Plantae takes another step forward in its quest to research and improve precision agriculture with sensors / probes that measure relative humidity and ambient temperature.
What is relative humidity?
Moisture is the amount of water, water vapor or any other liquid that is present on the surface or inside of a body or in the air.
Relative humidity is, according to Rae, the percentage expression of the amount of water vapor present in the air with respect to the maximum possible for given pressure and temperature conditions.
For example, if we measure the relative humidity and it is 40%, it indicates that the air is dry because it would need to absorb 60% of water to reach 100%. If, on the other hand, it is 80%, we will have a very humid environment and the absorption would be minimal.
Applications to agriculture
In agriculture, prediction is very important, especially for:
- The control and forecasting of pests that depend on the measurement of leaf humidity that we can obtain with a formula in which one of the magnitudes is relative humidity.
- Fungal diseases , because certain thresholds are necessary for them to proliferate and among them it is important to measure relative humidity .
Relationship between certain plant behaviors and relative humidity
- Riego y HR: hay una relación directa entre ambas cosas. Cuando el valor de humedad relativa es muy bajo, la evapotranspiración aumenta. Por esta razón habrá que regar con una estrategia u otra en función de esa humedad.
- Nutrición y HR: hay una relación inversa entre ambas. Cuando la humedad es muy alta, la planta va a transpirar menos, por lo tanto va a absorber menos agua y menos nutrientes.
It also affects processes such as pollination, flowering ... Here it is also important to have the temperature data that will help us in phenological states.
Outdoor temperature control with sensors / probe
The humidity must be linked to the measurement of the outside temperature, this will allow a greater control of the crop.
The most important controls for agriculture are:
- Calculation of cold hours.
- Calculation of thermal integral / heat hours.
- Frost forecast.
Effects on pollination
If the humidity is high, pollen accumulates in the environment and does not travel easily from the male organ of the flower to the female. If the humidity is low, the pollen has difficulty adhering to the stigma.
Relative humidity sensors / probe Plantae
Plantae is aware of all the problems that can affect a plantation and in our objective of promoting precision agriculture we conduct research that:
- They can mitigate plant diseases.
- Product quality and quantity are promoted.
- Energy saving.
Our latest project is to measure relative humidity with sensors / probe and combine the results with other factors such as the thermal integral between hot hours and cold hours.
All this combined with sensors that provide information on the subsoil, measuring humidity and conductivity, will make agriculture accurate and profitable with minimal investment by the farmer.
Sources consulted
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