(農業試驗所特刊第214號)產業現況及研究發展國際設施研討會論文專刊

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(1)蝴蝶蘭害蟲查詢糸統之運用陳淑佩行政院農業委員會農業試驗所應用動物組. 一、摘要本研究在不同溫室及網室之蝴蝶蘭有害生物相，建立蝴蝶蘭害蟲查詢糸統。針對美方對我國列名之檢疫有害生物，如斜紋夜盜 (Spodoptera litura (Fabr.))、台灣花薊馬 (Frankliniella intonsa Trybom)、太平洋臀紋粉介殼蟲 (Planococcus minor (Maskell)) 及扁蝸牛 (Bradybaena similaris (Ferussac)) 等檢疫害蟲，亦進行偵測工作。利用歷年調查所得的資料 (如種類、生物學資料、危害狀影像及其族群密度之消長等) 加以分析歸類，進而建立蝴蝶蘭重要有害生物預警系統，提供給相關業務執行者及研究人員查詢，以達到對重要有害生物即時預警及其防治建議，期能促進我國農產品之外銷競爭力。關鍵字：蝴蝶蘭、害蟲、資料庫、查詢糸統. 二、前言蝴蝶蘭之栽培管理體系在臺灣常年高溫多濕的環境下，有害生物種類繁多，溫室栽培環境下可發現包括薊馬類、蚜蟲類、介殼蟲類、黑翅蕈蠅及葉螨等；簡易栽培場所除上述種類外，鱗翅目害蟲、其他雜食性害蟲等亦可能出現並建立其族群加以危害植株。不管栽種或出貨期間，有害生物可能因而影響其品質、植株面臨檢疫處理及退貨等重大損失，進而影響農友之利益。其管理首要在於確知其種類後(高等人，2011)，才能對症下藥，以達最佳的防治功效。電腦科技之進步，影像資料之儲藏及處理已變得更為有效、簡便。若將累積多年的資料，加以分析及歸類進而建立查詢系統 (包括作物種類、有害生物鑑定資料、危害狀影像、防治建議及相關網站的聯結) ( Chen & Wu, 2012; 陳與林， 2017)，提供給蝴蝶蘭農友及研究人員查詢有害生物種類及其防治建議，除提升防治率外，亦可促進我國農產品之外銷競爭力為本研究之目標。. 三、材料與方法 3.1 害蟲資料庫資料來源 3.1.1 輸美蝴蝶蘭帶介質工作計畫蟲相調查資料：93 年 7 月我國蝴蝶蘭通過的輸美蝴蝶蘭帶介質工作計畫後，針對符合輸美蝴蝶蘭帶介質工作計畫之輸美蘭園， 104.

(2) 每月定期以黃色黏板 (高冠牌 20 x 15 cm，懸掛於約距植床 30 cm 高，約 20 坪懸掛 1 張) 於輸美帶介質工作計畫的蝴蝶蘭園，調查 3.5 吋蘭苗之蟲相 (包括介質蟲相)，將黏有害蟲之黃色黏板帶回實驗室利用解剖顯微鏡鏡檢，或將蟲體製成玻片以光學顯微鏡鑑定其學名並建立完整之蟲害影像。此外，運用性費洛蒙誘引劑每 50 m 懸掛 1 個 (每 30 天置換誘引物一次)，加以證實及監測有無美方列為檢疫害蟲中的鱗翅目害蟲 (如斜紋夜盜 Spodopteralitura(Fabr.) 及夜盜類害蟲 Spodoptera spp.)入侵；並利用黃色黏板，偵測有無台灣花薊馬 (FrankliniellaintonsaTrybom) 及太平洋臀紋粉介殼蟲 (Planococcus minor (Maskell)) 有翅型雄成蟲。 3.1.2 農友送檢之蝴蝶蘭蟲害診斷鑑定資料：對逐年建置完整的蝴蝶蘭花害蟲診斷鑑定的書面資料檔案(包括有害生物鑑定資料、危害狀影像及防治建議等，並轉成 EXCEL 檔及用顯微鏡或是目測檢視農友受害植株全株 (含根)，將其作物被害病徵 (如葉片、枝條、莖、根、花等)，於顯微鏡下檢查樣品受害狀 (2-5 張)，進行拍攝之工作。依危害昆蟲及被害寄主植物之不同，使用顯微鏡 (Leica Z16 Apo) 及翻拍架進行拍攝存證，並將影像後製處理 (編碼及製作浮水印) 後，建立危害狀及害蟲等影像檔案。 3.2蝴蝶蘭有害生物影像之數位化經整理、鑑定分類定名後，針對符合輸美蝴蝶蘭帶介質工作計畫之輸美蘭園及歷年農友送檢蘭花之有害生物標本除定名證據標本 (voucher specimen) 外，亦同時蒐形態或是危害狀，進行影像數位化工作。工作流程 (Chen 2012；Chen & Wu,2012) 包括 (A) 利用實體巨視顯微鏡 (Leica Z16 Apo Stereomicroscope, Switzerland) 並配合自動步進馬達 Piezo 控制調焦器 (Leica Piezo Z-drive, Switzerland)、彩色 RGB CCD 攝影機 (Leica DFC 420 Digital Microscope Cameras, Switzerland)、電子式標準色溫環形燈組、標準色溫反射台組 (5000 R/L, ring light LED, Switzerland) 拍攝害蟲生態及危害狀等。對於微小有害生物 (如介殼蟲) 之定名玻片標本，則利用光學顯微鏡 (Leitz DMRB, Leica, Milton Keynes, U.K.) 配合配合自動步進馬達 Piezo 控制調焦器、彩色 RGB CCD 攝影機，進行形態特徵的數位化工作。存證標本依不同的送檢來源，每筆資料所包含之所有玻片標本進行拍攝工作。(B) 標本照去背、後續影像處理–對已數位攝影完成之數位影像檔進行後續處理及修正工作，如去背、調整色差及亮度…等工作，使每筆影像檔更清晰。(C)標本照命名與建檔–利用 MS Office 之 Word 及 Access 等套裝軟體，進行分析整理文字資料。如以 Excel 建置相關基本資料的標本基本資訊、圖檔基本資訊、參考文獻等，同時對於所整理分析之文字資料，依照資料庫制定之欄位，將資訊輸入欄位並儲存，以完成每筆元數據 (metadata)。(D) 校對、再校對後上傳網頁及資料備份–利用個人電腦並參考有害生物分類學資料以進行校對的工作，待正確無誤之後始傳至網頁上，供使用者利用。資料備份由專任助理執行，將正確無誤之所有資料，利用燒錄軟體 NERO 7.0，燒錄成 DVD 光碟。每筆燒錄約需耗時20 min。 105.

(3) 3.3害蟲資料庫及查詢系統網頁建置及測試修正網頁之開發程式運用 FreeBSD+Apache+MySQL+PHP 系統，後端資料庫採用 MySQL，Excel 所建置的元數據，經由上傳程式上傳至 MySQLl 資料庫 (Chen 2012； Chen & Wu, 2012)。採用程式的特色為所需成本低 (Apache, MySQL 及 PHP 皆為免費軟體)，安裝容易，系統穩定，在相關功能的發展上也逐漸能與付費軟體並駕齊驅。 PHP 軟體可跨不同平台 (Unix, Linux, Windows, Apche, IIS) 及處理動態網頁；資料庫系統 MySQL 可跨平台支援、彈性的安全機制、支援 PHP 快速的存取資料庫資料。上傳資料錯誤可經由維護程式更新或透過 MySQL 資料庫管理界面 Navicat8 進行維護。每筆皆約需 10 min 處理。上傳拍攝之影像檔及輸入之文字檔並備份後，測試程式之實用性與流暢性，修正其缺點。. 四、結果與討論具不同權限管控的蘭花有害生物預警及查詢系統 (http://orchidpests.tari.gov.tw) 網站以「蟲相分析」、「鑑定明細」、「害蟲簡介」、「資料搜尋」、「相關網站」五大主題呈現。「蟲相分析」單元依各種不同的查詢角度擷取蟲相調查資料彙整統計其族群密度消長之變化，提供給防檢疫及研究人員預警及分析之用；「鑑定明細」單元是查詢歷年調查驗證溫室有害生物調查明細 (包括害蟲族群消長與相關資料等)；「害蟲簡介」單元透過圖文並列方式讓使用者能對蘭園重要或是常見之有害生物之分類、形態鑑別特徵、生態、危害習性、分布、寄主植物等有所認識，目前已建置了有關薊馬、介殼蟲、斜紋夜盜、蚜蟲、蟎類及蝸牛等類害蟲簡介(王, 1987; 翁等人, 1999)。「資料搜尋」單元只要鍵入關鍵字即能自動檢索符合條件資料列表。「相關網站」單元提供有關蘭花栽培管理相關網站，並提供最新植保手冊其他花卉或是觀賞花木之推薦用藥供參考，以達到對重要有害生物即時預警及其防治建議。. 五、結論將歷年來農友送檢之蝴蝶蘭有害生物診斷鑑定資料及符合蝴蝶蘭帶介質輸美工作計畫之蘭園蟲相資料為基石，透過資料庫之彙整統計分析功能，建立一套有關蝴蝶蘭有害生物鑑定及查詢系統，期能透過網路平台提供給相關業務執行者及研究人員更快速更全面的管理輔助工具，能確保蘭花在栽種過程中不因有害生物而受損，進而提升其品質與收益。此外，以蝴蝶蘭害蟲查詢糸統為基石，亦可建立其他蘭科(如文心蘭及石斛蘭等)等栽培區之蟲相資料及管理建議，以強化產品競爭力。. 106.

