ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of the Control of Environmental
Variables in a Pine Seedling Greenhouse
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1
Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica, Instituto de Investigación de Ciencias de Ingeniería, Facultad de Ingeniería
Electrónica-Sistemas, Jr. La Mar 755, Pampas 09156, Huancavelica, Perú
2
Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú, Unidad de Postgrado de la Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y del Ambiente,
Av. Mariscal Castilla N° 3909-4089, Huancayo 12006, Junín, Perú
Submission date: 2022-07-16
Final revision date: 2022-11-10
Acceptance date: 2022-11-27
Online publication date: 2023-02-06
Publication date: 2023-03-14
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):1555-1563
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ABSTRACT
The objective of the research was to evaluate the control of environmental variables that allows
obtaining a favorable environment inside a greenhouse for the development of Pinus radiata seedlings.
A controller was implemented inside the greenhouse to maintain the variables in preset ranges:
temperature from 19.0ºC to 25.0ºC; soil humidity from 50% to 100%; ambient humidity from 70%
to 90% and illumination at levels greater than 450 lux. The control algorithm was implemented
in the PIC 18F4550 microcontroller, as control actuators were used: a fan-exhaust fan and air heater for
temperature; solenoid valves for soil and ambient humidity; LED lamps for illumination. As a result,
the environmental variables controller, when tested for 24 hours for 10 days, maintained on average:
temperature at 21.54ºC; soil humidity at 75.09%; relative humidity at 79.32% and illumination in the
absence of sunlight at 451.62 lux. Likewise, it was found that the DQI of Pinus radiata seedlings of
the average control group was 0.433 and the experimental group had an average DQI of 0.571; when
evaluating the normalized DQI for both groups, a significant difference greater than 5% was obtained,
with the t-test for two-tailed independent samples, with the p-value = 0.002, which is less than the
significance level alpha = 0.05. Therefore, it is concluded that the controller generated a favorable
environment for the development of the Pinus radiata seedlings of the experimental group, having
a high possibility of survival when transferred to the final field.