Smart Monitoring of Soil Salinity and Water Content for Water Management of a Tomato Crop Field

Good assessment of soil water content and salinity is required for sustainable use of brackish/saline water for irrigation. The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been initiated for tomato crop (Savera variety) as part of the PRIMA MEDITOMATO project. An experiment was carried out between February and June (2022) at a farmer’s site. Over the entire growth stage of tomatoes, soil water content and salinity were assessed by five TEROS 11/12 probes implemented at depths of 0, 10, 20 and 30 cm. Data logging process was performed by ZL6 device and delivered by ZENTRA Cloud web application. The results of this study showed that soil water content remained close to its status at field capacity (32%) at the beginning of assessment and increased with the intensification of irrigations reaching 46% and 54% at 20 and 30 cm, respectively, around mid-April. Salinity level was greater with depth. Indeed, it decreased in top soil with the intensification of irrigation and increased at 20 and 30 cm toward the end of the tomato cycle. According to this investigation, real-time data given by ZENTRA Cloud allow us to adjust irrigation management in time.