Front-End Development of Nutrient Film Technique for Hydroponic Plant with IoT Monitoring System

Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the most devastating environmental stresses which causes major reductions in cultivated land area, crop productivity and quality. The salinity issue has led to grow plants in solution as an alternative method, such as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). This paper is focusing on front end development of hydroponic system where users are able to monitor and control two important parameters in plant growth which are EC and pH parameters. This process is executed systematically through the use of internet of thing (IoT) technology. This project development is designed to provide automatics control of two main parameters for leafy greens growth. The parameters are monitored using Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and IoT platform. Using ESP32 microcontroller board, this project manages to maintain an optimum condition for nutrient consumed by the plant. EC and pH value can be controlled using smartphones via Blynk application, which provides real time changes. This offers advantage for the user to monitor and control the system with less effort and requires no presence at the farmed area. The developed system is proven to provide a sufficient nutrient for plant growth with hassle free built in automatic control and monitoring system.