Improving Indoor Strawberry Production in Vertical Farming Through Enhanced Lighting and Fertilization Strategies
Description
There is increasing interest in growing strawberries (Fragaria ×ananassa) in indoor environments such as vertical farms, as the continued sustainability of outdoor
production is threatened due to reductions in arable land, labor shortages, and an
increased frequency of drought. However, the optimal conditions for growing
strawberries hydroponically in sole-source lighting conditions have yet to be established.
The objectives of this research were to investigate the optimal lighting conditions and
nutrient concentrations for strawberry production in vertical farming. In the first study,
bare-root plants of two strawberry cultivars, ‘Albion’ and ‘Monterey’, were grown in an
indoor vertical farm under a 22 °C air temperature and an 18-h photoperiod with 90
μmol·m−2·s−1 of blue light and 250 μmol·m−2·s−1 of red light with and without 50
μmol·m−2·s−1 of additional far-red light from light-emitting diodes. Adding far-red light
increased the fruit number per plant by 36%, total fruit fresh mass by 48%, and total
soluble solids content by 12% in ‘Albion’, but not ‘Monterey’. In the second study, bare
root plants of strawberries ‘Monterey’ and ‘San Andreas’ were grown under a 23 °C air
temperature and an 18-h photoperiod with an extended photosynthetic photon flux
density of 350 μmol·m−2·s−1. Plants were subjected to four potassium to nitrogen ratios
(K:N) of 1.5:1, 2.5:1, 3.5:1, and 4.5:1 in a deep-water culture hydroponic system.
Increasing K:N from 1.5:1 to 4.5:1 increased the root dry mass of ‘Monterey’, but
generally had little to no effect on vegetative growth in either cultivar. In addition, in
both cultivars, increasing K:N from 1.5:1 to 4.5:1 decreased individual fruit size and
increased titratable acidity. These results suggest that for indoor strawberry production,
including far-red light in sole-source lighting can improve fruit production in some
strawberry cultivars. However, increasing K:N in the hydroponic nutrient solution
generally does not benefit plant growth, fruit production, and fruit quality.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2024
Agent
- Author (aut): Ries, Jonathan
- Thesis advisor (ths): Park, Yujin
- Committee member: Sagers, Cynthia
- Committee member: Meng, Qingwu
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University