Pulsating Air Pollinator for Greenhouse Cultivation

Abstract

Greenhouses have been accepted worldwide for round-the-year cultivation of quality produce. Greenhouse provides a desired climatic condition for crops but, at the same time, has obstacles for natural pollination. A pollinator was designed on the principle of pulsating air jet for pollination. The pollinator was developed with 3D printed three pulsation units with a provision for varied air pulsation frequency and angular movement to cover the complete flower bed. An operator in the greenhouse alleys can easily move this. The developed pollinator was compared with hand pollination and pollination by a blower in tomato crops. The effects of Airflow rates, Pulsation frequencies of air and Exposure times on pollination efficiency and yield were studied. Experiments were performed in tomato plants cultivated in the greenhouse. The highest pollination efficiency (83.66%) was achieved at 1.99 m3/min airflow rate, 23.50 Hz pulsation frequency and exposure time of 19.40 seconds; Average yield of 19.52 kg was observed at 1.99 m3/min of airflow rate, 22.25 Hz of pulsation frequency and exposure time of 15.78 seconds in flowers of 5 m length sections. The yield was also higher with developed pollinator compared to pollination by a blower (36.6%) and controlled plot (95.7%).