• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2013

Maintenance of adequate soil tension or content during the period of crop growth is necessary to support optimum plant growth and yields. A better understanding of soil tension and content for precision irrigation would allow optimal soil water condition to crops and minimize the adverse effects of water stress on crop growth and development. This research reports on a comparison of soil water tension and content variations in differently textured soils over time under drip irrigation using two different water management methods, i.e. pulse time and required water irrigation methods. The pulse time-based irrigation was performed by turning the solenoid valve on and off for preset times to allow the wetting front to disperse in root zone before additional water was applied. The required water estimation method was a new water control logic designed by Rural Development Administration that applies the amount of water required based on a conversion of the measured water tension into water content. The use of the pulse time irrigation method under drip irrigation at a high tension of -20 kPa and high temperatures over $30^{\circ}C$ was not successful at maintaining moisture tensions within an appropriate range of 5 kPa because the preset irrigation times used for water control could not compensate for the change in evapotranspiration during day and night. The response time and pattern of water contents for all of the tested soils measured with capacitance-based sensor probes were faster and more direct than those of water tensions measured with porous and ceramic cup-based tensiometers when water was applied, indicating water content would be a better control variable for automatic irrigation. The required water estimation-based irrigation method provided relatively stable control of moisture tension, even though somewhat lower tension values were obtained as compared to the target tension of -20 kPa, indicating that growers could expect to be effective in controlling low tensions ranging from -10 to -20 kPa with the required water estimation system.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2013

Vegetables production in greenhouse are typically intensely managed with high inputs of fertilizers and irrigation water, which increases the risk of ground-water nitrate contamination. In 2010 and 2011, a study was conducted to determine the appropriate depth of soil moisture sensor for automatic irrigation control to use water and nitrogen efficiently under subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems. The irrigation line for SDI placed 30 cm below soil surface and tensiometer was used as soil moisture sensor. Three tensiometer treatments placed at 10 (SDI-T10), 20 (SDI-T20) and 30 cm (SDI-T30) depths below soil surface under SDI. These are also compared to SUR-T20 treatment where tensiometer placed at 20 cm below soil surface under surface drip irrigation (SUR) systems. The growth of cucumber was not statistically different between SUR and SDI without SDI-T30 treatment. Fruit yields (Mg/ha) were 57.0 and 56.9 (SDI-T10), 56.0 and 60.5 (SDI-T20), 40.9 and 41.2 (SDI-T30) and 56.6 and 54.3 (SUR-T20) for 2010 and 2011, respectively. Slightly higher total yield was observed in tensiometer placed 20 cm below the soil surface, although no significant differences were found between SDI-T10 and SDI-T20 under SDI treatments. In addition, nitrogen application rates and daily irrigation rates were lowest in SDI-T20 compared with other SDIs and SUR treatments. Nitrogen and daily irrigation application under SDI-T20 was lower than that under SUR-T20 by 6.0%. These findings suggested tensiometer 20 cm depth under SDI systems was best for cucumber production in greenhouse.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.540-545
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate effects of irrigation points on cucumber growth and water saving under greenhouse. Automatic irrigation system and tensiometers were installed at four plots to measure soil water tension and properties of irrigated water. Each plot was irrigated at different irrigation points; soil water tension of 15, 20, 30, and 40 kPa, respectively. Conventional irrigation plot without tensiometer was also investigated. The total yield and sugar contents of cucumber had no significant differences between plots. However, irrigated water volumes were saved most when irrigation points were 30, and 40 kPa. The two plots of 30, and 40 kPa treatments used about 60% less of irrigated water than the plot of conventional practice did. In conclusion, this research suggested that the optimum irrigation point for cucumber cultivation in greenhouse can be soil water tension of 30 kPa based on the results of overall cucumber quality, and Greenhouse water usage.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.251-258
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• 2014

