Source: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA submitted to
COMMERCIAL GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION: COMPONENT AND SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0202123
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
ARZT-1371260-R22-119
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NE-1035
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2008
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2013
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Kacira, MU.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
888 N EUCLID AVE
TUCSON,AZ 85719-4824
Performing Department
Agri & Biosystems Engineering
Non Technical Summary
Greenhouse crop production is resource intensive. Major inputs in production are energy, water and labor. However, greenhouse production enables higher production efficiency (yield per resource input), environmentally friendly and high productive agricultural practice for food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical applications. Traditional agricultural methods are slowly being replaced by more water and energy efficient techniques. Controlled environment crop production requires multidisciplinary approach including engineering, plant sciences, economics etc. to provide sustainable solutions to the problems. Greenhouse microclimate is complex, thus better understating of plant needs/responses to their surrounding environment is needed. This project focuses on the major aspects of developing procedures for optimal and efficient use of resources, and provide high yield, nutritious and high quality crop production.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1111499202010%
4021499202020%
4041499202010%
2031460102010%
2031499102010%
4011460102010%
4012410102010%
4011499102010%
2032410102010%
Knowledge Area
401 - Structures, Facilities, and General Purpose Farm Supplies; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 203 - Plant Biological Efficiency and Abiotic Stresses Affecting Plants; 404 - Instrumentation and Control Systems; 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 1460 - Tomato; 2410 - Cross-commodity research--multiple crops;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 1020 - Physiology;
Goals / Objectives
Evaluate biomass derived fuels for greenhouse heating Develop decision support systems for alternative fuel heating systems Develop protocols for irrigation that maximize water use efficiency while maintaining crop growth and quality Develop irrigation protocols and filtration or sterilization methods for nutrient solution recirculation that minimize the effects of pathogens or toxic metabolites Improve volumetric water content sensor efficacy Improve sensor control of the greenhouse aerial environment (light, carbon dioxide, temperature, and moisture) Develop greenhouse design and management protocols to maintain high nutrition values of vegetable crops grown under various environments Develop greenhouse design and management protocols to maximize production of beneficial compounds such as phytochemicals and biopharmaceuticals To continue our efforts to use CFD techniques to evaluate greenhouse natural ventilation systems Continue efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of greenhouse fog cooling systems Improve control strategies as an alternative to existing vent control systems
Project Methods
The research to compliment the objectives listed in the project will be conducted in state-of-art research greenhouse facilities located in the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center on the University of Arizona Campus (UA-CEAC). The UA-CEAC works very closely with the greenhouse industry, thus research conducted at the UA-CEAC will help provide application oriented results for all related greenhouse industry and stakeholders. Traditional agricultural methods are slowly being replaced by more water and energy efficient techniques. One such method is the floating hydroponics technique which will be designed, build and evaluated for production of leafy crops. In this system, plants float on a body of water and completely cover the surface. With such a layout, it is possible to limit water loss to the amounts which is transpired by the plants. Along with automated and precision control of the root and aerial environment of the plants, this alternative production systems may possibly make desert based agriculture sustainable on a longer term basis. AZ will optimize high value protein production using controlled environment agriculture technologies in greenhouses and also indoor production facilities. Seasonal, environmental, and nutrient solution composition effects on plant metabolites. Also, Arizona will focus on developing greenhouse design and management protocols to maximize production of beneficial compounds such as phytochemicals and biopharmaceuticals. The ventilation process is critical for cooling and for reducing humidity levels within the greenhouse. Today's advanced greenhouse industry is developing into sustainable crop production systems with reduced energy consumption, and higher crop yields and quality. Direct measurements of air velocity, air exchange rates, and airflow patterns are difficult and expensive. Thus, indirect methods have been used as alternatives such as energy balance models, tracer gas methods, and wind−buoyancy effect numerical models. Compared to these indirect methods, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique is a faster, more cost effective and more flexible way for researchers to study the effects of different boundary conditions (given as environmental conditions) on airflow patterns, on temperature distributions inside and outside the greenhouse, and on air exchange rates. AZ will continue efforts on using computational analysis with CFD technique to analyze ventilation process in greenhouses. There has not been an adequate evaluation of the effects of fog cooling combined with natural ventilation on the greenhouse microclimate and dynamic plant responses to the changes in the greenhouse environment. AZ will conduct greenhouse experiments to evaluate the effect of fogging on cooling and also develop control strategies for control of fogging and natural ventilation. This research will involve both greenhouse experiments and analysis of greenhouse energy balance with theoretical model development. Then, the research results will be used for developing strategies to control natural ventilation and fogging events.

Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience include commercial greenhouse growers, educators, researchers andindustry. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Some of the research activities and outcomes were demonstrated to growers, educators, researchers and general public during the Annual Short Courses on Greenhouse Hydroponics and Engineering as part of UA-CEAC short course programs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Some of the research activities and outcomes were demonstrated to growers, educators, researchers and general public during the Annual Short Courses on Greenhouse Hydroponics and Engineering as part of UA-CEAC short course programs. Research results were published in scientific journals, presented as oral and poster presentations during scientific meetings and conferences. Extension and outreach publications were developed and published. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 6. Improve sensor control of the greenhouse aerial environment (light, carbon dioxide, temperature, and moisture). We worked on physical characterization of a new substrate (foam glass, a highly porous substrate) for automated irrigation management using microtensiometers (MT) to trigger irrigation cycles. The developed sensor showed promise for its accuracy and use in automated irrigation applications with the new substrate (Lopez et al., 2008). The analysis of the efficacy of the sensor to monitor moisture content was completed, but no further development was established beyond the laboratory. We designed and developed a machine vision guided system for plant health and growth monitoring to autonomously monitor and extract color, vegetative Index (NDVI), thermal, plant morphology. and temporal changes of plant canopy. The system was first used to detect lettuce tipburn and it was shown that with color, textural and temporal features it was possible to detect the occurrence one day prior to the visual detection. The system capability was evaluated to determine a water stress locality over a lettuce canopy growing in a NFT system for early stress detection. The system was able to indicate the stress locality and occurrence before visual stress symptoms were detected. 7. Develop greenhouse design and management protocols to maintain high nutrition values of vegetable crops grown under various environments. We evaluated using UV-A, blue, green, red, and far-red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and their effects of different supplemental light qualities on phytochemicals and growth of ‘Red Cross’ baby leaf lettuce grown at a high planting density under white fluorescent lamps. Anthocyanins concentration increased with supplemental UV-A and blue respectively, carotenoids concentration increased with supplemental blue, phenolics concentration increased with supplemental red while supplemental far red decreased anthocyanins, carotenoids and chlorophyll concentration, compared to those under in the white light control. Fresh weight, dry weight, stem length, leaf length and leaf width significantly increased with supplemental far red light compare to white light, presumably due to enhanced light interception by enlarged leaf area under supplemental far red light. Although the mechanisms of changes in phytochemicals under different supplemental light quality are not well known, the results demonstrated that supplemental light quality could be used to enhance nutritional value and growth of baby leaf lettuce grown under white light. 8. Develop greenhouse design and management protocols to maximize production of beneficial compounds such as phytochemicals and biopharmaceuticals. Durinta’ tomato were grown hydroponically in greenhouses to assess seasonal and postharvest changes of selected quality attributes including lycopene and total soluble solids (TSS, % brix) concentrations in fruit when grown under varied electrical conductivity (EC) in the nutrient solution. Out of 53 harvest weeks (December 05 – December 06), 45 weeks were subject to fruit quality analyses at harvest and three weeks were subject to postharvest quality analyses. Lycopene concentration and TSS showed seasonal differences with larger variation in lycopene, but the high EC treatment induced an overall average of 18% greater lycopene concentration and a 20% greater TSS. The regression analyses indicated that efflux solution EC (EEC) was the most influential factor for both lycopene and TSS concentrations, but secondary influential factors were greenhouse temperature for lycopene and daily light integral for TSS. Postharvest storage test showed that selected fruit quality attributes (lycopene, TSS, ascorbic acid and total phenolics) changed minimally or not at all for 10 days when stored at 12°C, a widely recommended tomato postharvest storage temperature. Overall, we consider that producing lycopene rich tomato by controlling EC of nutrient solution was feasible during year-round greenhouse production using a high-wire rockwool culture system. 10. Continue our efforts to use CFD techniques to evaluate greenhouse natural ventilation systems. We developed and validated a 3D computational fluid dynamics model comparing simulation results with experimental data obtained from fog cooling research. The model included turbulence, solar radiation, crop evapotranspiration and discrete phase change models. Incorporating the crop existence in CFD model, not only was greenhouse environment characterized more realistically, but also, the physics-based physiological processes of plant were also modeled. We used a 24 full-factorial design to determine effects on climate uniformity produced by four factors: position of the side vent, position of the vertical sprayer nozzles, position of the horizontal sprayer nozzles, and angle of the nozzle. We concluded that “horizontal nozzle position” was the most significant factor for climate uniformity, while the least significant factor among those evaluated was “side vent opening.” 11. Continue efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of greenhouse fog cooling systems. We developed a new control strategy for a naturally vented greenhouse equipped with variable high pressure fogging system. The strategy controlled the amount of fog introduced into the greenhouse, as well as the percentage of vent openings to maintain desired values of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and enthalpy, respectively, which would consequently affect air temperature. The performance was compared to constant fogging rate strategy, which was based on VPD. On average, the new strategy saved 36% water and consumed 30% less electric energy. It was demonstrated by simulations that dynamically varying the fog rate and properly selecting the number of nozzles, savings of water and electric energy were increased, while still maintaining acceptable VPD and temperature. Impact Statements : We determined and demonstrated the use of LED lighting with UV-A, blue, green, red, and far-red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and their effects of different supplemental light qualities on phytochemicals and growth of baby leaf lettuce. The results showed supplemental light quality could be used to enhance nutritional value and growth of baby leaf lettuce grown under white light. We developed a multivariable, multi camera based machine vision system to monitor crop growth/health in realtime for early crop stress and stress locality identification in greenhouse. The system was able to indicate lettuce tipburn and water stress occurrences prior to visual stress detections. The system demonstrated promising applicability for crop color, textural, morphological and temperature based plant phenotyping applications. We developed a comprehensive CFD model including a turbulence, solar radiation, crop evapotranspiration, discrete phase change models. The model helps CFD modelers for greenhouse aerodynamics analysis with a more detailed and comprehensive analysis, and enables not only the greenhouse environment characterization more realistically, but also, the physics-based physiological processes of the plant (photosynthesis, transpiration) are modeled more accurately. We developed a new control strategy for a naturally vented greenhouse equipped with variable high pressure fogging system. The strategy enables controlling the amount of fog introduced into the greenhouse, as well as the percentage of vent openings to maintain desired climate for the crop canopy. The variable pressure and vent control strategy, when compared to fixed pressure and vent control strategy, saved 36% water and consumed 30% less electric energy while maintaining desired condition in the greenhouse. The multistate project also helped UA researchers to work on several extension articles for irrigation and greenhouse cooling to disseminate information for growers.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Giacomelli, G.A., 2009. Engineering Principles Impacting High Tunnel Environments. HortTechnology 19(1):1-4.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Linker, R., M. Kacira, A. Arbel. 2011. Robust climate control of a greenhouse equipped with variable-speed fans and a variable-pressure fogging system. Biosystems Engineering, 110(2): 153-167.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Sabeh, N.C. G. Giacomelli, C. Kubota. 2011. Water use in a greenhouse in a semi-arid climate. Trans. ASABE, 54(3): 1069-1077.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Striemer, G.M., D. L. Story, A. Akoglu and M. Kacira. 2011. A Node and Network Level Self-Recovering Distributed Wireless Sensor Architecture for Real-Time Crop Monitoring in Greenhouses. Transactions of ASABE, 54(4): 1521-1527
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Yang, Z. C, C. Kubota, P. L. Chia, M. Kacira. 2012. Effect of end-of-day far-red light from a movable LED fixture on squash rootstock hypocotyl elongation. Scientia Horticulturae, 136: 81-86.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Crane, T.C., C. Kubota, J. L. West, M.A. Kroggel, B.C. Wertheim, and C.A. Thomson. 2011. Increasing the vegetable intake dose is associated with a rise in plasma carotenoids without modifying oxidative stress or inflammation in overweight or obese postmenopausal women. Journal of Nutrition, 141: 1827-1833.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Sase, S., M. Kacira, T. Boulard, L. Okushima. 2012. Determination of porosity parameters for tomato canopy: An experimental study in a wind tunnel. Transactions of the ASABE. 55(5): 1921-1927.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Bartzanas, T., M. Kacira, H. Zhu, S. Karmakar, E. Tamimi, N. Katsoulas, I. Lee, C. Kittas. 2012. Computational fluid dynamics applications to improve crop production systems. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Vol. 93: 151-167
