ISHS Acta Horticulturae 614: VI International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climate: Product and Process Innovation
CROP STRESSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION |
| Author: | C. Gary |
| Keywords: | environment, modelling, stress indicator, decision support system, water stress, nitrogen stress |
| Abstract:
In mild winter climate regions, greenhouse crops experience a range of stressful conditions that originate from their physical or biological environment. The combined characteristics of the natural climate and of the greenhouse design generally lead to sub-optimal conditions of light and air and soil temperature in winter, and of temperature and air humidity in summer. The control of diseases and pests is often hampered by the poor control of the physical environment. Alleviating these various stressing conditions is complex as their effects are not cumulative: they may interact and the crop responses are integrated. Progress is possible through improving greenhouse technology. Yet, avoiding crop stresses is not the ultimate goal of growers. Controlled stressful conditions can even be positive if, for example, they improve product quality. Growers actually aim at achieving a set of objectives (economic results, fulfilment of product specifications, sustainability of the production system, etc.). For that purpose, a general strategy is designed and a set of decision rules is implemented. Within this framework, the actual importance of possible stresses in relation to the achievement of the grower’s objectives should be evaluated, for example by running integrated models to simulate specific strategies. The design of decision rules is another important task. Relevant indicators of the crop or environment status must be identified and evaluated. Lastly, decision support systems can handle models, decision rules and indicators to design optimal strategies of crop management, including stress avoidance. | |
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