In order to set up the basic environmental control systems which the new concept greenhouses have to equip, greenhouse characteristics, environmental management and control systems in domestic glasshouses and plastic houses were investigated and analyzed comparatively. Survey results on the width, length, eaves height, and the number of spans etc. showed that glasshouses were bigger than plastic houses significantly. New concept greenhouses claim to be plastic houses, but it will be reasonable to follow the specifications of the glasshouse. Specifications to be applied to new concept greenhouses were proposed as follows; hot water heating systems, aluminum screens as the thermal curtain, evaporative cooling systems, roof vents on the ridge, circulation fans, $CO_2$ enrichment, hydroponic systems, and automatic irrigation control systems. Environmental measurement systems for the indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, light, wind speed and indoor $CO_2$ concentration have to be fully equipped. The automatic control system has to be as a complex environmental control system, not a single item control system. Also, for stable dissemination, domestically producing complete greenhouse control system should be made as soon as possible.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.258-263
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• 1997

The result was summarized of basic test and field test to find what quantity of irrigation, what state of compaction and what size of transplanting hopper could induce the optimum taking root in the transplantation of plug seedling by transplanters, and thus acquired the basic data for the development of the related transplanters and the optimum growth and development control. Livability of vegetables after transplanting had no significant difference with respect to for the size of hopper, but was greatly affected by the length of seedlings. The longest possible length of seedling for transplanting and optimal length were found to be 30cm and 28cm, respectively. For irrigation when transplanting red pepper or Chinese cabbage it was thought that large-sized hopper was appropriate. The livability of plug seedling 10 days after transplantation was mainly affected by soil moisture content. Consequently it was thought no irrigation would be needed when transplanting at the soil moisture content of more than 18% ; irrigation of more than 50cc would be needed at the soil moisture content of 13% : initial irrigation of more than 100cc and subsequent irrigation would be needed at the soil moisture content of less than 3.8%. The improvement of soil compaction method (left and right side compaction) with conventional semi-automatic transplanter was not necessary, since there was no difference in livability depending on the compaction methods, left-right side compaction or back-forth-left-right side compaction.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.762-769
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• 2022

Growth characters and ingredient contents of two-year-old bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorum) roots were investigated under both control and soil moisture treatment condition using soil moisture control system including soil sensing and automatic water supply chain in this study. Root diameter, fine root number, root length, fresh weight and dry weight of the plant were significantly influenced by the automatic water treatment, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%, respectively. Ingredient contents of the two-year-old roots in bellflower plants were detected in the 20% and 50% of controlled soil moisture content. Contents of amino acids were decreased by the soil moisture treatment, meanwhile, contents of minerals were not showed significant decrease except for phosphorus content. Showing no difference in proline and tyrosine, fourteen of the amino acid contents were gradually decreased by the increased soil moisture contents, with significant decrease in serine, glycine, alanine, leucine, lysine and histidine at 20% treatment.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2011

Maintenance of adequate soil water potential during the period of crop growth is necessary to support optimum plant growth and yields. A better understanding of soil water movement within and below the rooting zone can facilitate optimal irrigation scheduling aimed at minimizing the adverse effects of water stress on crop growth and development and the leaching of water below the root zone which can have adverse environmental effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a portable irrigation controller with an Watermark sensor for the cultivation of drip-irrigated vegetable crops in a greenhouse. The control capability of the irrigation controller for a soil water potential of -20 kPa was evaluated under summer conditions by cultivating 45-day-old tomato plants grown in three differently textured soils (sandy loam, loam, and loamy sands). Water contents through each soil profile were continuously monitored using three Sentek probes, each consisting of three capacitance sensors at 10, 20, and 30 cm depths. Even though a repeatable cycling of soil water potential occurred for the potential treatment, the lower limit of the Watermark (about 0 kPa) obtained in this study presented a limitation of using the Watermark sensor for optimal irrigation of tomato plants where -20 kPa was used as a point for triggering irrigations. This problem might be related to the slow response time and inadequate soil-sensor interface of the Watermark sensor as compared to a porous and ceramic cup-based tensiometer with a sensitive pressure transducer. In addition, the irrigation time of 50 to 60 min at each of the irrigation operation gave a rapid drop of the potential to zero, resulting in over irrigation of tomatoes. There were differences in water content among the three different soil types under the variable rate irrigation, showing a range of water contents of 16 to 24%, 17 to 28%, and 24 to 32% for loamy sand, sandy loam, and loam soils, respectively. The greatest rate increase in water content was observed in the top of 10 cm depth of sandy loam soil within almost 60 min from the start of irrigation.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 1997

