Selbstkalibrierende Steuerung für ressourcenschonende Bewässerung in der Landwirtschaft
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Rolf Krebs
- Project team : Roman Berger, Dr. Esther Fischer, Dr. Luzius Jean Petit Matile, Guido Kunz
- Project budget : CHF 250'000
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Federal government
- Project partner : PlantCare AG, ACW
- Contact person : Luzius Jean Petit Matile
Description
In Switzerland, water-saving irrigation will become more
important in future. Potential leaching, the influence of
irrigation on plant health and the consequences of climate change
have to be considered.
In practically relevant irrigation experiments the settings of an
irrigation control based on soil moisture sensors were optimized
with respect to water demand and yield. The most important
parameters of the control are the dry threshold value and the
target value of irrigation. In order to avoid leaching the target
value was always below field capacity. The irrigation experiments
were conducted in the years 2013 - 2015 as field trials with
Brussels sprouts (drip irrigation) and onion crops (sprinkler
irrigation) on the one hand and with tomato, eggplant and cucumber
crops in greenhouses (drip irrigation) on the other part.
The sensor-based self-regulating irrigation control resulted in an
up to three times better water efficiency compared to manually
controlled irrigation without yield reduction, because irrigation
never started too early, but always before drought stress symptoms
have occurred.
Impacts of irrigation on plant health were significant in some
cases or they could otherwise only be seen as trends due to other
influences. A direct influence was evident in soil-borne
diseases.