(4) 六、參考文獻 1.王清玲。 l987 。薊馬為害花卉之習性及其防治。37-43 頁。中華昆蟲特列第 1 號。薊馬生物學研討會專刊。 2. 高靜華、王清玲、李奇峰、石憲宗、陳淑佩。2011。建立國家農業有害生物診斷鑑定中心之重要性。19-25 頁。臺灣農作物病蟲草害診斷鑑定現況與未來展望研討會專刊。台灣大學出版。 3. 陳淑佩。2012。農業試驗所昆蟲標本數位典藏之現現況與未來展望。191-198 頁。臺灣生物多樣性與地質資料庫專刊。 4. 陳淑佩、林秀枝。2017。輸美蘭花害蟲之監測與管理、害蟲診斷鑑定資料庫之運用與管理。農業害蟲管理暨食安把關研發成果會專刊。25-28 頁。農業試驗所特刊第 201 號。 5. 翁振宇、陳淑佩、周樑鎰。1999。臺灣常見介殼蟲圖鑑。行政院農業委員會農業試驗所特刊第 89 號。99 頁。 6. Chen, S. P and W. J. Wu. 2012. Plant quarantine pest query system. 2012 AFITA (Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture) 8th International Conference.. 圖 1. 網站以五大主題，以「蟲相分析」、「鑑定明細」、「害蟲簡介」、「資料搜尋」、「相關網站」呈現. 107.

(5) 圖 2. 網站之「蟲相分析」. 圖 3. 網站中之「相關網站」. 108.

(6) 設施甜椒關鍵害蟲管理及安全生產模式之研發與應用林鳳琪*、陳怡如*、邱一中*、王昭月** * 行政院農業委員會農業試驗所應用動物組 **行政院農業委員會農業試驗所生物技術組. 一、摘要本研究為強化設施農業全方位服務，提升設施蔬果產值能並達到不用農藥或農藥使用最少化的蔬菜生產目標。針對設施栽培甜椒，進行試驗模擬其安全生產模式之應用及評估效治效益，藉以擬定以生物防治為基礎的病蟲害綜合管理及安全生產策略，以黃(藍色)黏板監測關鍵病蟲害，掌握發生密度，以適時防治。於甜椒栽培初期以每株釋放 4-7 隻南方小黑花椿象(Oriusstrigicollis (Poppius)，防治薊馬及其他小型害蟲，搭配以植物油混方及石灰硫磺合劑，可有效壓制蚜蟲及細蟎等小型害蟲的發生密度，提高甜椒良果率，全程不施用農藥達到優質安全生產目標。關鍵字：甜椒、害蟲綜合管理、安全生產. 二、前言甜椒為台灣近年高經濟新興作物，性喜涼冷溫度，因此在台灣平地大多於秋冬栽種生產，週年栽培生產常見於山區如埔里、仁愛及信義等地區 ( 王及王, 2016 )。據報導，在甜椒適合栽培生產的環境常發生的害蟲包括，薊馬、蚜蟲、粉蝨、葉蟎、細蟎及夜蛾類，其中以薊馬、蚜蟲及細蟎影響產量與品質最為關鍵 ( 林等, 2016)。為害甜椒之薊馬包括小黃薊馬( Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood )、南黃薊馬(ThripspalmiKarny) 及台灣花薊馬(FrankliniellaintonsaTrybom) ( 王, 2002 ; 陳等, 2013) ，薊馬喜歡取食植物幼嫩組織，常造成心芽或花芽褐化萎凋；葉片或果實的粗糙的褐色銹斑。蚜蟲取食心芽及新葉，被害葉皺縮捲曲，高密度的棉蚜為害使葉片萎凋，而排洩大量的蜜露也誘發煤煙病，汙染葉片及果實。茶細蟎( Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks）(林等 2016) 為害心芽與果實，引起徵狀與薊馬為害相似，造成心芽皺縮萎凋及果實銹斑。設施栽培有防蟲網之阻隔，大型的夜蛾發生則較少。本研究為強化設施農業全方位服務，提升設施蔬果產值能之目標；達到不用農藥或農藥使用最少化的蔬菜生產，提供讓消費者放心的優質安全產品及穩定安全蔬菜供應鏈。鑒於甜椒為連續採收且害蟲發生繁多，單賴藥劑無法有效防治，為達到產量、品質及安全兼顧的生產，研發設施甜椒蟲害管理技術與策略。本報告釐清甜椒之關鍵 109.

(7) 蟲害，建立以生物天敵及搭配取代農藥使用天然植物保護資材的安全生產模式 (余及陳, 2009)，供設施甜椒栽培時參考應用。. 三、材料與方法 3.1 關鍵害蟲調查為釐清設施栽培甜椒之關鍵害蟲種類，於農業試驗所所屬溫室進行害蟲發生監測調查，該溫室盆栽種植 150-350 株甜椒。自 2014 年 10 月起至 2015 年 10 月，每週定期懸掛以黃色及藍色黏板(11x15cm)各 8 張，以及剪取 50 片葉鏡檢調查甜椒害蟲。 3.2 釋放小黑花椿象(Oriusstrigicollis (Poppius))防治薊馬之效益評估 1. 信義鄉：2015 年 8 月起於南投縣信義鄉選定 1 栽植 12,000 株甜椒設施，進行釋放小黑花椿象防治薊馬效果評估。將該區設施分為試驗區(釋放小黑椿)及對照區(未釋放小黑椿)，兩區均懸掛黃色及藍色黏板 (11X15cm)各 20 張，每週定期更新回收黏板，攜回實驗室計算其上薊馬數量以監測薊馬發生密度。自 2015 年 8 月 13 日起每 2 週至該試驗區定期釋放小黑花椿象約 32,000 隻。自 2015 年 10 月 6 日起試驗區薊馬開始發生後，改每週釋放約 32,000 隻小黑椿，試驗期間總計約釋放 36 萬隻小黑椿。調查時，於兩試區分別逢機各採取甜椒葉片 50 片及 50 朵花，計算其上之薊馬及小黑花椿象數量。 2. 農試所：自 2016 年 1 月 4 日起至 6 月 30 日，於農試所所屬兩溫室進行以小黑花椿象生物防治為主綜合管理防治效果評估。兩溫室分試驗區(釋放天敵)及對照區，兩區均懸掛黃色及藍色黏板 (11X15cm)各 8 張，每週定期更新回收黏板，攜回實驗室計算其上薊馬數量以監測薊馬發生密度。自 2016 年 1 月 4 日起每週於試驗區溫室定期釋放小黑花椿象約 2000 隻，對照區則無釋放小黑椿。調查時，於兩試區分別逢機各採取甜椒葉片 50 片及 50 朵花，計算其上之薊馬及小黑花椿象、蚜蟲、粉蝨、薊馬及細蟎數量。蚜蟲發生時則施用植物油混方稀釋 400 倍液。茶細蟎發生時則施用石灰硫磺合劑稀釋 1000 倍液。. 四、結果與討論 4.1 關鍵害蟲調查設施栽培甜椒之關鍵病蟲害種類，全年定期每週在農試所溫室內以黃色及藍色黏板(11x15cm)調查，結果銀葉粉蝨 (BemisiaArgentifolii Bellows & Perring)、小黃薊馬及棉蚜( Aphis gossypii Glover )發生最高密度每一黏板依序為 77.0、13.3 及 35.2 隻(圖 1)。檢視葉片調查結果，薊馬、蚜蟲及粉蝨發生最高密度每葉為 0.5、4.6 及 0.4 隻。茶細蟎族群則於 6 月攀升，最高達每葉 22 隻。. 110.

(8) 分析個別害蟲對甜椒影響，黃色黏板誘得粉蝨密度雖高，但葉片上卵與若蟲密度極小均低於每葉 0.5 隻，且傳播雙生病毒效率低 (林, 2007; 林等 2011) ，因此粉蝨不影響甜椒生長及其產量與品質。薊馬類及茶細蟎因取食新芽及小果影響植株生長、花芽數及果品品質為關鍵害重。此外蚜蟲偶而發生，但因其在甜椒上族群增長速度快，若不及早防治，將會誘發煤煙病，對甜椒生長及果品影響大。 4.2 釋放小黑花椿象防治薊馬之效益評估 1. 信義鄉：生物防治區釋放小黑花椿象，連續 11 次約 36 萬隻，釋放比例為每次每株 4-7 隻。經調查生物防治區及對照區(不放小黑花椿象)之南黃薊馬(T. spalmiKarny) 與台灣花薊馬(F. intonsaTrybom)密度，釋放前藍色黏板誘集薊馬數均為 0 隻，兩區並無差異。試驗結果顯示，對照區藍色黏板誘集台灣花薊馬密度最高達 119.3 隻/ 黏板，較釋放天敵試驗區 30 隻/黏板高 (圖 2)。調查甜椒花朵上兩種薊馬蟲數，釋放小黑花椿象可將台灣花薊馬密度控制低於每花 1.4 隻，對照區台灣花薊馬密度亦較釋放區高，每花 6 隻(圖 2)。小黑花椿象族群在甜椒花朵上數量在釋放區較對照區高(圖 2)，顯示小黑花椿象釋放後可以在甜椒上發育繁殖。試驗開始進行後全區未噴殺蟲劑。 2. 農試所：配合設施耐熱甜椒選育及安全生產模式之建立，於農業試驗所所屬溫室，每週以每株釋放 5-8 隻小黑花椿象比例進行生物防治，結果顯示，可以完全控制甜椒無南黃薊馬及台灣花薊馬等關鍵害蟲發生；在對照區 (不防治) 薊馬密度最高達 50 隻/黏板，果實被害嚴重，心芽皺縮或萎凋，影響植株生長勢與果實形成 (圖 3)。. 五、結論經試驗評估設施內影響甜椒產量與品質的害蟲為薊馬與茶細蟎。擬定之安全生產模式之病蟲害管理，以黃色及藍色黏板監測粉蝨與薊馬，視害蟲發生情形決定防治與否及所採取的防治方法。分別以釋放小黑花椿象防治薊馬及其他小型害蟲，連續以每株釋放 4-8 隻南方小黑花椿象比例，當每花維持 0.5 隻小黑花椿象時，可以控制薊馬之發生；搭配以石灰硫磺粉劑防治茶細蟎，植物油混方防治蚜蟲，以減少農藥之使用，達到優質安全生產目標。. 六、參考文獻王昭月．王怡雯 2016 番椒種原利用於耐熱彩色甜椒之選育農業世界 399: 4-9 王清玲。2002。臺灣薊馬生態與種類。農業試驗所特刊第 99 號 2014 再版。328 頁。余志儒、陳炳輝。2009。三種植物油對二點葉蟎之致死效果。台灣農業研究：136-145。林鳳琪。2007。銀葉粉蝨傳播之植物病毒病害及其防治策略。植物蟲媒病害與防治研. 111.