To cope with the mass-production and supply of plug seedling, the supply of transplanters is necessary. In the study, a transplanting test was carried out to find the optimum working condition in the mechanizd transplantation and to acquire the basic data for the improvement of transplanters by the research and analysis of working capacity of the local manual transplanters. The size of hopper affected transplanting stand and rate. Re-irrigation was required for the transplanted seedlings because they wilt 1 day after the transplanting if soil compaction is incomplete. Consequently, back-forth-left-right compaction method was good for soil covering and compaction. It may be thought to increase the amount of irrigation water at the time of transplanting by double-irrigation mechanism, but it needs to increase the larger water tank which makes the operation uneasy. So, assuming the working model by 1 or 2 operators with the machine size as small as possible, it seemed that eliminating of automatic irrigation method was desirable in view of efficiency. Though semiautomatic transplanter needs some structural improvements, it seemed still suitable for transplanting of plug seedlings such as 45-day red pepper seedlings in 128-hole tray and 25-day Chinese cabbage seedling in 128-hole tray. If traveling speed of the transplanter is limited to less than 14 m/min, with the transplanting depth of 2~3cm and transplanting space of 30cm.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.9-24
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• 2022

Currently, a vast amount of hydrologic data is accumulated in real-time through automatic water level measuring instruments in agricultural reservoirs. At the same time, false and missing data points are also increasing. The applicability and reliability of quality control of hydrological data must be secured for efficient agricultural water management through calculation of water supply and disaster management. Considering the characteristics of irregularities in hydrological data caused by irrigation water usage and rainfall pattern, the Korea Rural Community Corporation is currently applying the Hampel filter as a water level data quality management method. This method uses window size as a key parameter, and if window size is large, distortion of data may occur and if window size is small, many outliers are not removed which reduces the reliability of the corrected data. Thus, selection of the optimal window size for individual reservoir is required. To ensure reliability, we compared and analyzed the RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) and NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient) of the corrected data and the daily water level of the RIMS (Rural Infrastructure Management System) data, and the automatic outlier detection standards used by the Ministry of Environment. To select the optimal window size, we used the classification performance evaluation index of the error matrix and the rainfall data of the irrigation period, showing the optimal values at 3 h. The efficient reservoir automatic calibration technique can reduce manpower and time required for manual calibration, and is expected to improve the reliability of water level data and the value of water resources.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.51-68
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• 2023

Due to the recent integrated water management policy, it is important to identify a reliable supply amount for establishing an agricultural water supply plan. In order to identify the amount of agricultural water supply, it is essential to calculate the discharge by measuring the water level and flow velocity of reservoirs and canal agricultural water, and quality control to ensure reliability must be preceded. Unlike agricultural reservoirs, canal agricultural water are more sensitive to the surrounding environment and reservoir irrigation methods (continuous, intermittent irrigation, etc.), making it difficult to estimate general water level patterns and at the same time a lot of erroneous data. The Korea Rural Community Corporation is applying a filter technique as a quality control method capable of processing large quantities and real-time processing of canal agricultural water level data, and applicability evaluation is needed. In this study, the types of errors generated by the automatic water level measurement system were first determined. In addition, by using the manual quality control data, a technique with high applicability is derived by comparing and analyzing data calibrated with Gaussian, Savitzky-Golay, Hampel, and Median filter techniques, RMSE, and NSE, and the optimal parameters of the technique range was derived. As a result, the applicability of the Median filter was evaluated the highest, and the optimal parameters were derived in the range of 120min to 240min. Through the results of this study, it is judged that it can be used for quantitative evaluation to establish an agricultural water supply plan.