Cooling Effect and Water Saving Capacity of Thermoelectric Cooler Applied to Vertical-Modular Hydroponics Crop Production

Climate change and erratic weather conditions in the lowland tropical areas are continuously changing and affecting farming systems and practices, farmer's income, and produce. This created a challenge and demand for automated agricultural technologies and systems that will enable to attain agriculture sustainability (Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 11, 12 &13) and food security (SDG 2). Rootzone cooling technologies (RZCT) are often introduced and practiced in other temperate countries and areas, but not in lowland tropical conditions in the Philippines hence, very new applications and information on RZCT applied to recirculating nutrient systems for crop production are available. Also, this is a targeted approach of designing a system that is low-cost, available in the local market, and easily-manage-operate and adopted by farmers and their households that uses thermoelectric cooler (TEC) to augment the effects of high temperature and relative humidity stresses in crop production (SDG 12 and 13) in lowland tropical condition. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of the application of TEC as RZCT applied to intensified-vertical-modular hydroponics (IVMH) crop production. Specifically, to determine the systems' cooling effects during crop production, and determine the water-saving capacity of the system. The results of the performance of the treatments T1 (with RZCT using TEC system) and T2 (without RZCT) were analyzed using T-test. The TEC applied as RZCT cooling effect had an average of 7°C. Treatment 1 had a higher yield performance of 62.0grams than Treatment 2 with 50.0grams. All growth parameters of Treatment 1, including plant length, leaf width, and length showed a significant difference over Treatment 2. Treatment 1 has a total water-saving capacity of 2.50 liters compared to Treatment 2. The application of the TEC as RZCT to recirculating nutrient solution significantly had significant cooling effects and consumed less water thus, having higher water-saving capacity.