(9) 討會專刊 247-256。林鳳琪、張淑貞、鄭櫻慧、王清玲、胡仲祺。2011。銀葉粉蝨傳播蔬果雙生病毒及其防治研究。農業試驗所特刊 152: 193-204。陳怡如、林鳳琪、邱一中、石憲宗。2013。溫度對檬果小黃薊馬 (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) 發育與繁殖之影響。. Density (adults/trap). 80 B. argentifolii S.dorsalis Other thrips Aphids. 60. 40. 20. 0. 10/1. 12/1. 2/1. 4/1. 6/1. 8/1. 10/1. 2014-2015 圖 1. 以黃色黏紙監測溫室內甜椒上銀葉粉蝨、薊馬類及蚜蟲族群動態(農試所). 112.

(10) 治試驗區與對對照區之薊薊馬與小黑花花椿象族群群密度變動 (信義) 圖 2. 生物防治. 圖 3. 生物防防治區與對照照區薊馬與與小黑花椿象象族群密度度變動 (農試試所). 113.

(11) The recirculated hydroponic system for strawberry nursery production in plant factories Pei-Chen Huang*, Ruo-Ying Chen*, Wen-Ju Yang* and Wei Fang** * Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Department, National Taiwan University. ** Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University.. 1. Abstract Plant factories could be used as a bioreactor for the production of disease free and PGR free (plant growth regulator) daughter plants in strawberry. The recirculated hydroponic system often resulted in growth retarded and physiological disorder in strawberry. The improved recirculated system provided the environment with stable EC and pH value, which enable strawberry plants to grow much vigorous and produce more runners. The concentration of NO3-, K+, Ca2+, Mg+, and SO42- in the solution was measured, and the ion content and consumption in the solution was calculated. A new solution was designed for reducing the frequency of solution renewing and release the plants from suffering the accumulation of certain ion according to the solution analysis. For reducing the labor cost, the cultivation support for easy rooting is also testing. Keywords: solution ion content, solution ion consumption, cultivation support. 2. INTRODUCTION Plant factory with artificial light (PFAL), an airtight warehouse-like structure with the characters of thermally insulated, humidity stable and pathogen-free (Kozai, 2013), benefits plant growth in undesirable season or environment. In addition, land use efficiency may promote several folds by multiple culture shelves design. Therefore, the application of PFAL in planting shorter plants (<30 cm) is favorable particularly in the country with high population density. Hydroponic culture is one of the soilless culture usually applied inside the facilities. Closed hydroponic is a growing system that the nutrient solution is recycled instead of released into the environment (Ruijs, 1992). According to the depth of nutrient solution, there are deep-flow technique (DFT) and nutrient film technique (NFT) systems (Jensen, 1999). In closed system, growth of strawberry is often stunted in regardless by DFT or NFT systems due to the accumulation of root exudates and spread of soil-borne pathogens (Kitazawa et al., 2005; Martíneza et al., 2010). Methods to alleviate the deleterious effects developed such as adding activated charcoal, electrodegradation or applying sand filters (Asao et al., 2008; Kitazawa et al., 2005; Martíneza et al., 2010). In our previous study, we grew strawberry in PFAL-DFT system, and the plants stopped growing right after moving 114.

(12) into the system and severe physiological disorder was gradually appeared within the following 2 weeks. The phenomenon revealed that factors aside from the accumulation of toxic root exudates may strongly interfere plant growth (Hung, 2013). We hypothesized that recirculation driven pump might be the cause. Therefore, the objective of this study was first to replace the submersible motor with non-submersible types to evaluate the possibility of planting strawberry in Enshi solution with closed hydroponic system in PFAL. We also emphasized on enhancing daughter plant production and estimating the turn-over rate of the mother plant in the production system.. 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant material ‘Taoyuan No.1’ was the selected cultivar in this study. The mother plants were cultivated from daughter plants for 8-9 weeks in hydroponic system in NTU plant factory A3 room with temperature setting at 20 oC and lighting period for 16 hr. The cultivating shelves composed 3-4 cultivating bed vertically, each cultivating bed was 110 cm x 50 cm in size and equipped with 9 Philips TL5 fluorescent lamps (28W/865 6500K) 25 cm above. The light intensity was 360-160μmol m-2 s-1 measured form 5 cm below the lamps to the cultivating plane. Data logger (UA-002-64, Onset Hobo, MA, USA) were placed on the central of cultivating bed, and the actual temperature recorded was 24 /19oC (light /dark). The leaves of mother plants were trimmed every week and maintain to have 2-3 leaves to avoid shading. The new leaf generation, leaf area after old leaf removal, crown diameter, SPAD value (SPAD-502, Spectrum Technologies, Plainfield, IL, USA) and runner formation was recorded weekly in Experiment I (Exp I). The new leaf was characterized as they unfolded. In experiment II, runner and daughter plant formation was recorded at harvest when the daughter plants cover the cultural plane. Hydroponic system Experiment I (Exp I) was testing recirculation system against non-circulation system. The recirculation systems were driven by booster and magnetic drive pumps, and which were tested against the non-circulation system (CK). The culture solution in Exp I was Enshi (E) (Kitazawa et al., 2005), and modified Enshi (ME) was formulated according to the nutrient consumption of Exp I in experiment II (Exp II). In recirculation system, the solution of Exp I was adjusted every 8 days by suppling nutrient solution. In Exp II, the solution was adjusted weekly either by suppling nutrient solution (EC ≤ 0.75 ds/m) or water to the tank. The pH was titrated to 6.5 after the supplement.The hydroponic solution was sampled before and after the adjustment for HPLC (IA-300, DKK-TOA Corporation, Japan, Cationic column: PCI-205l, Anion column:PCI-322) analysis in Exp I. The solution in non-circulation system was renewed in the interval of 8 days. The duration of Exp I was 48 days; the recirculation solution was renewed every 8 weeks in Exp II. 115.

(13) Data Anallysis The experiment e was arrangged in a com mpletely ran ndom designn. All data w were analyzzed by Fisher least signifficant differrence (LSD D) test (P< 0.05) and subjected tto analysis of variance (A ANOVA). Graphing G was performeed with Sigma Plot 10.0 (Systat S Software, In nc., San Jose, CA, C USA). 4. RE ESULTS Magnetic drive pump p-recirculaation system m can grow w strawberrry hydropoonically The appearancee of the plannts was inddistinguishab ble among the plants tthat grown in recirculatioon and non--circulation system witthin the 8 weeks w of expperimental pperiod (Fig 1). The shoot biomass, booth fresh annd dry weight, were sig gnificant higgher in recirrculation th han non-circulaation system m in regarrdless of booster b and d magnetic drive pum mp (Table 1); however, the t root grrowth show wed no diffference amo ong the 3 systems. T The pH vallue maintainedd rather connstant, rangging 6.2-7.0, througho out the expperimental period in the t recirculatioon systems (Fig 2). In I non-circuulation systtem, the pH H value drropped to 5.5 5 within the first 2 dayys right afteer the renew wing of thee solution and a climbingg back to 6.5 6 gradually in the folloowing dayss. For the EC value, magnetic drive-pump d recirculation system andd non-circuulation systeem maintainned closed to t the settinng 0.6, whille the boostter pump-recirrculation syystem kept climbing c and up to 0.84 4 (Fig 3).. Fig 1. The growth of ‘Taoyuan No.1’ N grownn under (A) non-circulaation system m, (B) boostter pum mp and (C) magnetic m d drive pump--recirculatio on systems. The photo was taken at 41st days afterr transferreed into thee systems. The hydrroponic sollution of the t non--circulation system was w refreshhed in eveery 8 dayss. The expperiment was w condducted from m 23 Jul. to 9 Sep. 20144. 116.

