Horticultural Crop Production in Plant Factories with Translucent Solar Cells and Improvement of Crops’ Marketability Via Supplementary Monochromatic Lighting
Abstract
The rapid ageing of the population of Asian countries presents a demand for increased agricultural labor productivity. We are currently investigating the potential of a renewable energy-operated, energetically autonomous, sunlight combination-type plant factory for meeting this demand. In the factory, electricity is generated from translucent solar cells (TSCs) while improving the marketability of the horticultural crops cultivated within by supplementing the crops with monochromatic light using a portion of the generated power. Evaluation of the energy characteristics in a model glasshouse using TSCs revealed that sufficient electricity could be secured for supplementary monochromatic illumination. Subsequently, ultraviolet radiation–induced color change in chrysanthemum flowers and red light–induced early maturation of pea plants were investigated to evaluate the potential improvement of crop marketability from monochromatic light irradiation. The results demonstrated that the products’ marketability could be improved with only minute power consumption.
Keywords
Crop marketability, Monochromatic lighting, Plant factory, Translucent solar cell