A decision support system for the management of greenhouse environment

Greenhouse crop productivity depends upon the level of greenhouse environment control, which in turn is a function of the economics of greenhouse crop production system. The real time greenhouse environmental control, therefore, has to be linked to appropriate economic parameters to achieve cost effective environmental control. This requires assessment of crop growth, ambient climatic parameters and consequently the modification of climatic set points at regular intervals for greenhouse environmental control. This is sought to be achieved through a micro controller which is capable of making decisions on the basis of the current status and the economic rules. The details of the decision support system have been included in the paper. The basic assumptions is that plants can integrate climatic fluctuations as long as the fluctuations are within permissible limits and their time averages are maintained at specified levels. The crop growth is compared with that of a standard plant. Then the decision is taken whether the set points should be raised or lowered in comparison to the standard set points. The decision support system thus, integrates the ambient environment, crop growth and economic parameters on real time basis. The overall effect is the increase in the net profit. Also included are sample simulations for the ambient conditions of New Delhi.