(14) Table 1. The biomass of ‘Taoyuan No.1’ strawberry at the end of the comparable experiment among non-circulation system, booster pump and magnetic drive pump-recirculation systems. The experimental duration was 48 days. Shoot Root S/R z Dry Dry System FW DW FW matter DW (g) matter DW ratio (g) (g) (g) (%) (%) Non-circulation 34.67 a 13.22 a 38.12 a 30.64 a 3.76 a 12.29 a 8.14a Booster pump 38.25 a 14.03 a 36.68 a 31.93 a 3.64 a 11.41 a 8.76a Magnetic pump 41.00 a 14.30 a 34.87 a 36.99 a 4.05 a 10.94 a 9.14a y LSD0.05 NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Non-circulation 34.67 b 13.22 b 38.12 a 30.64 a 3.76 a 12.29 a 8.14a Booster pump 38.25 a 14.03 a 36.68 a 31.93 a 3.64 a 11.41 a 8.76a LSD0.05 * * NS NS NS NS NS Non-circulation 34.67 b 13.22 b 38.12 a 30.64 b 3.76 a 12.29 a 8.14a Magnetic pump 41.00 a 14.30 a 34.87 b 36.99 a 4.05 a 10.94 b 9.14a LSD0.05 ** * ** * NS ** NS Booster pump 38.25 a 14.03 a 36.68 a 31.93 a 3.64 a 11.41 a 8.76a Magnetic pump 41.00 a 14.30 a 34.87 a 36.99 a 4.05 a 10.94 a 9.14a LSD0.05 NS NS NS NS NS NS NS z Two recirculation system was with 2 replicates, and each replicate was with 12 plant. The non-circulation system was with 12 plants. y Statistical analyses were conducted using ANOVA (Costat 6.2, CoHort Software, USA) and the means compared with LSD test with a significance level p< 0.05.. 8.0 7.5 7.0. pH value. 6.5 6.0 5.5 5.0 Non-circulation system Booster pump Magnetic drive pump. 4.5. 0.0 7/31. 8/2. 8/4. 8/6. 8/8. 8/10. 8/12. 8/14. 8/16. 8/18. 8/20. 8/22. 8/24. 8/26. 8/28. 8/30. 9/1. 9/3. 9/5. 9/7. 9/9. Date. Fig 2. The variation of pH values in the hydroponic solution of the recirculation and non-circulation hydroponic systems, and the recirculation hydroponic system was driven by booster and magnetic drive pumps. ‘Taoyuan No.1’ was planted in the experiment from 23 Jul. to 9 Sep. 2014. 117.

(15) 0.85. 0.80. -1. EC (ds m ). 0.75. 0.70. 0.65. 0.60. 0.55. 0.50 8/26. 8/28. 8/30. 9/1. 9/3. Date. 9/5. 9/7. 9/9 Non-circulation system Booster pump Magnetic drive pump. Fig 3. The variation of EC values in the hydroponic solution of the recirculation and non-circulation hydroponic systems, and the recirculation hydroponic system was driven by booster and magnetic drive pumps. ‘Taoyuan No.1’ was planted in the experiment from 23 Jul. to 9 Sep. 2014.. The nutrient consumption was not significant different between the 2 recirculation systems (Fig 4). There were severe solution splitting in the booster pump-recirculation system in the second week due to sudden increase of pressure; therefore, the consumption of second week was over calculated. The result also showed that current nutrient management resulted NO3- depletion and SO42- accumulation at the end of Exp I.. 118.

(16) Magnetic drive pump. Booster pump. 12000. 80. +. 8000 60 6000 40. 4000. 20. 2D Graph 6. 2000. 2+. Consumption content of Ca (mg). 0 1800. 0 100. 1600 1400. 80. 1200 60. 1000 800. 40 600 400. 20. 200 0. 0. 2+. Consumption content of Mg (mg). 1600. 100. 1400 80. 1200 1000. 60 800 40. 600 400. 20 200 0 12000. 0. 10000 80. -. Consumption content of NO3 (mg). 100. 8000 60 6000 40 4000. 20. 2000. 0. 0. 5000. 2-. Consumption content of SO4 (mg). Percentage of accumulative consumption content (%). Consumption content of K (mg). 100 10000. 100. 4000. 80. Consumption Accumulative consumption Percentage of accumulative consumption. 3000. 60. 2000. 40. 1000. 20. 0. 0 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. Cycle. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Cycle. Fig 4. The ion consumption of each cycle and accumulative consumption in recirculation system. Recirculation hydroponic system was driven by booster pump and magnetic drive pumps. Each cycle was 8 days becaused the non-circulation system renewed its solution. ‘Taoyuan No.1’ was planted in the experiment from 23 Jul. to 9 Sep. 2014. 119.

(17) Modified Enshi solution increases daughter plant production Enshi solution was modified to increase N content and decrease SO42- content according to the result of Exp I, and the modified solution was designated as modified Enshi (ME). The effect of solution on daughter plant production was evaluated for 6 lots of harvest. There was no interaction between solution and harvest lots on leaf and runner formation, crown diameter, SPAD value, leaf area and daughter plant generation (Table 2). ME solution increased accumulated runner formation, leaf SPAD value and area, and daughter plant generation (Table 2 and Fig 5). Harvest lots significantly affected the parameters mentioned above. The total daughter plant production was significantly higher in ME (Table 3). Nearly all the daughter plants survived after 3 weeks of acclimation and can be used as healthy mother plants. 550 40. (B). (A) 500. 38. 450 2. Leaf area (cm ). SPAD value. 36 34 32. 400 350 300 250. 30 ME E. ME E. 0. 0 0. 5. 10. 15. 20. 0. 5. Weeks 8. 10. 15. 20. 15. 20. Weeks 14.5. (C) (C) (C). (D) 14.0. Crown diameter (mm). Number of new leaves. 13.5 ME E. 6. 4. 2. 13.0 12.5 12.0 11.5 11.0. ME E 0. 0.0 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Lots. 00. 16. 9 2. 12 3. 14 4. 17 5. 20 6. Weeks. 0. 5. 10. Weeks. Fig 5. The effect of hydroponic solution on the growth of strawberry ‘Taoyuan No.1’. (A)The SPAD value of the youngest fully expanded leaf, (B) the leaf area, (C) the accumulative new leaves, and (D) the crown diameter of mother plant were recorded after daughter plant harvesting. In the recirculation hydroponic systems, the modified Enshi(ME) and Enshi(E) solution were tested and refreshed every 8 weeks. The experiment was conducted from 13 Feb. to 3 Jul. 2017.. 120.

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(19) 5. DISCUSSION Replacing submersible pump with booster or magnetic drive pumps in DFT system, strawberry plants maintained healthy throughout the whole experimental period (Fig 1) indicated that pump type affected nutrient supplement in DFT system. The plants in the magnetic drive pump-recirculation system increased 18% of shoot weight and 21% of root weight (Table 1). Kitazawa et al (2005) suggested that the growth of strawberry plants in closed hydroponic system may be inhibited by their root exudates including lactic acid, benzoic acid, succinic acid, adipic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acids. In addition, all the exudates inhibited root growth but only benzoic acid affected shoot growth. The deleterious effects of those organic acids might be alleviated by activated charcoal absorbing or electrodegradating (Asao et al., 2008; Kitazawa et al., 2005); however, the decrease in vegetative growth remained to be solved. The factor that hinder plant growth in submersible pump driven system was immediate and vanished by replacing driven power revealed that the cause was different from root exudates. The magnetic drive pump-recirculation system was selected for further study due to its stable pH and EC values (Fig 2 and 3). Enshi solution composed both NO3- and NH4+. Plant root tends to absorb NH4+ first when both types of N exists in the nutrient solution and releases H+ accompanying the absorption, as the result the solution pH would decrease (Ikeda, 1983). In current test, nearly all NH4+ was absorbed within 8 days in all systems tested (data not shown). Therefore, the pH of the non-circulation system dropped within the first 2 days after each solution renewing and climbing up in the following 6 days (Fig 2). In recirculation system, NH4+ concentration remained very low in the following weeks indicating the solution adjustment each week did not alter NH4+ concentration, and that can explain the maintain of pH value (6.2-7.0). The ion consumption was more stable in magnetic drive pump-recirculation system (Fig 4). Since the NO3- supplement in weekly adjustment is less than weekly consumption, N source will be run out in 8 weeks in current solution management. On the other hand, SO42- kept accumulating. For prolonging the recirculation period, a modified Enshi solution was formulated and tested for daughter plant production. The vegetative growth of strawberry may be significantly affected by the ratio of + NH4 /NO3- in nutrient solution (Tabatabaei et al., 2006). Under the situation of same concentration of N, the fertigation solution contained NO3- as sole N source or high NH4+ would resulted in less vegetative growth, and NH4+/NO3- between 25:75 and 50:50 may produce more leaf, higher fresh and dry weight and larger leaf area. In our hydroponic 122.

