[Unpad.ac.id, 13/04/2016] Facing global climate change, agricultural sector requires a regulating water efficiency system to deal with draught in certain seasons that could affect supply and demand of water plants needs.
This was the result of research Unpad academics through Academic Leadership Grant (ALG) 1-1-6 program. A team led by Professor of Faculty of Agricultural Industrial Technology (FTIP), Prof. Dr. Hj. Nurpilihan Bafdal, Ir., M.Sc., fertigation Self Watering System technology allowing automatic water provision without using electrical energy for plants.
The team members are Dr. Ir. Edy Suryadi, M.T., Dr. Dwi Rustam Kendarto, S.Si., M.T., Ir. Chay Asdak, M.Sc., PhD., Dr. Santi Rosniawaty, M.P., Wawan Herawan, and Dr. Ir. Wagiono. This technology is installed on mini greenhouses, located in the Jatinangor campus, with cherry tomatoes, melons, and chili plants.
The system simply drains rainwater from gutters on the roof of the greenhouse into two storage drums. Each drum has a capacity of 5,300 liters. Water from the drum is then poured into 3 small drums in the greenhouse.
“These small drums will drain the water onto the plant,” said Prof. Nurpilihan during the event of fruits and vegetables harvesting in the mini greenhouse, Wednesday (13/04).
The water in the small drums are mixed with fertilizers before then streamed automatically to pot plants. The type of pot plants used is autopot.
“In autopot, water flowing from the drum is controlled by a valve, which will be set according to the plant needs. Water flowed into the plant without the use of electrical energy, “she explained.
The plant medium, said Prof. Nurpilihan, does not use soil. She uses mixture of rice husk with organic materials, rice husk with topsoil, and rice husk with coconut fiber. “The best a mixture is rice husk with humus,” said Prof. Nurpilihan.
Within three months, the 41 autopots have been harvested 12 times. In the future, this technology will be used for 150 autopots. The harvesting event was attended by members of Dharma Wanita Persatuan (DWP) Unpad. Also attending was chairman of DWP Unpad Tina Tri Hanggono Achmad.*
Reported by Arief Maulana / eh
