ISHS Acta Horticulturae 260: International Symposium on Growth and Yield Control in Vegetable Production
WAYS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF PLANT GROWTH AND YIELD FORMATION PROCESSES AND COMPUTER-AIDED SOIL AND CROP MANAGEMENT IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION |
| Authors: | G. Vogel, A. Heiner, P. Kläring |
| Abstract:
Plant physiological and agronomic studies have been carried out since the early 1970s in a computer-controlled greenhouse with eight compartments and in an outdoor box-plot unit comprising 768 concrete plots. On the basis of the results obtained, an outline is given of ways and possibilities for the automatic control of plant growth and yield formation processes in the greenhouse and for computer-aided soil and crop management in field vegetable production. The results are compared with the international state of the art. The influence of air and substrate temperatures, of global radiation and of the carbon dioxide concentration in the air on yield formation in cucumber and tomato was examined in the greenhouse. Moreover, research was made into carbon dioxide gas exchange, water and carbohydrate balance, and growth of generative and vegetative plant organs. Dynamic models of yield formation in cucumber and tomato are the most important outcome of these research efforts. With the models it is possible to calculate the dependence of yield growth and some other growth parameters on temperature, radiation intensity and carbon dioxide concentration against the background of a specific date and density of planting for any time during the growing season. Easily handled control models for optimisation have been developed on the basis of these models by workers of the Technical College of Ilmenau. Multi-factor experiments on the effect of fertilisation, sprinkler irrigation, plant spacing and soil type on crop yield have | |
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