At the same time that significant environmental changes are being observed in different regions of the planet, demand for food has grown and exerted strong pressure on water use for irrigation. Irrigated agriculture is the economic activity that demands the greatest amount of water, and due to the decrease in its quality for agricultural use and its availability due to droughts and increased demand for different uses, various technological tools have been used to optimise its use in agricultural production. Among these, automatic irrigation system activation devices stand out, which aim, for example, to prevent excessive water application, and the use of hydrophilic substances, which contribute to increasing the water retention capacity of the soil. This book presents the performance of a low-cost automatic actuator for localised irrigation in the presence of different doses of a water-retaining polymer in the soil for the production of smooth lettuce in a protected environment.

Autorentext

Hugo Thaner dos Santos is an Agricultural Engineer and PhD candidate in Agronomy (Applied Meteorology) at UFV. Daniel Fonseca de Carvalho is an Agricultural Engineer, holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering and is a Full Professor at UFRRJ. Leonardo Oliveira Medici is an Agricultural Engineer, holds a PhD in Agronomy (Plant Genetics and Breeding) and is an Associate Professor at UFRRJ.