(20) system, the N concentration was increased in modified Enshi solution and its NH4+/NO3was also modified from 7:93 to 17:83. The comparative study showed that modified Enshi solution resulted in higher SPAD value, larger leaf area, more runner and daughter plant production (Table 2). In the recirculation period, pH value may drop to 4 in the first 2 weeks due to higher NH4+/NO3-; however, no visible physiological difference between treatments was observed. Due to the variation of leaf area and crown diameter, the experiment was stopped at 6th lot of harvest. In the magnetic drive pump-recirculation system, the daughter plant production was 13.48 and 12.52·m-2·week·layer for modified Enshi and Enshi solution. Both the hydroponic rooted and unrooted daughter plants grew well in pots and could be used as mother plants of next generation or transplanted to the field for fruiting. We concluded that recirculation hydroponic system in closed plant factory can be used as a bioreactor for daughter plant production and modified Enshi solution may increase 8% of yield.. 6. Literature cited 1.. 2. 3.. 4. 5.. 6.. 7.. Asao, T., Kitazawa, H., Ban, T., Pramanik, M. H. R. and Tokumasa, K. 2008. Electrodegradation of root exudates to mitigate autotoxicity in hydroponically grown strawberry (Fragaria× ananassa Duch.) plants. HortScience, 43(7): 2034-2038. Hung, Y. W. 2013. Study on producing strawberry runners with a hydroponics system in plant factory. Master Thesis, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Ikeda, H. and Osawa, T. 1983. Effects of ratios of NO3 to NH4 and concentrations of each N source in the nutrient solution on growth and leaf N constituents of vegetable crops and solution pH. Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science, 52(2): 159-166. Jensen, M. H. 1997. Hydroponics worldwide. Acta Horticulturae 481: 719-729. Kitazawa, H., Asao, T., Ban, T. Pramanik, M. H. R. and Hosoki, T. 2005. Autotoxicity of root exudates from strawberry in hydroponic culture. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 80(6): 677-680. Kozai, T. 2013. Resource use efficiency of closed plant production system with artificial light: Concept, estimation and application to plant factory. Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B, 89(10): 447-461. Martínez, F., Castillo, S., Carmona, E. and Avilés, M. 2010. Dissemination of Phytophthora cactorum, cause of crown rot in strawberry, in open and closed soilless growing systems and the potential for control using slow sand filtration. Scientia horticulturae, 125(4): 756-760.. 123.

(21) 8. 9.. Ruijs, M. N. A. 1992. Economic evaluation of closed production systems in glasshouse horticulture. Acta Horticulturae 340: 87-94. Tsukagoshi, S., Ito, T. and Shinohara, Y. 1994. The Effect of Nutrient Concentration and NH4-N Ratios to the Total Nitrogen on the Growth, Yield and Physiological Characteristics of Strawberry Plants. Environment Control in Biology, 32(1): 61-66.. 124.

(22) Yield prediction of hydroponic grown lettuce base on nutrient uptake in plant factory Shih-Wei Kong and Wei Fang Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University. 1. Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop a yield prediction model by measuring amount of nutrient uptake in plant factory for hydroponically grown lettuce. An automated system was developed to control pH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) of nutrient solution and measuring the amount of nutrient absorbed. The integral nutrient uptake in full day, light period and dark period were compared with fresh mass of lettuce after harvested. The result shown the integral nutrient uptake in full day had best linear relationship (R2: 0.95) with the fresh mass harvested. This system can predict the fresh mass of lettuce harvested after 3 days of pure water treatment for nitrate control, and can also be used as early warning mechanism when the nutrient absorbed are low compare with normal conditions. Keywords: nutrient uptake, plant factory, yield prediction, lettuce, hydroponics. 2. Introduction Plant factory is sustainable and environmentally sound for the growth of plants. It used much less amount of water, nutrition, and labor when compare with traditional open field and greenhouse production. A plant factory using only artificial light and enriched CO2 are normally air-tight with very low air-exchange rate and no pesticides are needed during cultivation. Light, air temperature, humidity, wind speed, water, CO2 concentration, pH and EC of solution, etc. were controlled in order to create an artificial and efficient cultivation environment in an indoor space. Hydroponic cultivation system is the most commonly used in plant factory. It has several advantages, such as: optimal efficiency in the use of water and nutrients, shortening life cycle of plant, fast economic return, dispensing crop rotation and with high environmental benefit (Vernieri et al., 2005). In addition, hydroponic cultivation has been reported not only to be associated to higher production yields but also to allow better control and standardization of the cultivation process, thus reducing overall production costs (Nicola et al., 2005; Fallovo et al., 2009). In hydroponic crops, nutrients play a key. 125.

(23) role in the quality and productivity of crops. The balanced application of nutrients (macro and micro elements) is vital in determining the quality of the product (Abou-Hadid et al., 1996). An automated system was developed to control pH and concentration of nutrient solution in this study, and measured the amount of nutrient absorption to assess mass of lettuce with the assumption that the lettuce growth and nutrient uptake are directly related. Expecting this system keep abreast of the physiological state of lettuce, and help user to manage plant factory.. 3. Materials and Methods Plant Material and Growth Conditions Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Ostinata, Known-You Seed Co., Taiwan) was cultured hydroponically using the deep flow technique (DFT) in an environmental controlled confined chamber (5 m2). Lettuce seeds were soaked for 5 hours then sown into plug trays, using foam/sponge cube as growth media, allow germination and growth for 14 days (stage 1: seeding stage) under cool-white florescent lamp (relative peaks at 436, 546 and 611 nm, Wellypower, Taiwan) with PPF at 250 μmol·m-2·s-1 in a growth chamber. The temperature and humidity of the chamber were kept at 20℃ and 70 ~ 80 % with a 24 hours light period (Daily Light Integral: 21.6 mol·m-2·day-1). In stage 2 (day 15 to day 28; seedling stage) and 3 (day 29 to day 35; mature stage), the seedling were transplanted to another room with Day/Night temperature of 25/18 °C and humidity of 70 ~ 80 % and used light-emitting diodes (LED) as light sources with daily light integral (DLI) of 10.08 mol·m-2·day-1 (200 μmol·m-2·s-1, Light/Dark: 14/10 hours). In stage 4 (day 36 to day 38; harvest stage), nutrient solution was replaced with pure water for nitrate control and harvested at 38th days after seeding. The CO2 concentration was kept at 1200 ppm in light period. Plant densities were 824 plants m-2 from day 0 to day 14, 52 plants m-2 from day 15 to day 28 and 17 plants m-2 from day 29 to day 38. Yamazaki’s nutrient solution (Yamazaki, 1982) was used for experiments. The pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of nutrient solution were kept at 5.5 and 1.2 mS·cm-1, respectively with an automatic adjusting equipment. Planting Schedule As mentioned above, production is separated into 4 stages: 1. seeding, 2. seedling, 3. mature, 4. harvest stage. The seeding stage is conducted in a growth chamber and other 3 stages were in a confined environmental controlled room within the plant factory of. 126.

(24) National Taiwan University. The crop is grown in a 3-layer bench; the top layer is the cultivation area of seedling stage anddivided into area A and B. The second and third layers are for the mature (nutrient solution for 7 days) and harvest stages (pure water for 3 days) after transplanting from top layer area Aand B, respectively. The nutrient solution used in stages 2 and 3 (15 to 35 days after seeding) were recorded by measuring amounts of stock solution A and B added into the solution tank. The planting schedule was shown in Fig. 1. The seeds were seeded in seeding area A from day 0 today 14 (seeding stage), then transfer to seedling area Afrom day 15 today 28 (seedling stage), then moved to harvest area A from day 29 today 35 (mature stage). On day 35, the nutrient solution of harvest area A was was replaced with pure water for nitrate control and harvested after 3 days (on day 38).When seeding area A becomes empty at day 15, enter the 3rdbatch oflettuce immediately. On day 29, the seedling area becomes empty allowing 3rd batch of lettuce to move in. On day 42,harvest area A was empty allowing 3rd batch of lettuce at day 28 to move in. The integral nutrient uptake in full day, light (08:00 am ~ 22:00 pm) and dark (22:00 pm ~ 08:00 am) periods were compared with fresh mass of lettuce after harvested. Nutrient Uptake Measurement Methods and Equipment The hydroponic nutrient control system consists of control box, EC/pH electrodes, peristaltic pumps (flow rate: 48.81 ± 1.35 mL min-1), stock solution tanks, acid liquor storage tank (0.1 M, H3PO4) and water circulating pump. The water level of hydroponic tank was maintained by liquid level sensor and electronic valve. When the water level of hydroponic tankwas lower thanliquid level sensor, electronic valve will open to add water.After30 sec, the water level in tank will be checked using liquid level sensor until water level was equal or higher than liquid level sensor. The amount of water added was recorded. The EC values of stock solutions A and B are 88.3 and 83.3 mS cm-1, respectively and pH are 5 and 6.54, respectively. The amount of A or B stock solution used in nutrient supplement were equal, and were recorded by programmable logic controller (PLC) and computer. The nutrient control system was used at seedling and mature stages. The amount of nutrient absorbed was measured by recording the amount of stock solutions A and B added to the system from day 15 to day 35 after seeding. This study compared the overall nutrient uptake in full day, light (08:00 am ~ 22:00 pm) period and dark (22:00 pm ~ 08:00 am) period with fresh mass of lettuce after harvested.. 127.

(25) Measurement of Basic Nutrient Uptake of Lettuce Crops at different growth period would have different nutrient absorption rate. Figure 1 showed that at day 29 the cultivation bed has 3 lettuce crops grown at day 15, 22and 29 at the same time, thus leading to a complex situation that the amount of nutrient absorbed is not equally contributed by 3 crops. An experiment was designed to reveal the amount of nutrient uptake day after day. Totally 112 lettuces were grown at seedling stage (from day 15 to day 28), and 75 plants were selected then transplant to harvest area to begin the mature stage (from day 29 to day 35). The amount of nutrient solution absorbed was recorded from day 15 to day 35.. Figure 1. The planting schedule of lettuce.. Recording Software The parameters of air (temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide) and nutrient solution (EC, pH and absorption) were recorded (LabVIEW, National Instruments, USA) on a remote computer every ten minutes. The equipment can be controlled through AP (Access Point) with TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) in a Wi-Fi environment.. 4. Results and Discussion Measurement of Basic Nutrient Uptake of Lettuce The amount of nutrient solution absorbed by lettuces in a batch at week 3, 4 and 5 was shown in table 1. The amount of nutrient solution absorbed increased along with week of growth. The fresh mass of lettuce cultivated after 28, 35 and 38 days from seeding was 37.75 ± 6.69 g, 93.24 ± 8.33 g and 111.8 ± 13.22 g, respectively. The nitrate concentration of lettuce harvested at day 38 after seeding was 2630 ± 351 ppm. 128.

