Staff Publications

Lisianthus growers look for methods to minimise the emission of nutrients, crop protection chemicals and CO2. In 2014 and 2015, nine crops with Lisianthus have been tested at the Delphy Improvement Centre. This report describes the four trials that have been carried out in the extended research in 2016. With this extension, a distinction was made between different substrates and intensities of assimilation lighting. In addition to knowledge about light use efficiency, water use, heat use, substrate differences and growth development, these extra crop cycles have brought to light that growing Lisianthus on substrate gives a less resilient plant against soil fungi than was experienced during the first crop cycles.

Alstroemeria cultivation in The Netherlands requires energy for heating, supplementary light and root cooling. For the program “Greenhouse as Source of Energy” we calculated to which extent the energy demand for growing this crop can be reduced with existing energy saving innovations. Some innovations were tested in practice, others were calculated by means of the greenhouse climate simulation model Kaspro. Results showed that it is possible to save up to 34% energy for heating compared to the reference situation. 40% energy can be saved on electricity for supplementary light and root cooling. However, this strategy leads to a reduced amount of PAR-light in the winter, and 4% less flowers in comparison with the reference. The greatest impact can be achieved by increasing the insulation of the greenhouse by using double screens, reducing the evaporation from the soil, improving the crop hygiene to avoid extra evaporation from crop debris and reduce pest pressure, and implementing controlled dehumidification of the greenhouse air.

(Semi-)closed greenhouses have been developed over the last decades to conserve energy. In a closed greenhouse, window ventilation is fully replaced by mechanical cooling while solar heat is temporarily stored in an aquifer. A semi-closed greenhouse has a smaller cooling capacity than a closed greenhouse and, in which mechanical cooling is combined with window ventilation. (Semi-)closed greenhouses create new climate conditions: high CO2 concentrations irrespective of the outdoor climate, and vertical gradients in temperature and vapour pressure deficit throughout the canopy. This thesis focuses on the crop physiology in (semi-)closed greenhouses, and investigates the effects of the new climate conditions on crop growth, development and underlying processes.

Cumulative production in (semi) closed greenhouses increased by 6-14% compared to the open greenhouse, depending on the cooling capacity. The production increase in the (semi-)closed greenhouses was explained by the higher CO2 concentrations. In many species, feedback inhibition of photosynthesis occurs when plants are grown at high CO2. The results, however, suggest that high CO2 concentrations do not cause feedback inhibition in high producing crops, because the plants have sufficient sink organs (fruits) to utilise all assimilates. Pruning experiments showed that photosynthetic acclimation to elevated CO2 concentration only occurred when the number of fruits was considerably reduced.

Cooling below the canopy induced vertical temperature and vapour pressure deficit gradients. These gradients correlated with outside radiation and outside temperature. Despite the occurrence of vertical temperature gradients, plant growth and fruit yield were mostly unaffected. Leaf and truss initiation rates did not differ in the presence or absence of a vertical temperature gradients, since air temperatures at the top of the canopy were kept comparable. The only observed response of plants to the vertical temperature gradient was the reduced rate of fruit development in the lower part of the canopy. This resulted in a longer period between anthesis and fruit harvest and an increase in the average fruit weight in summer. However, total fruit production over the whole season was not affected.

The effects of the climate factors light, CO2 concentration, temperature, and humidity on leaf photosynthesis were investigated. The photosynthesis model of Farquhar, von Caemmerer and Berry (FvCB) was modified by adding a sub-model for Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) activation. The photosynthetic parameters: the maximum carboxylation capacity (Vcmax) and the maximum electron transport rate (Jmax), α (the efficiency of light energy conversion), θ (the curvature of light response of electron transport), and Rd (the non-photorespiratory CO2 release) were estimated based on measurements under a wide range of environmental conditions in the semi-closed greenhouse. The simultaneous estimation method and the nonlinear mixed effects model were applied to ensure the accuracy of the parameter estimation. Observations and predictions matched well (R2=0.94).

The yield increase in a closed greenhouse, compared to that in an open greenhouse was analyzed based on physiological and developmental processes. The yield increase in the (semi-)closed greenhouses was the result of an increase of net leaf photosynthesis. The (semi-)closed greenhouses have been applied commercially first in the Netherlands, and later in other countries. The knowledge obtained from (semi-)closed greenhouses is applied in conventional open greenhouse as well, which is called the next generation greenhouse cultivation. A number of innovations are being developed for greenhouse industry to reduce energy consumption while improving production and quality.