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Boscheri, G., M. Kacira, L. Patterson, G. Giacomelli, P. Sadler, R. Furfaro, C. Lobascio, M. Lamantea, L. Grizzaffi. 2012. Modified energy cascade model adapted for a multicrop lunar greenhouse prototype. Advances in Space Research, 50: 941-951
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Villarreal-Guerrero, F., M. Kacira, E. Fitz-Rodr�guez, R. Linker, C. Kubota, G.A. Giacomelli, A. Arbel. 2012. Simulated performance of a greenhouse cooling control strategy with natural ventilation and fog cooling. Biosystems Engineering, 111: 217-228.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Villarreal-Guerrero, F., M. Kacira, E. Fitz-Rodr�guez, C. Kubota, G.A. Giacomelli, R. Linker, A. Arbel. 2012. Comparison of three evapotranspiration models for a greenhouse cooling strategy with natural ventilation and variable high pressure fogging. Scientia Horticulturae, 134: 210-221
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Tamimi, E., M. Kacira, C. Choi, and L. An. 2013. Analysis of climate uniformity in a naturally ventilated greenhouse equipped with high pressure fogging system. Transactions of ASABE, Vol. 56(3): 1241-1254
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Villarreal-Guerrero, F., M. Kacira, E. Fitz-Rodr�guez, R. Linker, G. A. Giacomelli, A. Arbel, C. Kubota. 2013. Implementation of a greenhouse cooling strategy with natural ventilation and variable fogging rates. Transactions of ASABE. Vol. 56(1): 295-304.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Sadler, P., G. Giacomelli, , L. Patterson, M. Kacira, R. Furfaro, C. Lobascio, G. Boscheri, M. Lamantea, L. Grizzaffi, S. Rossignoli, M. Prirolli, and S. DePascale. 2011. Bio-regenerative life support systems for space surface applications. Proc. of 41th Int. Conf. on Environmental Systems: Towards Permanent Lunar Habitation: The Journey Continues. Paper No: AIAA-2011-5133.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Villarreal-Guerrero, F., M. Kacira, E. Fitz-Rodriguez, G. Giacomelli, C. Kubota, R. Linker, and A. Arbel . 2012. Simulation of fixed and variable pressure fogging in naturally ventilated greenhouse, water and energy savings and stability of climate. ActaHorticulturae, 952: 37-44.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Fitz-Rodr�guez, E., M. Kacira, F. Villarreal-Guerrero, G.A. Giacomelli, R. Linker, C. Kubota, A. Arbel. 2012. Neural network predictive control in a naturally ventilated and fog cooled greenhouse. ActaHorticulturae,952: 45-52.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Patterson, R. L., G.A. Giacomelli, M. Kacira, P.D. Sadler, R.M. Wheeler, , and. 2012. Description, operation and production of the South Pole food growth chamber. ActaHorticulturae, 952:589-596
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Baeza, E., J. P. Parra, J. C. L�pez, J. C. G�zquez, M. Kacira, J. I. Montero. 2011. Validation of CFD simulations for three dimensional temperature distributions of a naturally ventilated multispan greenhouse obtained by wind tunnel measurements. ActaHorticulturae, 893: 571-579.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Fitz-Rodr�guez, E., J. Nelkin and C. Kubota. 2011. Use of disposable film sensor for analyzing uniformity of daily light integral inside a greenhouse. Acta Horticulture 893:517-524.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Kubota, C., P. Chia, Z. Yang, and Q. Li. 2011. Applications of far-red light emitting diodes in plant production under controlled environments. Acta Horticulturae 952:59-66
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Kroggel, M., W. Lovichit, C. Kubota, and C. Thomson. 2012. Greenhouse baby leaf production in semi-arid climate: seasonal effects on yield and quality. Acta Horticulturae, 952:827-834.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Kubota, C. 2011. Environmental control technologies to improve greenhouse product quality. Acta Horticulturae 952:843-851.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Story, D., M. Kacira, C. Kubota and A. Akoglu. 2011. Morphological and textural plant feature detection using machine vision for intelligent plant health, growth and quality monitoring. ActaHorticulturae, 893: 299-306.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Giacomelli, G., G. Boscheri, R. Furfaro, M. Kacira, C. Lobascio, L. Patterson, P. Sadler, M. Pirolli, R. Remiddi, D. Story, M. Thangavelu, M. Catalina. 2012. Bio-regenerative Life Support System Development for Lunar/Mars Habitats. 42nd Int. Conf. on Environmental Systems, July 15-19, San Diego, California.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Tamimi, E. and M. Kacira. 2012. Analysis of climate uniformity in a naturally vented greenhouse equipped with high pressure fogging system using CFD. ActaHorticulturae, 1008: 177-183.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2013 Citation: Juang, P. and M. Kacira. 2013. System dynamics of a photovoltaic integrated greenhouse. ActaHorticulturae (In Press)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2013 Citation: Story, D., M. Kacira, L. An, A. Ali and J. Y. Yoon. 2013. Automated machine vision guided plant monitoring system for greenhouse crop diagnostics. ActaHorticulturae (In Press)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2013 Citation: Villarreal-Guerrero, F., M. Kacira and J. Flores-Velazquez. 2013. Comparative performance of a greenhouse cooling strategy with natural ventilation and fogging under different outside climates. ActaHorticulturae (In Press)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Giacomelli, G.A. 2008. Greenhouse Sustainability: Whats New in Technology, and How will Controlled Environment Plant Production Technology Address Global Issues. Invited keynote lecture, 30th Annual Canada Greenhouse Conference, Toronto, Canada. October 6-9. [Invited lecture].
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Giacomelli, G.A. 2008. Controlled Environments: Plant Production Technology Addresses Global Issues. Invited lecture, TTI/Vanguard conference, Controlled Environment Food Production Systems, All Systems Green, St. Louis, MO. September 24-25. [Invited lecture].
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Giacomelli, G.A. 2008. Controlled Environments (CE): Systems to improve agricultural food production efficiency, productivity, and profitability for specialty crops. Invited presentation by Dr. Dan Cantliffe, Horticultural Sciences Department, Gainesville, FL July 25.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Kubota, C. and C.A. Thomson. 2008. Enhancing nutritional value of fresh tomato under controlled environments - A summary of collaborative research effort. International Symposium on Controlled Environment Agriculture, March 9-12, Cocoa Beach, Florida.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Matsuda, R., C. Kubota, L.M. Alvarez, J. Gamboa, and G.A. Cardineau. 2008 Biopharmaceutical production under controlled environments: photosynthetic rate, soluble protein concentration and growth of transgenic tomato plants expressing a Yersinia pestis F1-V antigen fusion protein. International Meeting on Controlled Environment Agriculture, 8-12 March, 2008, Cocoa Beach, FL.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Li, Q. and C. Kubota. 2008. Effects of supplemental light quality on growth and phytochemicals of baby leaf lettuce grown under white light. ASHS-2008, 21-24 July, Orlando, Florida.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Giacomelli, G.A., 2009. Greenhouse Controlled Environments. PMI Live 1(2):8-9. (in Italian, bimonthly publication Dicembre2009 - Gennaio 2010, Roberta Busatto, Direttore)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Both, A. J., R. Hansen, M. Kacira. 2012. Hydroponics Give Growers Control. Greenhouse Grower, May 25. http://www.greenhousegrower.com/article/27924/hydroponics-give-growers-control?browserPass=1. Accessed 05/29/2012.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Sabeh, N., C. Kubota, G.A. Giacomelli, 2008. Evaporative Cooling  Water Use for Greenhouse Environmental Control, ASHS-2008 Annual Conference, 21-24 July, Orlando, Florida.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Kacira, M. 2013. Choose The Right Greenhouse Style. Greenhouse Grower Magazine. http://www.growingproduce.com/article/32536/choose?the?right?greenhouse?style
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2008 Citation: Fitz-Rodriquez, E., 2008, Intelligent decision support system for greenhouse tomato production. PhD Dissertation University of Arizona, AZ.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Justis, Ian. 2009. Development of a Short Term Storage Technique for Grafted Muskmelon Seedlings. M.S. Thesis, Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, AZ.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Lewis, M. 2009. The Commercial Feasibility of Hydroponic Lettuce Production in the Desert Southwest. University of Arizona, AZ.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Licamele, Jason. 2009. Biomass Production and Nutrient Dynamics in an Aquaponics System. PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, AZ.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Story, D. 2009. Plant Nutrient Deficiency Detection using Automated Morphology Based Sensing in Controlled Environments. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Chia, P. 2009. End-of-day far-red light quality and dose effects on elongation of tomato rootstock seedling hypocotyls. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Villarreal- Guerrero, F. 2011. Enhanced greenhouse cooling strategy with natural ventilation and variable fogging rates. PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Patterson, R.L. 2011. Description, Operation and Production of the South Pole Food Growth Chamber. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Tamimi, E. 2012. Predicting the internal environmental conditions of greenhouse equipped with high pressure fogging using CFD. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Spalholz, H. 2013. Development of short term storage techniques for grafted vegetable seedlings. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Juang, P. 2013. System Dynamics of a Photovoltaic Integrated Greenhouse. M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Story, D. Autonomous Multi-Sensor and Web-Based Decision Support for Crop Diagnostics in Greenhouse. PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hernandez, R. 2013. Growth and development of greenhouse vegetable seedlings under supplemental LED lighting. PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ


Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Developed a machine vision guided system for plant health and growth monitoring for use in controlled environment agriculture production. A Master's thesis was completed to develop methodology using morphological, textural and temporal plant features for the automated non-contact monitoring of plant health and growth, and to evaluate the capability of the developed methodology for early detection of tipburn associated with calcium deficiency in greenhouse grown lettuce crop. The system was capable of extracting plant morphological, textural and temporal features autonomously. The methodology was capable of identifying the calcium deficient plants one day prior to the visual stress detection by human vision. The future studies will focus on multi-sensor based plant monitoring platform for plant health/quality monitoring and resource savings. State of the art controlled environment aquaponics research greenhouse was designed and engineered to recycle water and nutrients for improved resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact. A PhD dissertation was completed using Tilapia and lettuce production. An evaluation of greenhouse biofuels production of Sweet Sorghum determined resource requirements and biomass and sugar production. A control strategy was developed to maintain air temperature and VPD in a naturally ventilated greenhouse equipped with a variable high pressure fogging system. Energy, water savings and pump cycling were analyzed and compared between two control strategies working with fixed and variable high pressure fogging system, respectively. A PhD dissertation is in progress on this research. A Masters student has been on training to apply Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study greenhouse ventilation and cooling. Funding were secured through multidisciplinary and multistate project projects with a USDA SCRI grant on study of LED lighting on greenhouse seedling production in greenhouses, and with a USDA HEC grant to develop innovative teaching modules for horticultural engineering. The outputs of the above mentioned research activities were disseminated to peers and public during 10th University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Greenhouse Engineering Short Course (April 2010, Tucson, AZ), 2010 ASABE Conference (June 2010, Pittsburg, PA), NE1035 and NCERA101 Meetings (March 2010, Madison, WI). The results of the project were also disseminated to the stakeholders by publishing manuscripts in the proceedings of the conferences and peer reviewed journals. The graduate, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers have been actively involved and trained through lab instructions, experiments and participations in the short course, regional meetings and conferences. During the project period, several student groups from K-12 in Tucson, AZ visited the research greenhouses and labs where part of this ongoing project was conducted and information was disseminated during the tours. We have also participated in a middle school math and science fair in Cochise County to introduce controlled environment agriculture systems. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Kacira continued to serve as the PI of the project and led the research efforts in design/development of the floating hydroponics system for lettuce production; development of the machine vision guided plant monitoring system; strategy development for climate control in naturally ventilated greenhouse with fogging systems and CFD research. Dr. Kacira continued o actively involving in CEA CFD working group and organization of the workshops for CFD research. Dr. Gene Giacomelli and Dr. Kubota were involved in the research activities as Co-PI's of this project. Dr. Giacomelli led the research efforts on aquaponics greenhouse system, Lunar greenhouse prototype research, and the research on Sweet Sorghum as alternative crop for onsite biofuel production. Dr. Kubota led the research efforts on food for health studies and the effects of various environments on plant responses for phytochemical induction, and initiated research on LED use in greenhouse seedling production in greenhouses. In 2010 project period, 6 graduate students, 1 postdoctoral researcher, 1 visiting scientist, 5 undergraduate students were involved, educated and trained. Dr. Kubota collaborated with Drs. Carry Mitchel (Purdue), A.J. Both (Rutgers), Eric Runkle (Univ. of Michigan). Dr. Giacomelli collaborated with Drs. Markus Tuller, Pete Waller, Kevin Fitzsimmons (Univ. of Arizona). Dr. Kacira's collaborative efforts continued with Drs. Ali Akoglu, Lingling An (Univ. of Arizona). The team collaborated in the USDA HEC multistate project proposal writings and securing of grant funding with Drs. Peter Ling, Margaret McMahon, Emily Rhodes (Ohio State), A.J. Both (Rutgers). The project team also continued collaborations Dr. Rafael Linker from Technion and Dr. Avraham Arbel (ARO Volcani Center (Israel) on greenhouse ventilation research. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our targeted audience to have impact with the results of this project during the project period in 2010 included greenhouse growers, extension agents, researchers, K-20 STEM students, high school teachers and greenhouse industry. The graduate, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers were educated during the experiments and lab instructions in the project period. In addition, several student groups from K-12 in Tucson, AZ visited the research cites, technical tours were provided. Technical tours at research sites were also given to researchers, extension specialist, growers and general public during the 2010 greenhouse engineering and crop production short course in April 2010. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Interest from the public has been growing for locally grown, high quality, safer, and pesticide-free vegetable production. Currently, our research and outreach activities on various hydroponics systems and aquaponics systems draw attention from the public. The developed machine vision guided plant monitoring system capable of determining the changes in color, texture and growth pattern of lettuce crops in a floating hydroponic system for detection of calcium deficiency. We aim to improve and extend the sensing capability of the developed system in the next year. With these developments, the system can benefit to the growers to monitor crops in the controlled environment crop production systems as a part of the decision support system to improve resource use efficiency, i.e. save energy, use less labor, save water and nutrients. Research on effects of supplemental LED lighting for seedling production was initiated and the expected outcomes/impact for this research will be significant to establish guidelines and benchmark information for the use of LED lighting in greenhouses. The climate control strategy development continues in the greenhouse natural ventilation component of the project. The impact of this effort will be savings of limited water in semi-arid regions and energy, and improve the climate uniformity in the greenhouse thus advancing the crop yields with the use of natural ventilation equipped with high pressure fogging systems.Numerous articles prepared by various TV, radio news, science, economic journals, web journals, and popular press outlets about the controlled environments as a resource recycling food production systems, with focus on the Prototype Lunar Greenhouse and the South Pole Food Growth Chamber, including: National Geographic, CBS Sunday Morning, Discovery Channel, BBC, NPR, Fox News, Turkish National Newspaper, Wavelengths, New Scientist, Popular Science, NASA Astrobiology, Advances in Space Research, UA School of Engineering, TechNews Arizona, Wired (USA and Italy), EarthSky Podcast, AZ Daily Star. Invited conference and meeting presentations included the AgroSpace Workshop, Italy; Workshop on Greenhouse Crop production, Riyadh, KSA; and IA Nursery & Greenhouse CIG Meeting, Phoenix Arizona. Invited presentations included as a part of scholar in residence program in Johnson Community College in Kansas City, KA on "Engineering Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable controlled Environment Agriculture Systems" and "Improving Production Quality and Resource Use Efficiency by Plant Sensing and Monitoring." The operations support program for the NSF South Pole Station continues using telepresence techniques for monitoring and resolving plant production and hardware issues. Active involvement continued on organizations of CFD scientific presentation sessions in related conferences. Two CFD related sessions are scheduled for GreenSys 2011 (Greece) and 2012 EuroAgEng-CIGR (Spain). Active participation in ISHS CFD working group continued and the goal of the working group is help worldwide CFD users exchange information faster and led to possibilities of new international collaborations for research.

