Sustainable Development Optimization of a Plant Factory for Reducing Tip Burn Disease

Yu Haibo, Zhang Lei, Yu Haiye, Liu Yucheng, Liu Chunhui and Sui Yuanyuan ()
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Yu Haibo: College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Zhang Lei: College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Yu Haiye: College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Liu Yucheng: College of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Liu Chunhui: College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Sui Yuanyuan: College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: It is generally believed that stable airflow can effectively reduce tip burn, a common lettuce plant disease in closed plant factories that severely restricts the sustainable development of these factories. This study aims to achieve stable airflow in the cultivator by zoning the seedling and growth stage crops and installing differential fans, while ensuring comprehensive quality. In this study, a three-dimensional simulation plant factory model was created to simulate the airflow inside the cultivator, taking crop shading and heat dissipation from LED light sources into account. Experiments on photosynthetic physiology and airflow were used to determine environmental thresholds for crop growth, which were then used as CFD boundary conditions. After adopting the optimized cultivation model, the comprehensive quality of lettuce increased by 22.28% during the seedling stage, and the tip burn rate decreased to 26.9%; during the growth stage, the comprehensive quality increased by 25.72%, and the tip burn rate decreased to 23.2%. The zoning optimization cultivation method and differential fan arrangement used in this study to improve the airflow field of plant factories provide new ideas and reliable theoretical support for plant factories to combat lettuce tip burn disease.

Keywords: lettuce; photosynthetic physiology; airflow; LED; CFD; differential fan; zoning cultivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5607-:d:1104671

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