Development and design of an affordable field scale weighing lysimeter using a microcontroller system

Abstract

Weighing lysimeters are used to measure and understand the crop water uptake over time. Weighing lysimeters can estimate crop evapotranspiration by recording the change in weight of a plant, soil, and water. The change in weight can be converted to the change in volume of water lost through evaporation from the soil and transpiration through the plant. This article outlines the design, construction, performance evaluation, and cost of an affordable field scale weighing lysimeter using microcontroller system. The study uses Arudino Mega microcontroller, HX711, and load cells to develop the affordable field scale weighing lysimeter system. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) was developed to provide an easy and reliable connection between sensors and the microcontroller system. The team installed the field scale weighing lysimeter in a demonstration farm (Vicksburg, MI) and evaluated its performance using known weights. The results show that values from the affordable field scale weighing lysimeter had a strong correlation with known weights (R2 = 1, IA = 0.999, RMSE = 5.9 gram). The final lysimeter design cost was $1,310 for four lysimeters which are relatively lower than other commercially available weighing lysimeters.

Keywords

• Weighing lysimeter
• Microcontroller
• Irrigation
• Water management
• Crop water uptake