Responses of sweet basil to varied daily light integrals in germination, yield, and morphology within a plant factory
Denham, Kieran (2021)
Denham, Kieran
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202105046903
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202105046903
Tiivistelmä
Vertical farming is an unconventional agricultural practice that brings fresh food production into the urban environment. Controlled greenhouse style environments fitted with artificial lighting, with the added feature of vertically stacked layers, provide the ideal architecture for fast and efficient plant growth. Stable climate and light conditions provide reliable output for the farmer, the drawback is often the high electrical demand and advanced technology that is required to make the system efficiently viable.
The objective of this work is to study the function and theory behind the artificial irradiance and physical environmental factors that affect sweet basil growth (Ocimum Basilicum L.) inside a Closed Plant Production System / Plant Factory. This provides insight into responsive variation of the crop that can then be utilized to inform better operation of such an existing Plant Factory.
The methodology follows the growth of 23 pot sown sweet basil plants by manual measurement of whole plant leaf areas, fresh weights, dry weights, heights, and photosynthetic active radiation levels at 33-days growth period as exposed to varied levels of irradiance (PPFD). The collected data was regressed against functional plant characteristics such as leaf area index, fraction light interception, leaf area ratio, and daily light integrals.
The results in this report showed that insufficient light levels caused stunted growth in selected samples. With the combination of comparatively high light levels in other samples, high variation in growth rates across all samples could be seen. Linear relationships between leaf area index and fresh weight, leaf area index and dry weight, and leaf area index and height were clear through manual measurements. Lower range light treatment and higher range light treatment during the germination period did not satisfy plant growth requirements.
The objective of this work is to study the function and theory behind the artificial irradiance and physical environmental factors that affect sweet basil growth (Ocimum Basilicum L.) inside a Closed Plant Production System / Plant Factory. This provides insight into responsive variation of the crop that can then be utilized to inform better operation of such an existing Plant Factory.
The methodology follows the growth of 23 pot sown sweet basil plants by manual measurement of whole plant leaf areas, fresh weights, dry weights, heights, and photosynthetic active radiation levels at 33-days growth period as exposed to varied levels of irradiance (PPFD). The collected data was regressed against functional plant characteristics such as leaf area index, fraction light interception, leaf area ratio, and daily light integrals.
The results in this report showed that insufficient light levels caused stunted growth in selected samples. With the combination of comparatively high light levels in other samples, high variation in growth rates across all samples could be seen. Linear relationships between leaf area index and fresh weight, leaf area index and dry weight, and leaf area index and height were clear through manual measurements. Lower range light treatment and higher range light treatment during the germination period did not satisfy plant growth requirements.