Experimental Study on the Development and Performance Test of an Electro-Mechanical Plant Irrigation System

Bangladesh’s economy largely depends on agriculture where efficient irrigation is crucial for stable crop production. However, improper watering schedules often lead to significant yield losses, highlighting the need for a more reliable and spontaneous irrigation approach. The research describes the design, construction and comprehensive testing of an Electro-mechanical Plant Irrigation System (PIS) that was designed to enhance efficiency in irrigation within small farmland and controlled laboratory systems. The system is essentially an Arduino Nano processing signal inputs of a capacitive soil-moisture sensor and to actuate a relay-activated submersible DC pump; an LCD display gives real-time values on moisture and system conditions. Repeatable behavior was confirmed by bench tests that had a mean rate of 8.94 mL/s of delivered fluids and several transactions indicated a stable on/off cycling behavior and reliable operation. The net outcomes are lower water consumption, a more uniform root zone wetting and better energy efficiency than the manual processes. Due to the low cost of the hardware, its small size, and scalability, the proposed system will provide a viable, sustainable solution in precision agriculture, smart gardening use cases, and teaching and research contexts for large-scale applicability.