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Identification and Modelling of Drop‐By‐Drop Irrigation System for Tomato Plants Under Greenhouse Conditions
Author(s) -
Sahbani Farhat,
Ferjani Ezzidine
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.2253
Subject(s) - greenhouse , irrigation , environmental science , surface runoff , hydrology (agriculture) , drip irrigation , terrain , mediterranean climate , precipitation , growing season , agronomy , meteorology , geography , engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , cartography , archaeology , biology
In northern Tunisia the cultivation of tomatoes in greenhouses is of great importance during the winter and spring seasons. This region has a Mediterranean climate characterized by hot and dry summers and mild and humid winters. The average temperature in winter ranges between 8.1 and 16.1°C. During this season, precipitation ranges between 148 and 376 mm, reaching an average of 366–752 mm over the three seasons (autumn, winter and spring). The north of Tunisia is characterized by the construction of several dams, small agricultural fields and a rugged terrain, and is the reason why greenhouse farming is preferred. In order to combat erosion, runoff and save water, a drip irrigation system placed at the roots of tomato plants has been installed. However, the automatic operation of this irrigation system cannot be performed in the absence of a mathematical model. In order to solve this problem a balance was sought between the water pressure ( p ), the water flow ( d ) and the soil humidity ( h ). Based on the input/output, and using measurements of these three parameters ( p ), ( d ) and ( h ), and with the help of the MATLAB ‘ident’ toolbox, the irrigation system was taken to be a black box where ( p ) and ( d ) are the inputs and ( h ) is the output. This box has allowed us to obtain an estimated model that is as close as possible to the real irrigation system. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.