Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
888 N EUCLID AVE
TUCSON,AZ 85719-4824
Performing Department
PLANT SCIENCE
Non Technical Summary
To support the International Controlled Environment Meeting held in Brisbane, Australia, from March 14th to 17th, 2004, a conference support was proposed. The approved fund was utilized, as stated in the objective statement, to provide partial support to NCR-101 invited speakers and junior faculty.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Controlled environment chambers have been utilized as a tool to manipulate plant growth and development and to examine plant physiological responses to environmental stress. Controlled-environment technologies are traditionally utilized to examine plant physiological responses to various, natural and artificially imposed environmental factors. Across the globe, the use of controlled environments for plant production is increasing and the variety and complexity of applications is expanding. This requires continuous updating of guidelines for the proper use of controlled environments, including proper reporting of parameters such as light quantity and quality, temperature, humidity, and gas composition. Recent developments in genetic engineering and advances in molecular understanding of plant physiology and plant biochemistry are significant. However, researchers in such areas tend to ignore the complexity of controlling environmental factors and potentially confounding
observations of phenotypic and genetic expression that occur under environments designed without adequate knowledge of control processes. Therefore the roles of controlled-environment technologies in future developments in plant science, plant genetics and molecular biology--and therefore agricultural and horticultural applications--are critical and will be the foci of the conference. The mission of the International Controlled Environment Meeting (Brisbane, Australia; March 14 -17, 2004) is to exchange information on advancing technologies and to explore the capacity and proper applications of controlled environments. The conference also emphasizes the importance of controlled-environment technology for future developments in plant sciences. The conference is organized through international and multi-organizational efforts of three groups: the Australian Controlled Environment Working Group (ACEWG), the UK Controlled Environment Users Group, and the United States NCR-101 Committee on
Controlled Environment Technology and Use, to develop global understanding and information exchange of controlled-environment technology and its applications. The objective of the proposed grant was to provide partial support to the NCR-101 invited speakers and junior faculty attending the meeting in Brisbane, Australia.
Project Methods
This conference support will be used to provide a partial support for the travel expenses of NCR-101 invited speakers and junior faculty who attended the International Controlled Environment Meeting (March 14 -17, 2004). The meeting was successfully held with approximately 90 participants from 6 different countries (Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada, UK, and Japan). During the 3-day conference, technical sessions were held with 37 oral presentations, 10 poster presentations, and one discussion forum. Other outcomes include publishing a minimum guideline of measurement and reporting of environmental conditions to be distributed among numerous institutions.