BENGALURU: With the current conversation around climate change, concerns over exhaustion of natural resources, especially water, have only grown over time. With an aim to reduce water usage and to push forward the idea of soil-less farming, a team of student volunteers from Atria University has designed a hydroponics system to monitor plants and nutrient supplements. Team leader Dinakaran P says the process involved trips to farms around Bengaluru in order to observe and understand the traditional method and its shortcomings. According to him, manpower was a requirement in order to maintain the chemical balance of the crops in the farm. The team then observed these parameters and took into account factors such as temperature and humidity, while working on the monitor.
This was followed by a session in which the seeds were sowed in cocopeat, a natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconut. Dinakaran emphasised on the setup, which comprises five rows and 40 pots with gradual periodic and systematic measurement of water and nutrient supplements. “The water consumption is significantly less when compared to traditional farming. We don’t require manpower as it is fully automatic and we have a dousing system that measures nutrient values independently. The main parameter, which is the benefits of sunlight, are provided through the lighting with RGB colours that are violet, red and yellow in this case,” explains Dinakaran.
Speaking about the recent project, Kaushik Raju, technical director of Atria University, stated that the produce of the IOT-based monitor unit was being utilised within the campus as part of their testing phase. The team of students grew batches of lettuce, basil and coriander in a span of three months. “We have understood the technology and now we are focusing on the agricultural aspects, such as nutrition and changes from one seed to another,” says Raju, adding that the team will next focus on plants for the commercial market.