Plant factories nurture urban agriculture——
Rice grows 6 crops a year! Isn't it incense?
The reporter's common sense
A few days ago, good news came from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: The rice cultivation project jointly developed by the Plant Factory Innovation Team of the Institute of Urban Agriculture of the Academy and the Qian Qian team of the Chinese Rice Research Institute has made significant progress. Rice can be harvested only about 60 days after planting. The growth cycle of about 120 days in the field environment is shortened by nearly half. The comprehensive yield of a single-layer cultivation rack is 0.98 kg per square meter, which is equivalent to a yield of 652 kg per mu.
What is the significance of this achievement for promoting the rapid breeding of food crops, promoting the development of urban agriculture, and ensuring my country's food security?
The reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of the plant factory innovation team of the Institute of Urban Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
"Raised" crops
As we all know, sunlight, soil, and moisture are indispensable factors for crop growth.
However, unlike the crops grown in traditional field agriculture, the crops in the plant factory are more like being "bred".
Here, there is no need for natural light or soil and water from nature. The artificial technology provides suitable environmental conditions and nutrient supply, promotes the rapid growth of crops and the accumulation of nutrients, and realizes the efficient production of various high-quality crops throughout the year. .
The "sunlight" in the plant factory comes from the customized spectrum multi-spectrum smart LED (light emitting diode) light source. The colorful lights provide the best light source environment for rice in different growth cycles; the nutrients and water necessary for the growth of rice are passed Provided by deep flow hydroponic cultivation technology.
In addition to light, water and nutrient supply, there are many factors that affect the growth of rice, such as temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration.
In the control room in the plant factory, scientific researchers can monitor any indicator in the factory and control it in real time through the controller.
The traditional cultivation process of field crops is easily affected by the environment and extreme weather, resulting in lagging growth and long growth cycles.
The plant factory completely avoids the troubles of these factors, creates excellent growth environment conditions for the growth of crops, and promotes rapid growth and fruiting. This is why the plant factory's rice growth cycle can be shortened by half.
"Another advantage of the plant factory is that it is relatively isolated from the outside world, the air is purified, and people need to wear protective clothing when entering and exiting, which can effectively block pests and viruses. Therefore, the crops in the plant factory are basically free. In a bacteria-free and insect-free environment, avoid the use of pesticides to truly achieve green growth." Bian Zhonghua, a member of the innovation team, told reporters.
Realize rapid breeding
Yang Qichang, director of the Urban Agriculture Research Institute and chief scientist of the plant factory innovation team, told reporters that the greatest significance of achieving the important breakthrough of harvesting rice around 60 days after planting is to speed up the breeding speed and provide a new solution to ensure national food security.
For most crops, it takes several generations of breeding and breeding in order to cultivate new and excellent germplasm.
Moreover, after the new variety comes out, whether its traits are stable and whether it is suitable for large-scale planting still needs several generations of verification.
This usually takes years or even decades.
"Traditional breeding methods can only produce one to two generations a year. Even in a greenhouse or tropical regions, they can only produce two to three generations a year. In a plant factory, one generation is harvested in about 60 days. It is calculated that 5 to 6 generations can be produced a year, which greatly shortens the breeding time of crops and breaks the time bottleneck that restricts crop growth." Yang Qichang told reporters.
In the plant factory, the environment and nutrient elements of plant growth are precisely regulated to greatly increase the photosynthesis rate of crops, induce early flowering and promote the rapid growth of crops, greatly shorten the growth cycle of crops, and achieve rapid breeding.
Moreover, the plant factory breeding acceleration system is not restricted by land, space and climate conditions, which greatly saves the time and labor costs of breeding workers.
Yang Qichang said that in the future, the number of cultivation layers in plant factories can reach more than 10, and the breeding work will be more efficient and convenient, which has important practical significance for ensuring food security.
According to reports, the innovation team is currently developing mechanized equipment suitable for plant factories. It is believed that in the near future, plant factories can also be like unmanned workshops, requiring only one or two scientific researchers to check the equipment regularly, and other tasks can be done. Let the machine complete it.
The development direction of urban agriculture
In recent years, many plant factory projects have also appeared in my country.
Some plant factories produce spinach, lettuce, small tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, and golden thread lotus, etc., gradually making their way onto residents’ tables.
One day in the future, will we be able to see other agricultural products produced by plant factories on the market?
Bian Zhonghua believes that this is entirely possible.
He said that five years ago, some European countries were also skeptical of plant factories.
However, due to the frequent occurrence of extreme weather in recent years and the impact of the global epidemic on the food supply chain, which has further exacerbated the risk of food shortages, the products of plant factories have become more and more popular among European countries and related companies.
At present, the UK has promoted vertical agriculture and plant factories as key agricultural projects, and some other European countries have also begun research and development of plant factories.
However, in actual agricultural production, plant factories require more facility costs and energy consumption, as well as higher technical requirements, and some problems have yet to be resolved.
However, with the development of related industries and breakthroughs in key technologies, the cost and operating cost of plant factories will also be reduced.
Bian Zhonghua gave an example. The cost of one square meter of multi-spectral LED light source was about 3,000 to 4,000 yuan five years ago, but now it is only 200 to 300 yuan.
"The value of rice is relatively low, and large-scale promotion is difficult, but this model provides a new way and way to solve food safety problems in the future. The rapid development of urban agriculture in the future and the widespread use of low-cost energy are adopted It is also possible to produce food in a factory way.” Yang Qichang believes that with the gradual maturity of related technologies and the improvement of consumer awareness, plant factories will be the development direction of urban agriculture.