Desenvolvimento de um protótipo auxiliar para pesquisas com plantas em estresse hídrico

Abstract

Climate change has the potential to transform society and the human relationship with the environment. With the growing need for food and climate change already impacting global production, studies warn of possible worrying scenarios if the exploitation of natural resources continues. A crucial solution is to increase agricultural production with efficient use of water to ensure food security.

Developing techniques in this direction requires accurate collection of climate, plant and soil data. Indiscriminate and manual collection undermines the reliability of the research carried out. To solve this, embedded systems from the Agro 4.0 network are suitable for automating research processes. At Embrapa Rice and Beans, work is being done on the impact of water stress on plant production, so an auxiliary prototype was proposed, with the ability to collect data such as plant pot weight, water mass loss and soil moisture. A low-cost electronic circuit was developed with the ESP32 microcontroller in order to perform the task.

Experiments with cotton plants in a controlled environment were conducted to validate the prototype. Results showed that the sensors selected, device communication and data storage worked properly, including being recorded in a spreadsheet. With adaptations, the prototype has the potential to be improved for external use, monitoring atmospheric pressure, intensity of sun exposure and temperature, among others.