Design and performance of nutrient dosing control system for hydroponic chilli plant using fuzzy logic controller

Haryo Prastono; Mohamad Solahudin; Supriyanto Supriyanto; Haryo Prastono; Mohamad Solahudin; Supriyanto Supriyanto

doi:10.55981/j.mev.2025.910

Design and performance of nutrient dosing control system for hydroponic chilli plant using fuzzy logic controller

Haryo Prastono, Mohamad Solahudin, Supriyanto Supriyanto

Abstract

The application of irrigation and nutrient provision is crucial for cultivating plants using hydroponic systems. This significance arises from the absence of natural nutrients in hydroponic growing media, which necessitates precise and tailored nutrient administration. This study aimed to discuss the design and construction of a nutrient dosing system employing both an on-off-based nutrient mixing control and a fuzzy logic-based fertigation control. Nutrient dosing system design entails establishing design criteria, functional and structural design, prototyping, programming, and testing. Performance testing involved a mixture of cocopeat and rice husk charcoal growing medium, with a 2-month-old chilli plant as the testing subject. The nutrient mixing control system resulted in a ready-to-use nutrient solution with a concentration of 1538.45 ppm, which slightly deviated from the 1500 ppm target. The total time required for nutrient mixing amounted to 3685.8 seconds. The calculations revealed a percentage error of 2.56 % for this nutrient mixing control system. The tested fertigation control system successfully maintained the moisture content of the growing medium within the available water zone with an error rate of 2.17 %. Observations over three days demonstrated that the control system activated fertigation processes twice daily, predominantly in the morning and evening. The total volume of fertigation administered ranged from 217 cm³ to 287 cm³ daily. All the components of the nutrient dosing system functioned effectively and performed well.

10.55981/j.mev.2025.910

Keywords

control system; dosing nutrition; fertigation system; hydroponic system; nutrient mixing.

Full Text:

PDF

References

G. N. Mavrogianopoulos, “Irrigation dose according to substrate characteristics, in hydroponic systems,” Open Agric, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–6, Jan. 2016.

R. Maulana and A. Wibowo, “Design of an automatic nutrition system for hydroponic plants with an IoT-based NodeMCU microcontroller,” Fidelity : Jurnal Teknik Elektro, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 1–5, 2019, Accessed: Jul. 17, 2023. [Online].

T. I. Ahn et al., “Nutrient dosing framework for an emission-free urban hydroponic production,” Front Plant Sci, vol. 12, Nov. 2021.

E. Christie, “Water and nutrient reuse within closed hydroponic systems,” Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, 2014. [Online].

H. Prastono, M. Solahudin, and Supriyanto, “Evaluation of nutrient dosing methods for hydroponic crop cultivation,” Jurnal Keteknikan Pertanian, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 279–293, Dec. 2023.

H. Liu et al., “Optimizing irrigation frequency and amount to balance yield, fruit quality, and water use efficiency of greenhouse tomato,” Agric Water Manag, vol. 226, Dec. 2019.

E. A. Abioye et al., “A data-driven Kalman Filter-PID controller for fibrous capillary irrigation,” Smart Agricultural Technology, vol. 3, Feb. 2023.

E. Maya Olalla, A. Lopez Flores, M. Zambrano, M. Domínguez Limaico, H. Diaz Iza, and C. Vasquez Ayala, “Fuzzy control application to an irrigation system of hydroponic crops under greenhouse: Case cultivation of strawberries (Fragaria Vesca),” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 8, Apr. 2023.

A. Risheh, A. Jalili, and E. Nazerfard, “Smart irrigation IoT solution using transfer learning for neural networks,” in 10th International Conference on Computer and Knowledge Engineering, ICCKE 2020, Mashhad: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., Oct. 2020, pp. 342–349.

E. A. Abioye et al., “A review on monitoring and advanced control strategies for precision irrigation,” Comput Electron Agric, vol. 173, Jun. 2020.

S. Jaiswal and M. S. Ballal, “Fuzzy inference based irrigation controller for agricultural demand side management,” Comput Electron Agric, vol. 175, Aug. 2020.

R. S. Krishnan et al., “Fuzzy logic based smart irrigation system using internet of things,” J Clean Prod, vol. 252, Apr. 2020.

T. M. Navinkumar, R. R. Kumar, and P. V. Gokila, “Application of artificial intelligence techniques in irrigation and crop health management for crop yield enhancement,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, Elsevier Ltd, 2021, pp. 2248–2253.

