the farmers, the amount of fertilizer to be sowed.
LITERATURE SURVEY:
Hung-Yuan Chung (2014),[1] “Agricultural monitoring system based on ant colony algorithm with Centre data aggregation” This paper proposed environmental parameters are collected by use of outdoor ZigBee based weather stations as a prerequisite for the optimization of plant growth. In most cases, all the sensors required are integrated into a weather station, due to which merely a single monitoring node is employed following data aggregation. An energy efficient center data aggregation algorithm, where an ant colony algorithm is applied to the construction of a level gradient held, is presented as an effective way to extend the life cycles of sensor nodes. A weather station and a ZigBee module both are portable and easy to install battery operated devices. Furthermore, a remote web-based human machine interface (HMI) is developed by InduSof on a server, and has an access to a database. This proposed algorithm is confirmed by computer simulations as an effective approach to remarkably extend the life cycles of sensor nodes. This work can be applied not merely to traditional outdoor large scale farming,
but also to small scale indoor plantation, e.g. in a green house, a plant factory, etc., and applied to the help of conservation ecology.
lB. Balaji Bhanu (2014)[2]: “Monitoring of Soil Parameters for Effective Irrigation using Wireless Sensor Networks” WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) has attracted the attention of researchers due to its wide applicability to various fields such as disaster management, health and environment monitoring, agriculture, ecology, industrial automation and in military field applications like battlefield surveillance etc. In agricultural ecosystem -situ - continuous smart monitoring of soil parameters like humidity, pH, irrigation control systems etc. can be measured using WSN with high end precision. In this manuscript, we propose to develop a WSN based Dynamic and Automated Irrigation System design and instrumentation. This process maintains soil type and
Software for real time sensing and control of agricultural irrigation system. The efficiency of irrigation systems can be enhanced by automated remote sensing and continuous analysis of soil parameters. Thus the data acquired is useful to the agricultural sector, namely pest management, irrigation management and soil management. Ultimately, this reduces the fresh water consumption and irrigation costs by maximizing the crop yield.
Zhikai Chang (2013) [3]: “Measurement Experiment and Mathematical Model of Nitrate Ion Selective Electrode”Compared with conventional laboratory chemical analysis, ion selective electrode (ISE) is time-saving, low-cost, ease of use and pollution-free. To detect soil nitrate nitrogen content rapidly, a nitrate ion selective electrode could be used. This paper studied characteristics of nitrate ISE. Potentiometric experiments utilizing nitrate ISE to measure sodium nitrate solution were conducted during the study. A linear regression model based on the Nernst equation was built using the least square method. Several groups of potential values were measured at one concentration and then the arithmetic mean of them was calculated. These mean values and their corresponding concentrations were used in LSM to reduce the impact of the relatively poor repeatability of ISE and reduce nitrate concentration prediction errors. The feasibility of the modeling method was verified using prediction errors as an index. In this study, extra data points except the calibration points were used to test the prediction error. Except several singular points, the relative error of this model was from 1.3% to 13.67% (absolute value). Compared with calibration each time, this modeling method can be used to determinate the nitrate concentration if ISE will be calibrated after using for a certain number of times.
Electrical Conductivity sensor
Salinity of solution is measured by common way using electrical conductivity (EC) sensor. This sensor measures the electricity moves through a saltier solution, the electricity moves through it is directly proportional to the conductivity readings. EC is measured in ds/cm (DeciSiemens per centimeter). In all soils salts are naturally present additional salts build up in the soil by higher concentration of fertilizers applied. Under irrigation and inadequate drainage is also one of the cause of soil salinity. The salt concentration in the soil restricts a plant’s ability to take up water from the soil. The higher EC value has toxic effect on plant’s metabolism. EC affects the physical structure of soil. Salinity has positive effect in terms of soil aggregation and negative effect on plant’s growth.
ION SELECTIVE ELECTRODE
The main objective of this system is to measure Nitrogen and Phosphorous ion concentration into the soil. Nitrogen andPhosphorous are the macronutrient of soil. Standard laboratory methods for measurement of soil nitrate (NO3–N) use various procedures and instruments to analyze soil samples taken from the field and transported to the laboratory. Concerns with these procedures range from delays in measurement time, the high cost of soil sampling and analysis, labor requirements, and the need to aggregate samples. With recent advances in using the ion-selective electrode, as presented in this project, soil NO3–N can now be measured directly, rapidly, accurately, at low cost, at a fine scale, and in real-time right in the field.
Nitrogen is taken up by plant in the form of nitrate. Nitrogen is inert gas which constitutes in 78% of the atmospheric air. Nitrogen is basic nutrient it forms chlorophyll, amino acid and proteins. When the plant takes up large quantities of nitrogen from the soil then the color of the plant changes to dark green, indicating that the increase of chlorophyll in the plant. Excess of nitrogen supplies to plant compared with other nutrients, the extra protein produced enlarges the leaves which provides larger leaf surface for photosynthesis and makes the leaves less coarse, increases the length of the growing season and delays maturity. But when the crop plants become more succulent due to larger availability of nitrogen they become susceptible to Pests and diseases. Source of Nitrogen to plant are from free living organism, organic matter in soil, rain water and Nitrogenous chemical fertilizers.
Features of Nitrate ISE
a) Range 1to 10,000mg/L
b) Accuracy +-10% of full scale
c) pH range 2.5 to 11
d) Electrode resistance 1 to 4 Mῼ
e) Temperature range 0 to 500 C.
Nitrate sensor:
The HI 4013 and HI 4113 nitrate electrodes are potentiometricdevices used for the rapid determination of free nitrateions in water, emulsified foods and plant samples. The electrode functions as a sensor or ionic conductor. TheHI 4013 requires a separate reference electrode to completeits electrolytic circuit. The HI 4113 is a combination electrodewith a Ag/AgCl reference electrode with gel stabilizedCl- electrolyte in its inner chamber. The external reference
Chamber is refillable. The PVC membrane used on thesensor is impregnated with the organic ion exchanger. Thisorganic ion exchanger is considered a carrier ionosphere inthat it is capable of shielding and carrying the chargednitrate ion in its polar cage freely through the apolar
Regions of the membrane. A charge imbalance developsbetween the test solution and internal cell of the sensor.This voltage changes in response to the sample’s ion activity.When the ionic strength of the sample is fixed, thevoltage is proportional to the concentration of nitrate ions in
Solution. The sensor follows the Nernst Equation:
E = Ea + 2.3 RT/nF log A ion
E = observed potential
Ea = Reference and fixed internal voltages
R = gas constant (8.314 J/K Mol)
n = Charge on ion (-1)
A ion= ion activity in sample
T = absolute temperature in K
F = Faraday constant (9.648 x 104 C/equivalent)