Articles
NUTRISENSE: a new online portal to calculate nutrient solutions and optimize fertilization of greenhouse crops grown hydroponically
Article number
1320_19
Pages
149 – 156
Language
English
Abstract
In this study, a decision support system (DSS) is presented, which can be used by growers, advisors and other professionals employed in the greenhouse chain sector to automatically calculate nutrient solutions (NS) and re-adjust their composition during the cropping period.
This DSS is termed NUTRISENSE, and is online available at www.nutrisense.online
. To apply NUTRISENSE, the user has to introduce information about the crop (crop species, stage of plant development, the season of the year, growing medium), the facilities (e.g., type of fertigation system, pH control, the volume of stock solutions, application in an open or closed system, etc.), the available fertilizers, and the mineral composition of the water used to prepare the NS. Using these data, NUTRISENSE automatically calculates the composition of the NS (as kg of each fertilizer for each stock solution tank A/B tank systems or as injection percentages of stock solutions in multi-tank systems) and all additional information needed by the grower to optimize NS supply.
Furthermore, NUTRISENSE can be applied during the cropping period to modify the composition of the currently used NS when the plant developmental stage changes, or when results from a chemical analysis of a drainage solution (DS) sample are available.
To re-adjust the composition of the NS during cropping, additional information has to be introduced to NUTRISENSE, such as the composition of the currently used NS, the composition of the DS following a chemical analysis, etc.
In all cases, the user can modify the optimal composition of the NS calculated by NUTRISENSE by selecting different target NS characteristics than those suggested by the DSS. In the current study, some data from the application of NUTRISENSE in an experimental hydroponic tomato crop are presented and compared to corresponding data from a hydroponic tomato crop in which the composition of the supplied NS was adjusted according to standard commercial practices.
This DSS is termed NUTRISENSE, and is online available at www.nutrisense.online
. To apply NUTRISENSE, the user has to introduce information about the crop (crop species, stage of plant development, the season of the year, growing medium), the facilities (e.g., type of fertigation system, pH control, the volume of stock solutions, application in an open or closed system, etc.), the available fertilizers, and the mineral composition of the water used to prepare the NS. Using these data, NUTRISENSE automatically calculates the composition of the NS (as kg of each fertilizer for each stock solution tank A/B tank systems or as injection percentages of stock solutions in multi-tank systems) and all additional information needed by the grower to optimize NS supply.
Furthermore, NUTRISENSE can be applied during the cropping period to modify the composition of the currently used NS when the plant developmental stage changes, or when results from a chemical analysis of a drainage solution (DS) sample are available.
To re-adjust the composition of the NS during cropping, additional information has to be introduced to NUTRISENSE, such as the composition of the currently used NS, the composition of the DS following a chemical analysis, etc.
In all cases, the user can modify the optimal composition of the NS calculated by NUTRISENSE by selecting different target NS characteristics than those suggested by the DSS. In the current study, some data from the application of NUTRISENSE in an experimental hydroponic tomato crop are presented and compared to corresponding data from a hydroponic tomato crop in which the composition of the supplied NS was adjusted according to standard commercial practices.
Authors
D. Savvas, S. Drakatos, I. Panagiotakis, G. Ntatsi
Keywords
soilless culture, hydroponics, nutrient solution, decision support system, greenhouse crops
Online Articles (57)