(26) Table 1. The amount of nutrient uptake and the ratio of total nutrient uptake with lettuce each week growth. Nutrient uptake Growth time Single week (mL) Ratio of total (%) Three week (NSt-2) Four week (NSt-1) Five week (NSt). 68.17 151.47 230.71. 15 34 51. The Relationship between Nutrient Uptake and Fresh mass Values of Table 1 can be integrated as shown in Eq. [1]: =. × 0.15 +. × 0.34 +. × 0.51. (1). The crop at different growth period would have different nutrient absorption rateTotal amount of nutrient solution absorbed by lettuce (NAt, growth over 38 days) on week t can be considered as the 3 week total with 15%, 34% and 51% weighing factors in each week. A simplify equation was also proposed using only 2 weeks data assuming the 3rd week before harvest will be the same with the 2nd week as shown in Eq. [2], where NSt-2 was assumed equals to NSt-1, thus Eq. [1] could be modified as below: =. × 0.49 +. × 0.51. (2). The total amount of nutrient solution absorbed (NAt) was assumed positively correlated with the average fresh mass ( ) harvested on t week plus 3 days of pure water treatment as shown in Eq. [3]. =. ∙. +. (3). The amounts of stock solution added per week were measured continuously from 2014/05/12 to 2014/10/27. The result of relationship between nutrient solution absorbed and fresh mass of lettuce were calculated by Eq. [3] as shown in Fig. 2 (NAt estimated by Eq. [1]) and Fig. 3 (NAt estimated by Eq. [2]).. 129.

(27) Figure 2 The relationship between fresh mass of harvested lettuce and the integral nutrient uptake through three consecutive weeks. NAt estimated by Eq. [1] had better coefficient of determination (R2: 0.9789) than estimated by Eq. [2] (R2: 0.9524). It is quite reasonable that using consecutive 3 weeks of data has higher accuracy. However less dataset can be generated due to interruption of maintenance tasks conducted in a plant factory and also some other reasons. The experiment was interrupted four times due to equipment failure, and replacement of carbon dioxide tank. Only 5 sets of complete data were generated as shown in Fig. 3. Due to the difference of coefficients of determination between NAt estimated by Eq. [1] and Eq. [2] were small and also 0.95 is an acceptable value. NAt estimated by Eq. [2] was adopted due to the convenience of equipment measuring in subsequent calculations.. Figure 3. The relationship between fresh mass of harvested lettuce and the integral nutrient uptake through two consecutive weeks. 130.

(28) As shown in Fig. 4, the values of nutrient absorption integrated during full day had the better coefficient of determination (R2: 0.9524) than integrated during only light (R2: 0.795) or dark (R2: 0.7295) period.. Figure 4. The relationship between fresh mass of lettuce harvested and the integral nutrient uptake in full day, light (08:00 am ~ 22:00 pm) and dark (22:00 pm ~ 08:00 am) periods.. The hydroponic system using the deep flow technique (DFT) had more water, and the time of nutrient solution adjusting was too long. So lettuce absorbing nutrient in light period might been counted to the dark period. This bias could be the reason that counting only light period is less accurate compare with counting the whole day. In order to calculate the amount of nutrient solution absorbed per plant, the Eq. [4] was derived. =. ×. × 0.49. +. × 0.51. +. (4). NOPtwas the number of plants grown from day 29 to day 35 (75 plants in seedling stage), and NOPt-1was the number of plants grown from day 15 to day 28 (112 plants in mature stage). The result of relationship between nutrient solution absorbed per plant and fresh mass of lettuce were calculated by Eq. [4] as shown in Eq. [5] (R2: 0.9576).. 131.

(29) = 27.077 ×. × 0.49 + 112. × 0.51 + 5.8875 (5) 75. Note that the Eq. [5] can be used only for the harvested fresh mass in between 73.90 and 101.19 g. A system of nutrient absorption based yield prediction model/method of hydroponically grown lettuce was developed. The values of nutrient absorption integrated throughout the whole day had the best liner relationship with fresh mass of harvested lettuce compare with counting only the light period or dark period. It can predict the fresh mass of harvested lettuce after three days of pure water treatment to reduce nitrate concentration. In the future, more experiments will be conducted and an early warning mechanism will be included. A week by week reasonable amount of nutrient solution consumption can be predicted and compare with actual consumption and decision support tool can be developed accordingly.. 5. Literature Cited 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. Abou-Hadid, A.F., Abd-Elmoniem, E.M., EL-Shinawy, M.Z. and Abou-Elsoud, M. 1996. Electrical conductivity effect on growth and mineral composition of lettuce plants in hydroponic system. Acta Hort. 434: 59-66. Fallovo, C., Rouphael, Y., Rea, E., Battistelli, A. and Colla, G., 2009. Nutrient solution concentration and growing season affect yield and quality of Lactuca sativa L. var. acephala in floating raft culture. J. of the Science of Food Agric. 89: 1682-1689. Nicola, S., Hoeberechts, J., Fontana, E., 2005. Comparison between traditional and soilless culture systems to produce rocket (Eruca sativa) with low nitrate content. Acta Hort. 697: 549-555. Vernieri, P., Borghesi, E., Ferrante, A. and Magnani, G. 2005. Application of biostimulants in floating system for improving rocket quality. J. of Food, Agri. and Environment. 3(3&4): 86-88.. 132.

(30) Bioponics for lettuce production in plant factory with artificial lighting Wei Fang, Hsin-Ying Chung Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University. 1. Abstract Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting (PFAL) gains worldwide attention and the most popular culturing system is hydroponics which pure soluble inorganics fertilizers were used. The manufacturing process of these fertilizers are not environmental friendly. A new trend termed ‘Bioponics’ using organic fertilizer brought to our attention. This study aims at using two organic fertilizers (BIO N and BIO NK, Swiss Hydroponics Lab.) in a DFT system in PFAL producing Frill-ice lettuce, Boston lettuce and Frilly lettuce. Using Yamazaki formula (inorganic fertilizer) as the control group. The environmental settings of the PFAL are as follows: PPFD kept at 200 μmol m-2s-1, day/night temperature at 25/18℃ and CO2 concentration at 1200 ppm. Results showed that the control group has the highest fresh mass in Frill-ice lettuce. Bioponics treatments greatly reduced the nitrate concentration of all lettuce and increased the fresh mass of Frilly lettuce. BIO N is not suitable for Boston lettuce. Further studies will be conducted using BIO NK and the Frill-ice lettuce. Using organic fertilizer in PFAL looks promising, however, the products of Bioponics can be considered organic products or not is still in controversy. Keywords: Bioponics, Hydroponics, Deep Flow Technique, Organic. 2. INTRODUCTION Soilless culture is a widely and frequently used technique to grow plant without soil. It can use organic or inorganic substitute materials such as bark or rockwool or non-solid materials. Hydroponics is subset of the soilless culture using circulated nutrient solution. It provides a considerable degree of control of the elemental environment surrounding the root. Hydroponic cultivation systems have been developed to control soil-borne pathogens (Uyeda, et al., 2011) and especially powerful in element-deficit research. The ability to use organic fertilizer in hydroponics has been studied as a method to grow crops in space habitats (Garland, et al., 1997). The results showed direct use of organic fertilizer proved to be deleterious to plant growth. Due to environmental protection and food safety reasons, organic agriculture bring lots of public attention. Many people considered organic agriculture can also provide more nutritious food with better taste. It is controversial. The National Organic Standards 133.

(31) Board(NOSB) is a Federal Advisory Board in the USA made up of 15 dedicated public volunteers from across the organic community. In 2016, NOSB announced a definition for the term ‘bioponics’ as below: Bioponics is a contained and controlled growing system in which plants in growing media derive nutrients from plant-based, animal-based and mineral natural substances which are released by the biological activity of microorganisms. Aquaponics and organic hydroponics fit the definition of bioponics. There are three major roles in aquaponics: fish/prawn, plant and beneficial bacteria. The fish/prawn wastes and uneaten feeds contained ammonia, which dissolved in water becomes ammonium ion, which can be nitrified by bacterial to become nitrate ion and nitrite ion. Both ammonium and nitrate ions are nutrient to the plants. Traditional hydroponics use inorganic fertilizer in the circulated nutrient solution, organic hydroponics replace inorganic fertilizer with organic fertilizer which maybe combination of extracts from agriculture waste and/or plants/animals. Shinohara, et al. (2011) compare the production of hydroponically grown tomato using organic and inorganic fertilizers. Results appeared that roots grown with inorganic fertilizer had no root hairs and large numbers of root hairs developed on the roots of tomato grown with fish-based soluble fertilizer. The hairs were also covered with biofilms Organic hydroponics can also induced systemic resistance (ISR) in lettuce against air-borne Botrytis cinerea, which causes gray mold (Chinta, et al., 2015). It can be stated that organic fertilizer can enhance/induce the growth of root hair thus providing better absorption of nutrients and less air-borne bacterial induced diseases, leading to better growth and yields. The production of inorganic fertilizer from mineral to powder required lots of energy and creates lots of pollutants. The shipping and transporting of inorganic fertilizer from manufacturing sites to the sites of plant growth also required lots of energy thus it is non-environmental friendly compare with locally produced organic fertilizer. Most of the PFAL (Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting) uses multi-layer shelf equipped with hydroponic system such as NFT (Nutrient Film Technique), DFT (Deep Flow Technique) or E&F (Ebb and Flood). In such system, inorganic fertilizer are used. Recently, organic fertilizer was tested which also brought lots of attention. The purposes of this study was to test on three varieties of lettuce using two types of commercially available organic fertilizer in PFAL. To be used in confined environment such as PFAL, any material with bad smell is not allowed, thus leading to organic fertilizers extract from plant-waste a better choice.. 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS Culturing condition Three varieties of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), namely Frill-ice, Boston, and Frilly 134.

