Light Management In Controlled Environments

Much has changed and improved in lighting technology over the past 10 years since industry-leading experts on lighting, in collaboration with Greenhouse Grower(r) magazine and Meister Media Worldwide, brought you Lighting Up Profits (Fisher and Runkle, 2004).This updated and substantially expanded book presents the underlying biology of how light influences plant growth and development of specialty crops, especially those grown in greenhouses and controlled-environment growth rooms. Authors Dr. Erik Runkle of Michigan State University and Dr. Roberto Lopez of Michigan State University, along with 19 other leading plant scientists from around the globe, discuss technology options for shade and lighting, including the latest developments in greenhouse and sole-source lighting.

This book presents a comprehensive treatise on the advances in the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for sustainable crop production and describes the latest photomorphogenesis research findings. It introduces readers to the fundamentals and design features of LEDs applicable for plant growth and development and illustrates their advantages over the traditional lighting systems, including cost analyses. Further, it discusses a wide range of applications covering diverse areas of plant sciences relevant to controlled environment agriculture and in vitro plant morphogenesis. The chapters have been written by a team of pioneering international experts, who have made significant contributions to this emerging interdisciplinary field. The book will serve a valuable resource for graduate students, instructors, and researchers in the fields of horticulture, agricultural biotechnology, cell and developmental biology, and precision agriculture. It will also serve well professionals engaged in greenhouse and vertical farming.

This book focuses on light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, mainly for the commercial production of horticultural crops in plant factories and greenhouses with controlled environments, giving special attention to: 1) plant growth and development as affected by the light environment; and 2) business and technological opportunities and challenges with regard to LEDs. The book contains more than 30 chapters grouped into seven parts: 1) overview of controlled-environment agriculture and its significance; 2) the effects of ambient light on plant growth and development; 3) optical and physiological characteristics of plant leaves and canopies; 4) greenhouse crop production with supplemental LED lighting; 5) effects of light quality on plant physiology and morphology; 6) current status of commercial plant factories under LED lighting; and 7) basics of LEDs and LED lighting for plant cultivation. LED lighting for urban agriculture in the forthcoming decades will not be just an advanced form of current urban agriculture. It will be largely based on two fields: One is a new paradigm and rapidly advancing concepts, global technologies for LEDs, information and communication technology, renewable energy, and related expertise and their methodologies; the other is basic science and technology that should not change for the next several decades. Consideration should be given now to future urban agriculture based on those two fields. The tremendous potentials of LED lighting for urban agriculture are stimulating many people in various fields including researchers, businesspeople, policy makers, educators, students, community developers, architects, designers, and entrepreneurs. Readers of this book will understand the principle, concept, design, operation, social roles, pros and cons, costs and benefits of LED lighting for urban agriculture, and its possibilities and challenges for solving local as well as global agricultural, environmental, and social issues.

An understanding of crop physiology and ecophysiology enables the horticulturist to manipulate a plant’s metabolism towards the production of compounds that are beneficial for human health when that plant is part of the diet or the source of phytopharmaceutical compounds. The first part of the book introduces the concept of Controlled Environment Horticulture as a horticultural production technique used to maximize yields via the optimization of access to growing factors. The second part describes the use of this production technique in order to induce stress responses in the plant via the modulation of these growing factors and, importantly, the way that this manipulation induces defence reactions in the plant resulting in the production of compounds beneficial for human health. The third part provides guidance for the implementation of this knowledge in horticultural production.

Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, Second Edition presents a comprehensive look at the implementation of plant factory (PF) practices to yield food crops for both improved food security and environmental sustainability. Edited and authored by leading experts in PF and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), the book is divided into five sections, including an Overview and the Concept of Closed Plant Production Systems (CPPS), the Basics of Physics and Physiology – Environments and Their Effects, System Design, Construction, Cultivation and Management and Plant Factories in Operation. In addition to new coverage on the rapid advancement of LED technology and its application in indoor vertical farming, other revisions to the new edition include updated information on the status of business R&D and selected commercial PFALs (plant factory with artificial lighting). Additional updates include those focused on micro and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas, the physics and physiology of light, the impact of PFAL on the medicinal components of plants, and the system design, construction, cultivation and management issues related to transplant production within closed systems, photoautotrophic micro-propagation and education, training and intensive business forums on PFs. Includes coverage of LED technology Presents case-studies for real-world insights and application Addresses PF from economics and planning, to operation and lifecycle assessment