Low-Cost Microcontroller-Enabled Embedded System for Assessing Jute Retting Water Quality Parameter

Quality of jute fiber depends to a very great extent on the quality of water used for retting. Efficient assessment of water quality is crucial to enable decision-makers to interpret this information and execute necessary management practices. Hence, the present study introduced a microcontroller-based embedded system to measure temperature, pH, turbidity, and TDS of retting water. The developed system mainly encompasses temperature sensor, pH sensor, turbidity sensor, TDS sensor, Arduino ATmega 2560 microcontroller, MicroSD card module, and LCD. Field validation established a non-significant difference between actual and measured values of temperature (<i>F</i>_<i>42,1</i><i> = 1.052, p = .480</i>), pH (<i>F</i>_<i>42,1</i><i> = 1.116, p = .297</i>), Turbidity (<i>F</i>_<i>42,1</i><i> = 0.084, p = .774</i>), and TDS (<i>F</i>_<i>42,1</i><i> = 0.116, p = .992</i>) at 95% level of significance. Developed embedded system was also provided with two LEDs, i.e. green for “In progress” and red for “completed”, and a buzzer to alert a person about the status of the retting of jute plants. Developed embedded system is easy-to-build, easy-to-use, and cost effective (US $147.3) for determination of water quality parameter as well as end-point of retting which may be helpful for research and academic purpose. This development may also render an avenue for controlled retting of jute which may help farmers to produce high-quality fibers.