Project properties
Title Next Generation Cultivation
Group Plant Breeding, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 24
Supervisor(s) Suzan Gabriels (WPR) & Esther Hoogeveen (FBR)
Examiner(s) Richard Visser
Contact info suzan.gabriels@wur.nl
Begin date 2020/04/20
End date 2023/12/31
Description For sustainable production, growers follow the trend of "Next Generation Growing” (“Het Nieuwe Telen”) and keep windows in greenhouses more closed, to prevent loss of heat and CO2 and thus save energy. However, closed windows cause an environment with a constant high humidity, constant temperature, hardly air circulation etc. What are the consequences regarding plant and product-quality when plants are grown in these “next generation conditions”? This is hardly known.
We do know that plants grown in constant high humidity keep their stomata open. This leads to malfunctioning stomata which lose the ability to close at lower humidity. However, are “next generation cultivation” conditions indeed high-humidity conditions? Do conditions very per grower, or when is a growing condition defined as “next generation growing” ? What is the impact of these “next generation cultivation” conditions on the plant architecture / product quality? Should breeders anticipate on these growing conditions by selecting for certain traits beneficial for growth in next generation cultivation conditions? The answers to these questions and the challenges to which plants are exposed in next generation cultivation conditions are not known. Do you have an interest in the effect of growing conditions on plant quality? And do you have suggestions for breeders regarding traits required to maintain quality of plants grown in next generation cultivation conditions? Then your input, based on literature and your own interpretation is most welcome.
Main hypothesis:
1. Next generation cultivation conditions lead to a stable environment with a constant temperature and humidity.
2. Growing plants under next generation conditions leads to structural changes of plants like for example: malfunctioning stomata, lower dry matter, lower cell density and less ability for nutrient uptake.
3. Knowledge of structural changes allows breeders to select for traits required to maintain quality of plants grown under next generation cultivation conditions.
Used skills Literature research and writing
Requirements Plant Biology background