(32) were grown in the PFAL of National Taiwan University. All seeds are locally available. As shown in Table 1 is the treatment code of 3 stages: pre-treatment stage, seedling stage and mature stage. Treatments of nutrient solution are: Purpose for the pre-treatment stage is to culture the water, to allow the growth of nitrifying bacterial in order to reduce the concentration of NH4+ and increase the concentration of NO3-. It required 21 days before sowing (DBS). Inorganic fertilizer Yamazaki formula was used as the check and two organic fertilizers, BIO N and BIO NK (trade name of Swiss Hydroponics Lab) were tested in this study. Three types of lettuce were grown hydroponically from sowing to harvest for 42 days (Frill-ice lettuce) and 35 days (Boston and Frilly lettuce), fresh weight and minerals within the plants were analyzed. Table 1. Treatments and codes in stages of lettuce production with organic fertilizer Pre-treatment stage Seedling stage Mature stage Treatments DBS 21 DAS 0-14 DAS 15-35/42 CK. BIO N. -. N1_E1.2_p6.0_L200_ d918_H24_A25. N1_E1.2_p6.0_L250_H16_ d27_A25/18. N2_E0.4_W23_ DO8. N2_E0.4_p6.0_L200_ d918_H24_A25. N2_E0.4_p6.0_L250_H16_ d27_A25/18. N3_E0.4_W23_ N3_E0.4_p6.0_L200_ N3_E0.4_p6.0_L250_H16_ d27_A25/18 DO8 d918_H24_A25 Note: DAS: Days After Sowing DBS: Days Before Sowing Treatment code: Nx: N, Nutrient solutions N1: Yamazaki Nutrient solution recipe N2: BIO N (Swiss Hydroponics Lab) N3: BIO NK (Swiss Hydroponics Lab) Ex: E, Electrical conductivity (EC) of nutrient solution, x, Value of EC, Unit: mS.cm-1. px: p, pH value Lx: L, LED tube (cool white, color temperature 6500 K) x : Value of light intensity, Unit : μmo l.m-2.s-1. dx: d, Cropping density, x, Value of cropping density, Unit : plts.m-2 Hx: H, Duration of light period, x : Hours of light period per day, Unit :.hours day-1 A dT/nT: A, average day/night temperature, Unit :oC. W: W, Water temperature, Unit :oC DOx: DO, Dissolved oxygen, Unit : ppm. BIO NK. 135.

(33) Methods of measurement Fresh weight of the plant Remove roots and sponge, measured using electronic scale. Nitrate and ammonium contents in nutrient solution Reflectometer (Rqflex 10, Merck) with nitrate and ammonium test papers Mineral contents within the plants Take complete leaves, take 1g, frozen at -20 ° C for 48 hours grinding extraction dilution to the appropriate concentration (He et al., 1998). The samples were analyzed for their anion and cation contents using an ion analyzer (IA-300, DKK-TOA Corporation, Japan, Cationic column: PCI-205l, Anion column:PCI-322). Statistical analysis The results were analyzed using Duncan's multivariate analysis using statistical software SAS 9.1. Differences were considered significant when p < 0.05.. 4. RESULTS and DISCUSSION Saijai et al.(2016) used composted bark waste as the organic fertilizer in the water, pretreated for 21 days and found two beneficial bacterials: ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrosomonas) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrobacter) were involved in the conversion from NH4 to NO2, finally to NO3. Shinohara et al. (2011) found that in some aquaponics system failed to grow lettuce seedling, maybe due to too much ammonium in the water. That is lack of pre-treatment stage. Same conclusion was revealed in an early study by Atkin and Nichols (2004), they concluded that in an organic hydroponics, with only ammonium-nitrogen without nitrate-nitrogen will significantly suppressed lettuce growth. As mentioned above, organic fertilizer in nutrient solution required pre-treatment to allow ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacterial to grow. As shown in Fig. 1 and 2, the ammonium concentration increases in the beginning and start to decrease at day 14, while the nitrate concentration starts to increase. Nitrate concentration of BIO NK on day 21 is much higher than the nitrate concentration of BIO N on day 25.. 136.

(34) Fig. 1 Changes of nitrates and ammonium concentration in organic fertilizer (BIO N) during the pre-treatment stage 300. 50. NO3 NH4. 40. 200 30 150 20 100. NH4 Concentration, ppm. NO3 Concentration, ppm. 250. 10. 50. 0. 0 0. 5. 10. 15. 20. 25. Day. Fig. 2 Changes of nitrates and ammonium concentration in organic fertilizer (BIO NK) during the pre-treatment stage Fig. 3 shows three types of lettuce harvested under three types of nutrient solutions. Organic fertilizers seems to suppress the growth of Frill-ice lettuce. The leaf color seems to. 137.

(35) be lighter on Boston and Frilly lettuce grown using organic fertilizer. Frilly lettuce prefer BIO NK with highest fresh weight and Frill-ice prefer Yamazaki formula. Lettuce grown using inorganic fertilizer leads to higher nitrate content in the leaf and low nitrate content can be expected when grown using organic fertilizers as shown in Table 2. Similar results were also found by Shinohara et al. (2011). Reason might due to interaction between plant and microorganism. In most cases, plants grows slowly with organic fertilizer compare with plants grow with inorganic fertilizers, however, the human health benefit of greens with lower cellular nitrate-nitrogen may outweigh minor differences in yield as stated. This study with the add-in pre-treatment stage, as shown in Table 2 and Fig. 3, the fresh weight can be higher and merit of low nitrate concentration can be remain. Hanafy Ahmed et al. (2000) found that bio-fertilizers can not only reduce the nitrate content but also increase total sugars, total free amino acid and total soluble phenols of lettuce. It is suggested that plants may use the accumulated nitrate as an osmoticum and enables it to use more carbohydrates for plant structural growth, thus increasing the dry matter.. CK. BIO N. BIO NK. Frill ice Boston Frilly Fig. 3 Effects of different nutrient solutions on the growth of three types of lettuce (Frill ice lettuce, DAS 42. Boston and Frilly Lettuce, DAS 35. Bar = 10 cm).. 138.

(36) Table 2. Effects of different nutrient solutions on fresh weight and nitrate content of three types of lettuce Fresh weight (g). Nitrate content (ppm). Frill ice. Boston. Frilly. Frill ice. Boston. Frilly. CK. 82.3 a. 88.8 a. 75.0 c. 6113.5 a. 3251.4 a. 5449.0 a. BIO N BIO NK. 23.1 b 25.0 b. 64.1 b 92.1 a. 108.3 b 176.1 a. 888.4 c 1527.4 b. 1333.6 b 3908.7 a. 1159.0 c 2016.4 b. Means followed by the different letters in each column are significantly different at 5% level by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. n=10. As shown in Table 3, different nutrient solution has no impact on ammonium contents in the leaf of lettuce. Organic fertilizers lead to higher concentration of Na, Ca and Mg in leaf of lettuce. BIO NK leads to higher potassium in the leaf compare with BIO N. Lettuce grown in BIO NK can have similar concentration of potassium ions in the leaf compare with lettuce grown using Yamazaki formula. As shown in Table 2, the fresh weight of lettuce grown using BIO NK is much higher than grown using BIO N. Reasons might be not only BIO NK provides more nitrate but also higher potassium and less sodium concentrations. Organic fertilizers can be further improved by reducing the concentration of sodium. Table 3. Effects of 3 nutrient solutions on various ions in leaf of 3 types of lettuce. Treatments. CK. BIO N. BIO NK. Lettuce cultivars. NH4 (ppm). Na (mg/100g). K (mg/100g). Ca (ppm). Mg (ppm). Frill ice. 7.4 a. 2.9 d. 384.5 b. 253.6 c. 98.8 c. Boston. 7.6 a. 3.0 d. 412.5 ab. 234.8 c. 73.5 c. Frilly. 15.0 a. 3.4 d. 418.0 ab. 328.0 bc. 87.2 c. Frill ice. 9.1 a. 18.6 b. 170.8 d. 840.0 a. 291.3 a. Boston. 10.8 a. 26.5 a. 262.0 c. 946.7 a. 296.3 a. Frilly. 16.8 a. 19.3 b. 138.8 d. 567.5 b. 216.7 ab. Frill ice. 10.0 a. 8.8 c. 298.8 d. 192.7 c. 71.7 c. Boston. 10.5 a. 19.7 b. 484.0 a. 550.3 b. 185.6 b. Frilly. 10.3 a. 16.6 b. 403.5 ab. 546.7 b. 147.7 bc. Means followed by the different letters in each column are significantly different at 5% level by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. n=5. 139.