“Gerbera: Growing in Balance” was a research project to support the reduction of energy and CO2 consumption in the cultivation of Gerbera. The varieties Pre-Semmy, Rich, Whisper and Suri were grown in three glasshouses with different treatments: “Cool Cultivation” (15°C temperature; 90 μmol light, day length 13 hour in winter); “Practice” (temperature depending on day light integral, 100 μmol/m2s light, day length 11.5 hours) and “Light Dependent” (temperature depending sharply on day light integral, 90 μmol/m2s light, day length 13 hours in winter). The day light integral was kept equal in all treatments, regardless the difference in light intensity and day length in the winter. For flower quality and energy use “Cool Cultivation” was the best treatment, but required the most kg / m² of CO2. Whisper and Suri produced more flowers / m2 in the treatment “Light Dependent” but flower weights were low. Pre-Semmy and Rich gave more flowers in the treatment “Practice”, but spalkes were weak in May and June. The 13 hour day length in winter was not detrimental to production or quality. Light sum, day length and daily temperature are the three buttons to control the plant balance for optimum production and quality. The project was Funded by the Program “Greenhouse as Energy Source” (Ministry of Economic Affairs and LTO Glaskracht) and the Knowledge Cooperative Gerbera.

Within this project, two new methods of the control of pathogens were investigated. New methods are: a. use of local bacteria that are isolated from soils or growing substrates; and b. bacteria that are present within the plant. By using local antagonists, already present in growing substrates or within plants in the greenhouse, the chance is higher that antagonist can be successfully used against local pathogens. Bacteria that were isolated from soil of growers were assessed on their antagonistic potential in lab trials against Pythium ultimum, Meloidogyne spp. and Rhizobium rhizogenes and Fusarium solani and F. oxysporum. Finally, the effect of antagonists against Pythium and Meloidogyne was evaluated in pot trials in the greenhouse. All antagonists diminished brown colourization symptoms in stems caused by Pythium. Alcaligenues sp., Bacillus sp. en two unidentified species diminished root damage and Alcaligenues sp. as well as Bacillus also reduced also the number of offspring of Meloidogyne spp. within the roots. The use of local microorganisms offers a sustainable-, new solution to control pathogens. In this study, it was shown that Proteinase inhibitor 2 (PINII), Glucanase (LeGluB) and Chitinase (LeChi3) can be used in tomato to investigate the influence of antagonists or endophytes on the plant defence.

Oorspronkelijk zijn bloemkleuren vooral van belang om bestuivers te lokken, maar in de bloemisterij is dat juist niet gewenst. Daar staat de aantrekkelijkheid voor de koper voorop. Er is voortdurend behoefte aan nieuwe spannende kleuren. Bloemkleur is daarmee een economische factor van belang. Veredelaar maar ook teler kunnen het verschil maken.

The supply of additional CO2 in a greenhouse will be restricted in the future. The concentration in outside air has risen above 400 ppm. This may open the possibility to blow this air through the canopy to increase growth. In this project, the vertical CO2 concentration was measured in a vertical plane within to the canopy under different combinations of window opening, the activation of vertical fans and with or without dosing of additional CO2. For a Freesia and a tomato crop the result was that without CO2 dosing it was possible to maintain a concentration of over 350 ppm in the canopy at 5-10 cm distance from the leaf surface when the ventilation windows were open. Since, this is below outside concentration, additional supply of outside air may be an advantage. When extra CO2 was supplied, a reduction in window opening and the use of a screen increased the concentration between the canopy. The vertical distribution of CO2 within the canopy was never a problem. It can be concluded that the crop resistance to take up CO2 for a tomato and freesia crop is small and with respect to the other CO2 resistances, the crop resistance can be neglected. A positive effect of the use of vertical fans or the use of high pressure misting in the tomato greenhouse was not found, due to the strategy to keep the ventilation windows wide open. The concentration at 5-10 cm distance from the leaf is not necessarily the same concentration around the stomata because of boundary layer resistance. The effect of the boundary layer resitance on CO2 uptake is described in the report of Plant Dynamics called “Effecten van grenslaagweerstand op de fotosynthese bij tomaat en Freesia”.

De inzichten in het effect van lichtkleuren op fotosynthese, vorm en ontwikkeling groeien gestaag. Je zou dan graag willen dat het om simpele relaties gaat, bijvoorbeeld ‘blauw licht opent huidmondjes’. Zo ligt het echter vaak niet. Effecten op korte en lange termijn zijn vaak verschillend en het gaat altijd om de mix van kleuren.

If light penetrates the crop better, it results in higher production. This is because the leaves that are deeper in the crop are a long way from their light saturation point. Diffuse glass or coatings and the distribution of the crop are the most applicable ways to achieve better light penetration. Other methods are usually beyond the reach of the grower

Er is geen voedingselement waarvan de plant zoveel nodig heeft als stikstof. Het gehalte kan wel 5% van de drogestof uitmaken. Behalve als essentieel onderdeel van veel plantonderdelen en inhoudsstoffen, wordt ook steeds meer duidelijk dat stikstof een signaalstof is, die processen aanstuurt, bijna zoals een hormoon.