Publications

  • Story, D., M. Kacira, C. Kubota, A. Akoglu, L. An. 2010. Lettuce calcium deficiency detection with machine vision computed plant features in controlled environments. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 74 (2): 238-243.
  • E. Fitz-Rodriguez, C. Kubota, G.A. Giacomelli, M. Tignor, S.B. Wilson, M. McMahon, 2010. Dynamic modeling and simulation of greenhouse environments under several scenarios: A web-based application. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 70(1):105-116.
  • Boscheri, G., M. Kacira, L. Patterson, G. Giacomelli, P. Sadler, R. Furfaro, C. Lobascio, M. Lamantea, and L. Grizzaffi. 2010. Modified Energy Cascade Model adapted for a Multicrop Lunar Greenhouse Prototype, Journal Advances in Space Research (In Review).
  • Guerrero, F.V., M. Kacira, E. Fitz-Rodriguez, R. Linker, A. Arbel, C. Kubota, G. Giacomelli. 2010. Developing a Control Strategy for Greenhouses Equipped with Natural Ventilation and Variable Pressure Fogging: Evapotranspiration Models and Simulated Comparison of Fixed and Variable Pressure Fog Cooling. An ASABE Paper, No: 1009388.
  • Fitz-Rodriguez, M. Kacira, F.V. Guerrero, C. Kubota, G. Giacomelli R. Linker, A. Arbel. 2010. Dynamic Response and Environmental Uniformity of a Naturally Ventilated Greenhouse Cooled with a Variable-Pressure Fogging System. An ASABE Paper, No: 1009436.
  • Striemer, G.M., D. Story, A. Akoglu, M. Kacira. 2010. A Node and Network Level Self-Healing Distributed Wireless Sensor Architecture for Greenhouse Based Plant Monitoring Systems. An ASABE Paper, No: 1009468.
  • Kubota, C. and M. Kroggel. 2010. Application of 1-MCP for long distance transportation of high quality tomato seedlings. Acta Horticulturae (submitted)
  • Fitz-Rodriguez, E., J. Nelkin and C. Kubota. 2010. Use of disposable film sensor for analyzing uniformity of daily light integral inside a greenhouse. Acta Horticulture (in press)


Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: A machine vision guided system for plant health and growth monitoring for controlled environment agriculture production was designed and developed. The capability of the system has been evaluated for detection of tipburn on lettuce growing in a floating hydroponics setting. The monitoring system is capable of extracting plant morphological, textural and temporal features evaluated. An automated and remotely monitored three floating hydroponic system was designed and constructed for research. The potential sustainable management of reduced and reused water and fertilizer in this hydroponic systems was evaluated for production of fresh green salad crops. A naturally ventilated greenhouse was equipped with a variable high pressure fogging system and the greenhouse was instrumented with sensors to monitor greenhouse environment. The research focused on collecting extensive data to develop an advanced climate control system to maintain temperature and humidity in the greenhouse. CFD Simulations were performed for 3D temperature distribution analysis for a naturally ventilated multispan greenhouse. A state of the art controlled environment aquaponics research greenhouse was designed and engineered for intensive fish and vegetable production. The effects of different supplemental light qualities on phytochemicals and growth of Red Cross baby leaf lettuce have also been investigated. The outputs of the above mentioned research activities were disseminated to peers and public during 9th University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Greenhouse Engineering Short Course (Jan 2009), 2009 ASABE Conference (June 2009), GreenSys 2009 Conference and Computational Fluid Dynamics Workshop in GreenSys2009. The results of the project were also disseminated to the stakeholders by publishing manuscripts in the proceedings of the conferences and peer reviewed journals. The graduate, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchres have been activelly involved and trained through lab instructions and experiments. During the project period, several student groups from K-12 in Tucson, AZ visited the research greenhouses and labs where part of this ongoing project was conducted and information was disseminated during the tours. 2009. Dr. Kacira also appeared on local TV channel MSNBC KVOA Channel 4 News in June 2009 to talk about "Farm of Future" included information to general public regarding to resource saving vegetable hydroponics production which included the floating hydroponics systems developed in this project. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Kacira continued to serve as the PI of the project and led the research efforts in design/development of the floating hydroponics system for lettuce production; development of the machine vision guided plant monitoring system; strategy development for climate control in naturally ventilated greenhouse with fogging systems and CFD research. Dr. Kacira continued o actively involving in CEA CFD working group and organization of the workshops for CFD research.Dr. Gene Giacomelli and Dr. Kubota were involved in the research activities as Co-PI's of this project. Dr. Giacomelli led the research efforts on aquaponics greenhouse system and the new greenhouse growing substrate. Dr. Kubota led the efforts in food for health studies and the effects of various environments on plant responses for phytochemical induction. In 2009 project period, 3 graduate students, 1 postdoctoral researcher, 1 visiting exchange graduate student, 3 undergraduate students were involved, educated and trained. Dr. Kubota collaborated with Dr. Cynthia Thompson from Nutritional Sciences in University of Arizona. Dr. Giacomelli collaborated with Dr. Markus Tuller of Soil, Water and environmental Sciences Department, Dr. Pete Waller in Agricultural ad Biosystems Engineeering Dpartmeny in University of Arizona and a commercial company, GrowStone. Dr. Kacira's collaborative efforts continued with Dr. Ali Akoglu from Electrical and Electronics Engineering in University of Arizona, Dr. Rafael Linker from Technion and Dr. Avraham Arbel (Israel), Dr. Esteban Baeza from Cajamar Research Institute (Spain), and Dr. In-bok Lee of Seould National University (South Korea). TARGET AUDIENCES: Our targeted audience to have impact with the results of this project during the project period in 2008 included greenhouse growers, extension agents, researchers, and greenhouse industry. The graduate, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers were trained during the experiments and lab instructions in the project period. In addition, several student groups from K-12 in Tucson, AZ visited the research cites, technical tours were provided. Technical tours at research cites were also given to researchers, extension specialist, growers and general public during the 2009 greenhouse engineering and crop production short course in Jan 2009. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Interest from the public has been growing for locally grown, high quality, safer, and pesticide-free green crops. The designed and developed floating hydroponics system and aquaponics systems in this project can meet these demand from the public. We have seen increasing interest, questions and visits to our research facilities from the public. Thus, we provided information and site visits to public composed of students, beginner and advanced growers, researchers regarding to the technology. The developed machine vision guided plant monitoring system capable of determining the changes in color, texture and growth pattern of lettuce crops in a floating hydroponic system for detection of calcium deficiency. One day prior detection compared to human vision was possible. We aim to improve and extend the sensing capability of the developed system in the next year. With these developments, the system can benefit to the growers to monitor crops in the controlled environment crop production systems as a part of the decision support system to improve resource use efficiency, i.e. save energy, use less labor, save water and nutrients. Research on effects of supplemental light quality on growth and phytochemicals showed that the mechanisms of changes in phytochemicals under different supplemental light quality are not well known, the results demonstrated that supplemental light quality could be strategically used to enhance nutritional value and growth of baby leaf lettuce grown under white light. The climate control strategy development continues in the greenhouse natural ventilation component of the project. We believe that the ultimate impact of this effort will be savings of limited water in semi-arid regions and energy, and improve the climate uniformity in the greenhouse thus advancing the crop yields with the use of natural ventilation equipped with high pressure fogging systems. Dr. Kacira have also actively participated and continue to involve in CEA CFD working group under ISHS to help worldwide CFD users exchange information faster and led to possibilities of new international collaborations for research. The working group organized one workshop during international GreenSys2009 conference in Quebec, Canada and organization is underway for the second international workshop under GreenSys2011 in Greece.

