SMART environmental control system for the production of strawberry in lowland tropics

Strawberry is grown in Malaysian highland environment particularly in Cameron Highlands. Local production of strawberry is constrained by small production area and the problems associated with highland conditions; slope lands, land degradation, logistic and distance that led to costly products and lowered the product quality. MARDI has conducted research on controlled environment systems for the production of selected temperate crops in the lowland tropics. This paper describes the development of a SMART environmental control system in a greenhouse for strawberry production in the lowlands. Effective growth environment that satisfies the crop requirements is generated by mechanized and automated system interfaces with computer control. The environmental inputs are controlled and monitored at required levels and include air temperature, humidity, root zone temperature, light, day-length, CO2 content and fertigation. Experimental results had verified that strawberry has a good potential to be produced in this CE system in the lowland tropics when the production performances were bench-marked with local strawberry production in the Cameron Highlands.