(37) 5. CONCLUSIONS Using organic liquid fertilizer in PFAL is quite promising for semi-head and leafy green production. Enhance the growth of root hair, reduce the nitrate concentration were proof by previous researchers and this study. This study further proof that with proper pre-treatment, without scarifying the fresh weight of the produces is possible. The environment in a PFAL is relatively clean. The plant-microorganism relationship can be proper managed to ensure efficient use of organic fertilizers. Most of the organic fertilizers can be locally produced and extracted from agricultural wastes, thus making the organic hydroponics more environmental friendly compare with traditional hydroponics using chemical fertilizers. In two types of organic fertilizer tested, BIO NK is preferred compare with BIO N due to rapid conversion from ammonium to nitrate, rapid growth of lettuce as well as proper concentration of minerals in lettuce. Organic fertilizers can be further improved by reducing the concentration of sodium. The need for pre-treatment stage seems to be the constraint of using organic liquid fertilizer if production time is of great concern. More study on add-in beneficial bacterial in organic hydroponic to reduce the duration of the pre-treatment time will be conducted.. 6. Literature cited 1. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6. 7.. Atkin, K., and M.A.Nichols. 2004. Organic Hydroponics Acta Hortic. 648,121-127. Chinta, Y.D., Y.Eguchi, A.Widiastuti, M.Shinohara, and T. Sato. 2015. Organic hydroponics induces systemic resistance against the air-borne pathogen, Botrytis cinerea (gray mould). Journal of Plant Interactions 10, 243-251. Garland, J.L., C.L. Mackowiak, R.F. Strayer, and B.W.Finger. 1997. Integration of waste processing and biomass production systems as part of the KSC Breadboard project. Advances in Space Research 20, 1821-1826. Hanafy Ahmed, A., J.Mishriky, and M.Khalil. 2002. Reducing nitrate accumulation in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants by using different biofertilizers. Annals of agricultural sciences. 47, 27-42. He, Y., S.Terabayashi, and T.Namiki. 1998. The Effects of Leaf Position and Time of Sampling on Nutrient Concentration in the Petiole Sap from Tomato Plants Cultured Hydroponically. Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science 67, 331-336. Jones, J.B. 1982. Hydroponics: Its history and use in plant nutrition studies. Journal of Plant Nutrition 5, 1003-1030. National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). 2016. Hydroponic and aquaponic task. 140.

(38) 8.. 9.. force report. p.15. Saijai, S., A.Ando, R. Inukai, M.Shinohara, and J.Ogawa. 2016. Analysis of microbial community and nitrogen transition with enriched nitrifying soil microbes for organic hydroponics. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry 80, 2247-2254. Shinohara, M., C.Aoyama, K. Fujiwara, A. Watanabe, H. Ohmori, Y. Uehara, and M. Takano. 2011. Microbial mineralization of organic nitrogen into nitrate to allow the use of organic fertilizer in hydroponics. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 57, 190-203.. 141.

(39) Status of Plant Factory Industry and Recent Research in Taiwan Wei FANG Dept. of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering. 1. Abstract Plant factory (PF) industry is booming in Taiwan. Especially the PF using only artificial light as the sole light source (PFAL in short) in multi-layer shelf with carbon dioxide enriched, in an air-tight and thermally insulated chamber/room. It catches global attention started in East Asia and now worldwide. This paper focuses on the introduction of current status of the industry in Taiwan and briefly introduces some research conducted in the Dept. of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University. Keywords: plant factory, Taiwan, industrialization, research, PFAL. 2. STATUS OF PFAL IN TAIWAN It was estimated that 70% of the population will live in the city compare with the current 50% (Kozai, 2014). This forecast simply means that urban agriculture will play more and more important role in supply of bio-mass. As mentioned by Glaeser (2011), for the sustainability of the Earth, the development of the city should go up instead of going out. It is the same for the development of urban agriculture –vertical farming, especially PFAL is the answer. Many people in Taiwan share the same thought. We do believe that PFAL can make us richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier. There are 45 organizations engaged in leafy green production using PFAL in Taiwan as of Sept. 2014. Totally 56 small to large PFs were built and operated. Among these 45 organizations, there are two research institutes, four Universities and 39 from private companies involved as shown in Fig. 1. The PFs built by Universities and research institutes were financially supported by inner funds and from the government and no support from the government to private companies.. 142.

(40) Fig.1 Distribution D of PFAL inn Taiwan cattegorized by y organizatiion before S Sept., 2014 Amonng those 56 PFs, 73%, 20% and 7% % are locatted in northeern, centrall and southeern Taiwan, respectively as a shown inn Fig. 2. Thee scale of PF Fs can be foound in Figg. 3, they weere categorizedd into six siizes based on o amount of o daily harv vested assuuming croppping density y is 25 plants per p square meter m of culltural bed. In I between the smallesst (< 100 pllants/day) and a largest (> 10000) are 100 to 5000, 500 to 10000, 1000 to t 5000 andd 5000 to 10000. Half of those PFs are small with w daily prroduction leess than 100 0 plants andd only one PF with daily productionn more thann 10000 plaants., they areprobably a the world largest l PF w with the daily harvest of 60000 plannts (2.5 tons of leafy greens). g Over 90% of PFAL P are located in one o room withiin a floor of o an office building, soome empty floor or baasement insiide a building in some inddustrial parkks of Taipeii area. Amonng those 56 PFs, 73%, 20% and 7% are locatted in northhern, centrall and southeern Taiwan, respectively as a shown inn Fig. 2. Thee scale of PF Fs can be foound in Figg. 3, they weere categorizedd into six siizes based on o amount of o daily harv vested assuuming croppping density y is 25 plants per p square meter m of culltural bed. In I between the smallesst (< 100 pllants/day) and a largest (> 10000) are 100 to 5000, 500 to 10000, 1000 to t 5000 andd 5000 to 10000. Half of those PFs are small with w daily prroduction leess than 100 0 plants andd only one PF with daily productionn more thann 10000 plaants., they areprobably a the world largest l PF w with the daily harvest of 60000 plannts (2.5 tons of leafy greens). g Over 90% of PFAL P are located in one o room withiin a floor of o an office building, soome empty floor or baasement insiide a building in some inddustrial parkks of Taipeii area.. 143.

(41) Fig.2 Geoggraphical disstribution of PFAL in Taiwan T befoore Sept., 20014. Fig.3 Number N of PFAL P in Taiw wan categorrized by daiily productiion before S Sept., 2014 Some companies started to export e and built turn-k key PFs abrroad, mainly in China as shown in Fig. F 4. Up too now, totally 11 projeccts took placce and seveeral has com mpleted exceept two (in dasshed line), one o in Beijiing and onee in Xiamen n. These two were susppended due to some finanncial reasonns. Three outt of 11 builtt the PFs in their own branch b locatted in Chinaa.. 144.

(42) Fig.4 Export of turn-key PFALs from Taiwan to China. 3. PFAL EXPO IN TAIWAN To promote, exhibition and conference were held. PIDA (Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association) of Taiwan held photonics festival in Taipei, Taiwan for a consecutive of 23 years. PIDA is a NPO established by Taiwan Government to facilitate optoelectronic industry in Taiwan. Apart from an exhibition organizer, they also provide services such as industry research, consultation, promotion and communication in the industry and market. 2014 is the 3rd year they combine PF topic within the festival. Another two NPOs, Taiwan plant factory industrial development association (TPFIDA, founded in 2011) and Chung-hwa plant factory association (CPFA founded in 2012), were major co-organizers. The number of booths related to PFAL increased from 36 to 108 from 2012 to 2014. Among the PF booths of 2014 expo, most of the companies demonstrate hardware used in PFAL. Several of them showed various spectrums and controls of LED tubes and panels. Some showed locally developed or imported nutrient control system. One booth was the Mirai-company from Japan showed the PF turn-key capability. Also several local companies expressed their capability in setting up PFAL abroad. At least five companies demonstrated the home appliance style plant growth desktop device and three showed growth bench to be used in the shop/restaurant/super market with or without controlled environmental capability. One company shows the LED illuminated green wall with the 145.

(43) air-cleaning capability. One company shows the aquaponics system. One company showed a variety of by-product with the PF grown vegetable ingredients.. 4. PF Research 4.1 Costcomparison of PFAL Crops grown in PFAL can be separated into 4 types: RTC, RTE (Ready To Cook, Eat)and CAW, EAW (Cook, Eat After Wash). The retail price of RTE lettuce and CAW Pak-Choi varied a lot, ranged from NT$500 to 2000 and NT$200 to 300 per kg, respectively. As shown in Table 1 are average retail price and cost of lettuce producedatJapan / Taiwan’s PFALwithsame daily production of 1000 plants. There are some fundamental reasons for this dramatic difference on production cost. Mainly, high construction cost and equipment, especially the LED cost, lead to high depreciation and high laborcost and electricity cost lead to high operating cost. Table 1 Comparisons of retail price and cost of lettuce produced in Japan’s & Taiwan’s PFAL Lettuce Japan Taiwan ¥81 ～ 420^ Retail price* ¥150 ~ 200 ¥47 ～ 56^ Cost* ¥80 ~ 100 * in Japanese yen per 70 g fresh mass produced ^ exchange rate at 1 NT$ to 3 Japanese yen 4.2 Spectrums of LEDs used in PFAL As shown in Fig. 5 is the spectrums of artificial light used in PFAL of Taiwan. Assuming the cultural bed is at the same size (1.8 m x 1.2 m), the comparison on light efficiency of various lights was listed in Table 2. The row with shadowed background showed that the LED-panels are less efficient in general when compare with LED-tubes with reflective film between tubes. Also, the longer the tube, the higher the overall efficiency in terms of quantitative measures using micro-mole per Joule as the unit.. 146.