Research Article
Open Access
Development of an Intelligent Fertigation Machine and Its Application Test in Soilless Cultivation of Mountain Blueberry
1
GourmetMore (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100081, China
* Corresponding Author:
Chunxiang Yang,
[email protected]
Volume 2, Issue 4
2026
Received: 22 July 2026
Revised: 31 August 2026
Accepted: 15 September 2026
Published: 09 November 2026
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Article Information
Abstract
Conventional manual fertigation practices are generally limited by low control precision, considerable water and fertilizer waste, and poor adaptability to varied horticultural cultivation conditions. These limitations create particularly prominent challenges for high-value cash crops that are highly sensitive to root-zone substrate electrical conductivity (EC) and pH dynamics. To address these gaps, this study developed a digitally intelligent integrated fertigation system that integrates multi-sensor autonomous sensing, precise nutrient ratio regulation, and full-cycle operational monitoring modules. Systematic validation of both equipment performance and field production benefits was carried out via field plot experiments under typical mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation conditions. The test results showed that the developed fertigation system achieved a control uniformity of 95.28% for EC and 95.07% for pH. Under the prerequisite of identical total irrigation volume and total nutrient supply across the whole growing season, the precise control mode (PCM) of the proposed intelligent fertigation system exhibited significantly higher water use efficiency (WUE) and partial factor productivity of fertilizer (PFP) than the conventional simple fertigation management mode (SFM). Meanwhile, the unit-area yield of blueberries in the PCM treatment increased by 20.1%, and the commercial uniformity of individual fruit weight was significantly improved. This fully validated system can well meet the intelligent production requirements of mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation and provides a viable technical solution to support the intelligent upgrading of local soilless blueberry industries in Southwest China.
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
intelligent fertigation machine
water-fertilizer integration
mountain blueberry
soilless cultivation
equipment performance evaluation
Data Availability Statement
Data will be made available on request.
Funding
This work was supported without any funding.
Conflicts of Interest
Chunxiang Yang is affiliated with the GourmetMore (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100081, China. The author declares that this affiliation had no influence on the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or the decision to publish, and that no other competing interests exist.
AI Use Statement
The author declares that no generative AI was used in the preparation of this manuscript.
Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
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APA Style
Yang, C. (2026). Development of an Intelligent Fertigation Machine and Its Application Test in Soilless Cultivation of Mountain Blueberry. Digital Intelligence in Agriculture, 2(4), 203-213. https://doi.org/10.62762/DIA.2026.142287
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TY - JOUR AU - Yang, Chunxiang PY - 2026 DA - 2026/11/09 TI - Development of an Intelligent Fertigation Machine and Its Application Test in Soilless Cultivation of Mountain Blueberry JO - Digital Intelligence in Agriculture T2 - Digital Intelligence in Agriculture JF - Digital Intelligence in Agriculture VL - 2 IS - 4 SP - 203 EP - 213 DO - 10.62762/DIA.2026.142287 UR - https://www.icck.org/article/abs/dia.2026.142287 KW - intelligent fertigation machine KW - water-fertilizer integration KW - mountain blueberry KW - soilless cultivation KW - equipment performance evaluation AB - Conventional manual fertigation practices are generally limited by low control precision, considerable water and fertilizer waste, and poor adaptability to varied horticultural cultivation conditions. These limitations create particularly prominent challenges for high-value cash crops that are highly sensitive to root-zone substrate electrical conductivity (EC) and pH dynamics. To address these gaps, this study developed a digitally intelligent integrated fertigation system that integrates multi-sensor autonomous sensing, precise nutrient ratio regulation, and full-cycle operational monitoring modules. Systematic validation of both equipment performance and field production benefits was carried out via field plot experiments under typical mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation conditions. The test results showed that the developed fertigation system achieved a control uniformity of 95.28% for EC and 95.07% for pH. Under the prerequisite of identical total irrigation volume and total nutrient supply across the whole growing season, the precise control mode (PCM) of the proposed intelligent fertigation system exhibited significantly higher water use efficiency (WUE) and partial factor productivity of fertilizer (PFP) than the conventional simple fertigation management mode (SFM). Meanwhile, the unit-area yield of blueberries in the PCM treatment increased by 20.1%, and the commercial uniformity of individual fruit weight was significantly improved. This fully validated system can well meet the intelligent production requirements of mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation and provides a viable technical solution to support the intelligent upgrading of local soilless blueberry industries in Southwest China. SN - 3069-3187 PB - Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge LA - English ER -
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@article{Yang2026Developmen,
author = {Chunxiang Yang},
title = {Development of an Intelligent Fertigation Machine and Its Application Test in Soilless Cultivation of Mountain Blueberry},
journal = {Digital Intelligence in Agriculture},
year = {2026},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
pages = {203-213},
doi = {10.62762/DIA.2026.142287},
url = {https://www.icck.org/article/abs/dia.2026.142287},
abstract = {Conventional manual fertigation practices are generally limited by low control precision, considerable water and fertilizer waste, and poor adaptability to varied horticultural cultivation conditions. These limitations create particularly prominent challenges for high-value cash crops that are highly sensitive to root-zone substrate electrical conductivity (EC) and pH dynamics. To address these gaps, this study developed a digitally intelligent integrated fertigation system that integrates multi-sensor autonomous sensing, precise nutrient ratio regulation, and full-cycle operational monitoring modules. Systematic validation of both equipment performance and field production benefits was carried out via field plot experiments under typical mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation conditions. The test results showed that the developed fertigation system achieved a control uniformity of 95.28\% for EC and 95.07\% for pH. Under the prerequisite of identical total irrigation volume and total nutrient supply across the whole growing season, the precise control mode (PCM) of the proposed intelligent fertigation system exhibited significantly higher water use efficiency (WUE) and partial factor productivity of fertilizer (PFP) than the conventional simple fertigation management mode (SFM). Meanwhile, the unit-area yield of blueberries in the PCM treatment increased by 20.1\%, and the commercial uniformity of individual fruit weight was significantly improved. This fully validated system can well meet the intelligent production requirements of mountainous soilless blueberry cultivation and provides a viable technical solution to support the intelligent upgrading of local soilless blueberry industries in Southwest China.},
keywords = {intelligent fertigation machine, water-fertilizer integration, mountain blueberry, soilless cultivation, equipment performance evaluation},
issn = {3069-3187},
publisher = {Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge}
}
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