J. E. M. Salih, A. H. Adom, and A. Y. Md. Shaakaf, “Solar powered automated fertigation control system for cucumis melo l. cultivation in green house,” APCBEE Procedia, vol. 4, pp. 79–87, Jan. 2012.

W. Hermawan and R. K. Yanuar, “Design and performance of an automatic laying hen feeding machines in cage-type cage,” Jurnal Keteknikan Pertanian, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 358–374, Dec. 2023.

S. M. Sipaun et al., “Flow rate measurement using 99m TC radiotracer method in a pipe installation,” AIP Conference Proceedings, pp. 416–419, July, 2010.

I. Plauska, A. Liutkevičius, and A. Janavičiūtė, “Performance evaluation of C/C++, MicroPython, Rust and TinyGo Programming Languages on ESP32 microcontroller,” Electronics (Switzerland), vol. 12, no. 1, Jan. 2023.

R. G. Allen, L. S. Pereira, D. Raes, and M. Smith, “Crop evapotranspiration (guidelines for computing crop water requirements),” Rome, 1998. Accessed: Oct. 03, 2023. [Online].

C. Liu, W. Z. Wu, W. Xie, T. Zhang, and J. Zhang, “Forecasting natural gas consumption of China by using a novel fractional grey model with time power term,” Energy Reports, vol. 7, pp. 788–797, Nov. 2021,

C. Hidayat, M. R. Pahlevi, B. F. Taufiqqurahman, and M. A. Ramdhani, “Growth and yield of chili in nutrient film technique at different electrical conductivity,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Institute of Physics Publishing, Jan. 2018.

M. C. Untoro and F. R. Hidayah, “IoT-based hydroponic plant monitoring and control system to maintain plant fertility,” INTEK Jurnal Penelitian, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 33–41, 2022.

J. E. Suseno, M. F. Munandar, and A. S. Priyono, “The control system for the nutrition concentration of hydroponic using web server,” in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Institute of Physics Publishing, Jun. 2020.

Nurlina, Swardji, and I. Kusnarta, “Effect of plant media (cocopeat and vermicompos) on the growth and years of porang (Amorhophallus Muelleri) in Lombok Utara district,” Journal of Soil Quality and Management, 2023, Accessed: Oct. 27, 2023. [Online].

J. Han et al., “Effect of water deficit on growth and fruit quality of autumn-winter pepper,” Journal of Irrigation and Drainage, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 11–18, 2024.

K. S. Criscione, J. S. Fields, and J. S. Owen, “Substrate stratification can be paired with strategic irrigation and improve container-water dynamics,” Acta Hortic, no. 1377, pp. 553–558, Oct. 2023.

S. L. Warren and T. E. Bilderback, “Irrigation timing: effect on plant growth, photosynthesis, water-use efficiency and substrate temperature,” Acta Hortic, no. 644, pp. 29–37, Feb. 2004.

W. R. Adams and K. T. Zeleke, “Diurnal effects on the efficiency of drip irrigation,” Irrig Sci, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 141–157, Mar. 2017.

A. Asmuti and R. Awalina, “Design of drip irrigation for cayenne pepper,” IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci, vol. 757, no. 1, p. 012039, May 2021.

A. Aulia, I. K. Wardani, and A. N. Ichniarsyah, “Calculation of actual evapotranspiration (ETc) of melon plants on vegetative phase in the greenhouse,” Jurnal Keteknikan Pertanian Tropis dan Biosistem, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 170–180, Dec. 2022.

H. Prastono, M. Solahudin, and S. Supriyanto, “Precision fertigation control system based on fuzzy logic for hydroponic plant cultivation,” Jurnal Ilmiah Rekayasa Pertanian dan Biosistem, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 294–313, Sep. 2024.

L.-H. Chen, J. Chen, and C. Chen, “Effect of environmental measurement uncertainty on prediction of evapotranspiration,” Atmosphere (Basel), vol. 9, no. 10, p. 400, Oct. 2018.

R. Amalia, R. S. B. Waspodo, and B. I. Setiawan, “The design of evaporative irrigation system for pepper plants,” Jurnal Irigasi, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 45–54, Oct. 2020.

F. Mahjoor, A. A. Ghaemi, and M. H. Golabi, “Interaction effects of water salinity and hydroponic growth medium on eggplant yield, water-use efficiency, and evapotranspiration,” International Soil and Water Conservation Research, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 99–107, Jun. 2016.

D. N. Utami et al., “Characteristics of water storage capacity and water storage efficiency of ‘Biotextile’ growing medium for erosion resistance,” Berkala Ilmiah Biologi, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 38–47, Apr. 2023.