Publications

  • Kacira, M. 2009. Engineering concerns and opportunities for sustainable greenhouse systems. International Symposium on High Technology for Greenhouse Systems (GreenSys2009). University of Laval, Quebec, Canada, June 14-19. (Abstract).
  • Story, M., M. Kacira, C. Kubota, A. Akoglu, L. An. 2010. Nutrient Deficiency Detection with Machine Vision Computed Plant Features in Controlled Environments. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (In review).
  • E. Baeza, J.Perez-Parra, J.C. Lopez, J. C. Gazquez, M. Kacira and J. I. Montero. 2009. Validation of CFD Simulations for Three Dimensional Temperature Distributions of a Naturally Ventilated Multispan Greenhouse obtained by Wind Tunnel Measurements. ActaHorticulturae (Accepted).
  • Lewis, M. 2009. The Commercial Feasibility of Hydroponic Lettuce Production in the Desert Southwest. University of Arizona, AZ. Professional Science Master Thesis. (Advisor: G. Giacomelli, Committee Member: M. Kacira, L. Brigham, R. Richman). Giacomelli, G.A., 2009. Engineering Principles Impacting High Tunnel Environments. HortTechnology 19(1):1-4.
  • Li, Q. and C. Kubota. 2009. Effects of supplemental light quality on growth and phytochemicals of baby leaf lettuce. Environ. Experiment. Botany. 67:59-64.
  • Matsuda, R., C. Kubota, M. L. Alvarez and G. A. Cardineau. 2009. Biopharmaceutical protein production under controlled environments: growth, development and vaccine productivity of transgenic tomato plants grown hydroponically in a greenhouse. HortScience. 44:1594-1599.


Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: A floating hydroponic system for greenhouse production of a cool season crop such as lettuce was successfully demonstrated to provide high quality marketable lettuce throughout the year in the desert southwest climate. The system was built and offers the maximum efficiency possible in water usage, with nearly 100% at any time, either being used by the crop, or being stored for future use. The Aquaponic greenhouse production of lettuce and basil was successfully demonstrated to provide high quality marketable products throughout the year in the desert southwest climate. It also offers organic production (without need for inorganic fertilizers) of these crops. Power requirements for maintaining the temperature and aeration of the water in these two systems were substantial, and would add to production costs. Effects of supplemental light quality on growth and phytochemicals of baby leaf lettuce grown under white light were determined. The approach is proposed as a management protocol to maintain high nutrition values of vegetable crops grown under various environments. Food for health study continued to examine human body response in terms of mitigating oxidative stress by consuming more vegetables. A machine vision guided plant monitoring system was developed successfully to be used in controlled environment plant production systems. The system was initially used to timely detect calcium deficiency induced tipburn in lettuce plants. A new 100% recycled glass substrate has been demonstrated to have the desired qualities to produce market quality and yields of greenhouse hydroponic tomatoes, thereby replacing the current industry standard, Rockwool, which is not capable of economically being recycled after its use. A 300 m2 research greenhouse was instrumented with sensors networks and variable pressure fogging system to develop advanced control strategies to control fogging/natural ventilation. Experiments were started in to obtain necessary data to develop the greenhouse and plant ET models which will be used in the developed climate control strategy. Project efforts included using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze buoyancy driven natural ventilation in greenhouses. Three different turbulence models were evaluated to determine the effect on the agreement with experimental results. We also actively involved and helped to initiate the establishment of Controlled Environment Agriculture Systems CFD Working Group under the umbrella of the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS) in 2008. The goal of this working group is to enhance the information exchange and create possible collaborative research opportunities among the CFD researchers in the national and international platform. Outputs of the project were disseminated to the growers, extension agents during the 9th Annual Greenhouse Engineering Design and Crop Production Workshop in January 2008, in Tucson, AZ. The outcomes and results of the project were also shared with growers, scientist, media and industry during International ISHS conference held by University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, Tucson, AZ on October 2008. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Gene Giacomelli and Dr. Kubota were involved in the research activities as Co-PI's of this project. Dr. Giacomelli led the research involving the aquaponics greenhouse system and the new greenhouse growing substrate. Dr. Kubota led the efforts in food for health studies and the effects of various environments on plant responses for phytochemical induction. Dr. Kacira served as the PI of the project and led the research efforts in design/development of the floating hydroponics system for lettuce production; development of the machine vision guided plant monitoring system; strategy development for climate control in naturally ventilated greenhouse with fogging systems and CFD research. Dr. Kacira also actively involved the establishment of the CEA CFD working group. In this project period, 5 graduate students, 2 postdoctoral researchers and several undergraduate students were supervised and trained. Dr. Kubota collaborated with Dr. Cynthia Thompson from Nutritional Sciences in University of Arizona. Dr. Giacomelli collaborated with Dr. Markus Tuller of Soil, Water and environmental Sciences Department in University of Arizona and a commercial company, GrowStone. Dr. Kacira's collaborative efforts included Dr. Ali Akoglu from Electrical and Electronics Engineering in University of Arizona, Dr. Rafael Linker from Technion and Dr. Avraham Arbel (Israel), Dr. Esteban Baeza from Cajamar Research Institute (Spain), and Dr. In-bok Lee of Seould National University (South Korea). TARGET AUDIENCES: Our targeted audience to have impact with the results of this project during the project period in 2008 included greenhouse growers, extension agents, researchers, and greenhouse industry. The informations were disseminated by 9th Annual Greenhouse Engineering Design and Crop Production Workshop in January 2008, in Tucson, AZ. The outcomes and results of the project were also shared with growers, scientist, media and industry during International ISHS conference held by University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, Tucson, AZ on October 2008. These events included oral presentations and actual greenhouse tours to the project sites for information dissemination. The results of the project were also disseminated to the stakeholders by publishing manuscripts in the proceedings of the conferences and peer reviewed journals. The graduate, undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchres were trained through lab instructions and experimentations. During the project period, several student groups from K-12 in Tucson, AZ visited the research greenhouses and labs where part of this project was conducted and information was disseminated during the tours. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Demand of locally grown, high quality, safe, pesticide-free salad green crops continues to increase within the general public interest and within the urban markets. The designed and researched floating bed hydroponic system and aquaponics systems in this project within the greenhouse could provide for this demand. The developed machine vision guided plant monitoring system was able to detect the calcium deficient lettuce plants one day prior to or same as the visual stress detection of tip-burn by human vision. Therefore, this system could benefit to the growers to monitor crops in the greenhouses and be used as a part of the decision support system to improve resource use efficiency, save energy, improve crop and production quality in the Controlled Environment plant production systems. It is expected that the developed management protocols to maintain high nutrition values (with increased levels of carotenoids, anthocyanins, phenolics, and ascorbic acid) of vegetable crops grown under various greenhouse and growth chamber environments would improve the people's diet and improve their health status. With the new greenhouse substrate evaluated in this project, it would be possible to reduce landfill waste from disposal of Rockwool substrate which is commonly used as a greenhouse growing media. It is believed that with proper design and developed control strategies, natural ventilation equipped with high pressure fogging systems could be an alternative to mechanical ventilation in semi-arid regions to save precious resources as water and energy, and improve the climate uniformity in the greenhouse thus advancing the crop yields. Forming of CEA CFD working group under ISHS help worldwide CFD users exchange information faster and led to possibilities of new international collaborations for research.

