UTILIZATION OF SOLAR ENERGY IN GREENHOUSE HEATING DURING WINTER SEASON IN EGYPT

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MSc Stud., Ag. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., Benha U., Egypt.

2 Prof., Ag. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., Benha U., Egypt.

3 Assoc. Prof., Ag. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., Benha U., Egypt.

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to investigate the utilization of solar energy as a renewable energy source and compared to the traditional energy in greenhouses heating during winter season. To achieve that study, the effect of two different heating systems (Traditional heating (G1) and solar heating (G2)) on the cucumber growth parameters during growth period and cucumber fruit characteristics and total yield were investigated. Temperature and relative humidity during the growth season were recorded. The obtained results indicated that the indoor air temperatures ranged from 18.78 to 25.29 and 18.00 to 25.15 ᵒC for G1 and G2, respectively, whereas the outdoor air temperature ranged from 11.00 to 21.66 ᵒC. The temperatures were added by using electrical (G1) and solar energy (G2) for greenhouse heating ranged from 1.5 to 9.3 and 0.85 to 7.78 ᵒC, respectively, during experimental period. The indoor relative humidity ranged from 63.33 to 88.67 and 70.93 to 93.94 % for G1 and G2, respectively, whereas the outdoor air relative humidity ranged from 45.93 to 92.73 %. The plant length, stem diameter and total leaf area values for cucumber grown in G1 were higher than those of the plant growth in G2. The fruit length was 24.79 and 19.44 cm for G1 and G2, respectively. The fruit diameters were 3.36 and 3.19 cm for G1 and G2, respectively. The results also indicate that the fruit weight and number of fruits per plant were 115.07 and 108.73 g and 19 and 17 for G1 and G2, respectively. The total yield values of cucumber were 182.09 and 152.92 kg for G1 and G2, respectively, during growth period.

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References

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