Practical application of an intelligent irrigation system to rice paddies in Taiwan

Plant growth depends on a number of conditions, including moisture, sunlight, air and temperature. Particularly, soil moisture is critical for plant survival. Recently, climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather events, and the influence of topography, uneven spatial and temporal rainfall distribution and extreme climate has affected food security and irrigation water allocation in Taiwan, and the utilisation of water resources is often limited. Taiwan has been increasingly experiencing droughts and water shortages. Hence, the use of technology to efficiently and conveniently manage water resources has received increasing attention. Herein, an intelligent irrigation system for rice paddies based on the Internet of Things was developed that combines monitoring, automatic control and cloud-based systems to optimise the efficiency and reduce the workload the farmers and perform remote or automated irrigation operations to improve irrigation efficiency. The systems are particularly useful in the regions of Taiwan that are facing agricultural population aging. After 4 years of field operation, the intelligent irrigation system effectively saved water when combined with appropriate irrigation strategies. The water-saving rates in the dry and wet seasons were ∼2.9–6.5% and 8.8–19.3%, respectively and the yield and other agronomic traits remained unaffected.