Publications

  • Kacira, M., S. Sase, A. Ikeguchi, M. Ishii, G. Giacomelli, N. Sabeh. 2008. Effect of Vent Configuration and Wind Speed on Three-Dimensional Temperature Distributions in a Naturally Ventilated Multi-Span Greenhouse by Wind Tunnel Experiments. ActaHorticulturae, 801: 393-400.
  • Story, D., M. Kacira, A. Akoglu and C. Kubota. 2008. A Machine Vision Guided System for Plant Health and Growth Monitoring in Controlled Environment Agriculture Production. Presented at ISHS International Workshop on Greenhouse Environmental Control and Crop Production in Semi-Arid Regions, October 20-24. [Poster]
  • Guerrero, F. V. and M. Kacira. 2008. Determining Penman-Monteith coefficients for tomato crop grown in semi-arid greenhouse under three different greenhouse cooling settings. Presented at ISHS International Workshop on Greenhouse Environmental Control and Crop Production in Semi-Arid Regions, October 20-24. [Poster]
  • Kim, K., J.Y. Yoon, H.J. Kwon, J.H. Han, J.E. Son, S.W. Nam, G.A. Giacomelli and I. Lee, 2008. 3-D CFD Analysis of Relative Humidity Distribution in Greenhouse with Fog Cooling System and Refrigerative Dehumidifiers. Biosystems Engineering, 100: 245-255.
  • Chen-Lopez, J.C., P.Waller, G.A.Giacomelli and M.Tuller, 2008. Physical Characteristics of Greenhouse Substrates for Automated Irrigation Management. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 797:333-338.
  • Matsuda, R., C. Kubota, L.M. Alvarez, and G.A. Cardineau. 2008. Growth, development, and protein productivity of transgenic tomato plants expressing a Yersinia pestis antigen fusion protein F1-V in a greenhouse. Acta Horticulturae 797:381-385.
  • Buck, J.S., C. Kubota, and M. Jensen. 2008. Effect of mid-day reduction of high electrical conductivity treatment on the yield and quality of greenhouse cherry tomato. HortTechnology 18:460-466.
  • Kim, K., J.Y. Yoon, H.J. Kwon, J.H. Han, J.E. Son, S.W. Nam, G.A. Giacomelli and I. Lee, 2008. 3-D CFD Analysis of Relative Humidity Distribution in Greenhouse with Fog Cooling System and Refrigerative Dehumidifiers. Biosystems Engineering, 100: 245-255.
  • Buck, J.S., C. Kubota, and M. Jensen. 2008. Effect of mid-day reduction of high electrical conductivity treatment on the yield and quality of greenhouse cherry tomato. HortTechnology 18:460-466.
  • Thomson C.A., N.R. Stendell-Hollis, J.L. West, E.C. Cussler, L.M. McCune, M. Kroggel, H.J. Kim, and C. Kubota. 2008. High-lycopene consumption increases serum carotenoid levels but does not have decrease levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in healthy adults. The Open Bioactive Compounds Journal. 1:7-12.
  • Chia, P., Q. Li, and C. Kubota. 2008. Strategic use of far-red light and its control in plant production. International Workshop on Greenhouse Environmental Control and Crop Production in Semi-Arid Regions, October 20-24, Tucson, AZ. (Poster Paper)
  • Matsuda, R., C. Kubota, L.M. Alvarez, and G.A. Cardineau. 2008. Growth, development, and protein productivity of transgenic tomato plants expressing a Yersinia pestis antigen fusion protein F1-V in a greenhouse. Acta Horticulturae 797:381-385.


Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06

Outputs
Tomato plant growth status is defined as a comparative proportion of leaf and stem biomass (vegetative), to the current number of fruit set on the plant (reproductive). Transpiration demand caused by the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) of the plant aerial environment demonstrated that higher VPD enhanced fruiting, and lower VPD enhanced vegetative growth. Concentration of total salts in nutrient water (EC) provided to the root zone demonstrated that higher root zone EC enhanced fruiting. Manipulating these environmental factors, which affect transpiration, both at the canopy (potential transpiration), and at the root level (electrical conductivity, EC), has been demonstrated to "steer" the plant towards more vegetative or more reproductive growth. This is used in the greenhouse tomato industry, and this study documented that a quantitative correlation exists between plant morphological characteristics and plant status. The effect of greenhouse natural ventilation rate on air humidity and water use for fog cooling was investigated. A control algorithm using Visual VETH software based on the steady-state energy balance equations for adjusting ventilation openings was evaluated for simultaneously maintaining air relative humidity and temperature (65-75 percent and 24-25 Celsius), and ultimately VPD, with high-pressure fog cooling, roll-up side vents with insect screens, and a roof vent. The greenhouse air relative humidity decreased with an increase in ventilation rate, while the water use for fog cooling increased. For example, the humidity decreased from approximately 80 to 65 percent on a clear day when the ventilation rate was increased from 1 to 3.5 cubic meter per square meter per minute, while the water use increased from 18 to 21 gram per square meter per minute. There was a good agreement between the measured ventilation rates and the predicted ventilation rates by Visual VETH. Effective control of air temperature and humidity, and subsequently the VPD and water use, in greenhouse climate control is critical for the viability of food crop production in semi-arid regions. Water use in semi-arid regions includes both for cooling and irrigation. Tomato plant water use for the extreme summer conditions was measured to be 14.8 liter per square meter per day for the pad & fan evaporative cooling system and 8.9 liter per square meter per day for the drip irrigation system. At the lowest ventilation rate (0.017 cubic meter per square meter per second) the cooling efficiency was 85 percent whereas at the highest ventilation rate (0.079 cubic meter per square meter per second) the cooling efficiency was 75 percent. The efficiency was defined as the ratio of the air temperature reduction from outside to inside, to the difference of the outside air temperature and the inside wet bulb air temperature. Increasing the ventilation rate increased water use by the evaporative cooling system without necessarily improving the greenhouse conditions. These results are important for the design and control of evaporative cooling systems inside the greenhouse.

Impacts
Optimizing resources such as water, energy and labor required for GH vegetable crop production improves profitability by reducing operations costs, reduces environmental impact by higher productivity per input of resource and output of wastes, and impacts agricultural social status by improving labor conditions and offering year round jobs.

