• A Study on the Effectiveness of Rainwater Recycling to Replace Groundwater in a Smart Farming Greenhouse

  • Jung-Hyun Yoo1·Eun-jeong Kim2·Cheol-Ku Youn2·Bong Ho Son3·KyuHoi Lee2*·Young-Soo Han1*

  • 1Department of Environmental Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
    2Watermelon Research Institute, Chungcheongbuk-do Agricultural Research, Eumsung, Chungcheongbok-do 27668, Korea
    3GNS Engineering., co. Ltd. Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do 28395, Korea

  • 스마트팜 운영시 빗물 재활용을 통한 농촌지역 지하수 사용량 대체 효과 실증 연구

  • 유정현1·김은정2·윤철구2·손봉호3·이규회2*·한영수1*

  • 1충남대학교 환경공학과
    2충청북도농업기술원 수박연구소
    3주식회사 지엔에스엔지니어링

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In this study, an empirical experiment was conducted to assess the feasibility of replacing groundwater with rainwater in melon cultivation using a smart rainwater harvesting system. The rainwater harvesting efficiency was calculated under three different melon cultivation scenarios. After cultivation, the quality of the fruits grown with rainwater and groundwater was compared by examining the weight, degree of sweetness, and flesh hardness of the products. The results revealed that the water quality of the smart rainwater harvesting device was suitable for melon cultivation to provide better hardness and chloride levels than groundwater. It was also estimated that about 40% of the total water demand for full growth of the melon could be supplied by rainwater. The fruit weight and sweetness were equivalent or slightly better for the melons cultivated with rainwater than those cultivated with groundwater. In particular, the flesh hardness was significantly improved by rainwater cultivation. These results collectively suggest that rainwater can be used as a substitute for groundwater to preserve groundwater resources without compromizing the produced fruit quality.


Keywords: groundwater conservation, rain water reuse, smart farming

This Article

  • 2023; 28(5): 51-58

    Published on Oct 31, 2023

  • 10.7857/JSGE.2023.28.5.051
  • Received on Sep 18, 2023
  • Revised on Oct 7, 2023
  • Accepted on Oct 18, 2023

Correspondence to

  • KyuHoi Lee 2·Young-Soo Han 1

  • 1Department of Environmental Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
    2Watermelon Research Institute, Chungcheongbuk-do Agricultural Research, Eumsung, Chungcheongbok-do 27668, Korea

  • E-mail: lkh79@korea.kr, hanyoungsoo@cnu.ac.kr