DEVELOPMENT OF SOIL-COOLING AND AUTO-IRRIGATING SYSTEM WITH NEGATIVE PRESSURE

摘要

It is important to maintain soil moisture and temperature at a suitable level for the growth of plants. A new soil-cooling and auto-irrigating cultivation system with negative pressure was developed and is reported in this article. With one porous ceramic pipeline, the bed soil can be irrigated and cooled simultaneously. The water content of soil can be auto-controlled at a suitable level for plant growth by negative pressure. A cultivation experiment with lettuce verified that this system is practical for irrigating and cooling soil at the same time. The growth and yield of lettuce with the cooling system were significantly better than with the no-cooling system during summer, even though all plants were grown at the same air temperature