Vertical Cultivation of Boston Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in Controlled Environment
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Chiu, Wei-Hau
Abstract
The focus of this study is to investigate on various operating conditions in a controlled environment using tubular florescent lamp as the light source to grow Boston lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in multi-layer benches. The controlled chamber equipped with air conditioning system, benching system, re-circulating nutrient system, monitoring and control system, artificial lighting system and carbon dioxide enrichment system. Area of the air-tight chamber is 5 square meters and is suitable for 3 benches each with 4 layers. The light / dark temperature is controlled at 25 / 20 degree C and the carbon dioxide is controlled at 1200 ppm.t takes 35 days to grow Boston lettuce from seeding to harvesting. Seedling stage is 7 days and the rest 28 days is the production stage. Only the production stage is conducted in the growth chamber. In the multi-layer bench, When the nutrient is re-circulating 12 times per day, 15 minutes per each time, totally 76 heads of lettuce can be harvest with the fresh weight of 120.1 ± 19.6 g/head. Estimated annual production per square meter of our system is 95 kg, which is much higher than 69 kg, which is unit area annual production of the 750 m2 Cornell’s hydroponic greenhouse equipped with artificial light.his study proof that growing Boston lettuce with low nitrate content without using pesticide and totally relied on artificial light in a multi-layer benching system is possible. Through cost analysis, we also derived that the production cost of the Boston lettuce is 12.58 NT dollars per 100 g without considering labor cost and depreciation of structure and equipment. Thus making the system not only technological viable but also economically abstractive. This is the first step of the plant factory research and there is still a long way to go.
Subjects
Controlled Environment
Artificial lighting
Boston Lettuce
Plant Factory
Type
thesis
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