Publications

  • Cuello, J.L. 2006. Novel Lighting Technologies and Strategies for Plant Production on Earth and Space. In Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology. J. Texeira (ed.). Global Science Books, UK. 4:131-136. Book Chapter
  • Costa, G.J.C. and Cuello, J.L. 2006. Using a Correct Watt-Based Measurement of Light for Plant Applications. In Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology. J. Texeira (ed.). Global Science Books, UK. 4:23-29. Book Chapter
  • Hoshino, T. and Cuello, J.L. 2006. Designing the Lighting Environment for Somatic Embryogenesis. In Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology. J. Texeira (ed.). Global Science Books, UK. 4:294-298. Book Chapter
  • Costa, G.J.C. and Cuello, J.L.. 2006. The Point-by-Point Irradiance Method Applied to Plant Systems Based on the Phytometric System. Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Environmental Systems. ICES2006-01-2215. Refereed Journal Article
  • Javanmardi, J. and C. Kubota. 2006. Variation of lycopene, antioxidant activity, total soluble solids and weight loss of tomato during postharvest storage. Postharvest Biology and Technology. 41:151-155. Refereed Journal Article
  • Kim, K-S, Giacomelli, G.A. Sase, S., Son, J-E, Nam, S-W, and Nakazawa, F. 2006. Optimization of growth environment in a plant production facility using a chlorophyll fluorescence method. Japan Ag. Res. Quarterly JARQ 40(2):149-156. Refereed Journal Article
  • Kubota, C., C.A. Thomson, M. Wu, and J. Javanmardi. 2006. Controlled environments for production of value-added food crops with high phytochemical concentrations: High lycopene tomato as an example. HortScience 41:522-525. Refereed Journal Article
  • Kubota, C. and M. Kroggel. 2006. Air temperature and illumination during transportation affect quality of mature tomato seedlings. HortScience 41:1640-1644. Refereed Journal Article
  • Son, J.E. Oh, M.M., Lu, Y.J., Kim, K.S. and Giacomelli, G.A. 2006. Nutrient-Flow Wick Culture System for Potted Plant Production: System Characteristics and Plant Growth. Scientia Horticulturae 107: 392-398. Refereed Journal Article
  • Jordan, J., K. Fitzsimmons and Cuello. J.L. 2006. A Hybrid Hydroponic and Aquaculture System. Annual International Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. July 10. Portland, OR. Abstract
  • Jordan, J., K. Fitzsimmons and Cuello, J.L. 2006. Designing a Greenwater Aquaponic System. Annual Meeting of the Institute of Biological Engineering. March 10-12. Tucson, AZ. Abstract
  • Kubota, C. 2006. Use of grafted seedlings for vegetable production in North America. 27th International Horticultural Congress, Seoul, Korea. Abstract
  • Kubota, C. 2006. Current technology and status of seedling grafting in North America. 27th International Horticultural Congress, Seoul, Korea. Abstract
  • Kubota, C. and Kroggel, M. 2006. Application of 1-MCP for quality preservation of tomato seedlings during long distance transport. Hort Sci 41:976. Abstract
  • Shimomachi, T., Larson, D., Jordan, K. and Cuello, J.L. 2006. Energy Balance and Three-Dimensional Radiation Distribution of Water-Cooled HPS Lamps and of a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Array. Acta Hort. 711:393-398. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Costa, G.J.C. and J.L. Cuello. 2006. A Phytometric Irradiance Measuring Instrument. R. Moe (ed.). Acta Hort. 711:405-410. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Costa, G.J.C. and Cuello, J.L.. 2006. The Point Irradiance and the Phytomteric System. Acta Hort. 711:455-460. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Sabeh, N.C., G.A. Giacomelli, C. Kubota. 2006. Water use for pad and fan evaporative cooling of a greenhouse in semi-arid climate. Acta Hort. 719:409-416. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Sase, S., M. Ishii, H. Moriyama, C. Kubota, K. Kurata, M. Hayashi, N.C. Sabeh, P. Romero, G.A. Giacomelli. 2006. Effect of natural ventilation rate on relative humidity and water use for fog cooling in a semiarid greenhouse. Acta Hort. 719:385-392. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Kubota, C., M. Hayashi, Y. Fukuda, S. Yokoi, and S. Sase. 2006. Using ventilation-evaporation-temperature-humidity (VETH) chart software for developing a strategy for evaporative cooling of semiarid greenhouses. Acta Horticulturae 719:483-490. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • M. Ishii, S. Sase, H. Moriyama, C. Kubota, K. Kurata, M. Hayashi, A. Ikeguchi, N.C. Sabeh, P. Romero, G.A. Giacomelli. 2006. The Effect of Evaporative Fog Cooling in a Naturally Ventilated Greenhouse on Air and Leaf Temperature, Relative Humidity and Water Use in a Semiarid Climate. Acta Hort. 719:491-498. Symposium Proceedings Article
  • Wu, M. 2006. Effect of Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Plant Physiological Responses and Fruit Quality of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Ph.D. Plant Sciences. Thesis


Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

Outputs
Studies continued within the collaborative research program with Drs. Kenji Kurata, University of Tokyo (Japan), Sadanori Sase, National Institute of Rural Engineering (Japan), and Chieri Kubota and Gene Giacomelli, CEAC, The University of Arizona. US and visiting Japanese researchers completed a series of natural ventilation and cooling tests within the commercial-sized PolyTex greenhouse located at the CEAC facilities, Campus Agricultural Center, Tucson. These tests were to complement testing completed in 2004, and would lead to the development of an effective environmental control algorithm with strategy to minimize water and energy use. Modeling for natural ventilation of greenhouses was completed as part of US-Mexico TIES program for international collaboration, and included faculty from Chapingo Autonomous University in Mexico, and faculty from The University of Arizona. Empirical models were developed to relate ventilation rates with air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and solar radiation. Ventilation rates were calculated by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Model results were verified by the tracer gas technique. Improved greenhouse designs were proposed to achieve the desired ventilation rates.

Impacts
Optimizing resources such as water, energy and labor required for GH vegetable crop production improves profitability by reducing operations costs, reduces environmental impact by higher productivity per input of resource and output of wastes, and impacts agricultural social status by improving labor conditions and offering year round jobs.

Publications

  • Costa, G.J.C. and Cuello, J.L. 2005. Phytometric System of Light Units for Plants. In Iluminacao Economica, 3rd ed. G.J.C. Costa, ed. EDIPUCRS: Porto Alegre, Brazil. Book Chapter
  • Hoshino, T. and Cuello, J.L.. 2005. Environmental Design Considerations for Somatic Embryogenesis. In Somatic Embryogenesis. A. Mujib and J. Samaj, eds. Springer-Verlag: Berlin. 257-266. Book Chapter
  • Cuello, J.L. and Costa, G.J.C. 2005. Bringing Fallacies to Light Part 2: Further Debunking Radiation-Measurement Misconceptions for Plant Photosynthesis. Resource: Engineering & Technology for a Sustainable World. 12(9): 13-14. Refereed Journal Article
  • Cuello, J.L.and Costa, G.J.C. 2005. Bringing Fallacies to Light: Debunking Radiation-Measurement Misconceptions for Plant Photosynthesis. Resource: Engineering & Technology for a Sustainable World. 12(2): 9-10. Refereed Journal Article
  • Ohyama, K.., Manabe, K., Omura, Y., Kozai, T. and Kubota. C. 2005. Potential use of a 24-hour photoperiod (continuous light) with alternating air temperature for production of tomato plug transplants in a closed system. HortScience 40:374-377. Refereed Journal Article
  • Nam S. W., Kim, K., and Giacomelli, G.A. 2005. Improvement of cooling efficiency in greenhouse fog system using the dehumidifier. Journal of Bio-Environment Control 14(1):29-37. Refereed Journal Article
  • Nam, S.W., Kim, K., Giacomelli, G.A and Sabeh., N.C. 2005. Analysis of Temperature Gradients in Greenhouse Equipped with Fan and Pad System by CFD Method. Journal of Bio-Environment Control 14(2):76-82. Refereed Journal Article
  • Giacomelli, G. A., Kubota, C. and Jensen, M. 2005. Considerations and Operational Management of Greenhouse for Tomato Production in Semi-Arid Region. Acta Hort. 691: 525-532. Proceedings Article