Enhancing sustainable agriculture through optimized polyculture hydroponic operating strategies

Abstract

This study develops an optimization framework to determine optimal operating strategies in monoculture and polyculture hydroponic systems considering uncertainty and disturbances. A key novelty of this work is the development of a polyculture hydroponic model incorporating interspecies nutrient interactions and dynamic environmental factors into the optimization problem, offering insights for system management and sustainability. A mechanistic nutrient uptake and growth model captures system dynamics and improves resource efficiency while accounting for parameter uncertainty and external disturbances to enhance system resilience. A case study of hydroponic polyculture soybean and tomato plants demonstrates the benefits of this approach. Results show that hydroponic systems increase yield by over 60% compared to traditional farming. Compared to monoculture hydroponics, polyculture methods reduce nitrogen consumption by 40% and increase annual profit by 3.91% per kilogram of fruit. These findings highlight the importance of nitrogen supply management and demonstrate how computational optimization can advance sustainable agriculture.