Greenhouse Technology Recent Research

7/30/2019 Greenhouse Technology Recent Research

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GREENHOUSE TECHNOLOGY

Author: Colin Wiltshire

Ministry of Agriculture


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Background

Agricultural lands reduced over decades

FAO ranked Barbados as water scarce nation

Top ten most densely populated nations Imports an inordinate volume of vegetables

Greenhouses require less space and yield four

ten times higher

One major local operation

Limited knowledge locally


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Research

Several research trials were completed sinceestablishment of system

Some research findings will be brieflyanalyzed today

Thyme

Cauliflowers

Sweet Peppers Lettuce


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Methodology

Two sheltered systems

Tunnel 30 x 96 feet

Aluminum frame, netting attached to sides andhas a double layer roof

Plants are grown in soil and irrigated using 12drip

Greenhouse has an aluminum frame, nettingattached to sides and a single layer roof

Plants are grown in pots and irrigated withspaghetti drip tubing


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Thyme

One variety of thyme was cultivated

Plants first harvested at 6 weeks

Plants were harvested at three week intervals Plants were cut at approximately 3 above the

ground

.Experiment was expected to continue for 1 year,

however, plants became infected with a fungalproblem aborted after 7 months.


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Thyme

Average weights over 7 harvests

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Kg Series1

There was consistency inplant yields

Growth was generallyuniform

Average weight at 1st

harvest was 0.0965 kg /0.21 lbs per plant

Reduced to 0.0447 /0.098lbs at final harvest


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Thyme

At 1st harvest plants

averaged 1.9 lbs per

square foot This gradually

reduced to 0.89 lbs

per square foot at

final harvest


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Thyme

In 2004 IICA carried out a study which revealed

that local restaurants and hotels require 187 lbsof thyme per week or 9724 lbs per year

A tunnel with dimensions 30 x 96 feet can

produce

120 lbs weekly for first 4 harvests

60 lbs weekly for last three harvests Thyme retails at an average price of $7 per lb


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Cauliflower

Rich in vitamins and minerals

Harvested for the edible curd(head) leaves alsoused as side dishes

Local production low, retailers normally skepticalas result of pest problems

Cool season crop favors 18 20 C range

However in California daytime temp range from17 29 C still yield 6 T per acre (1) [1] Horticultural Information Leaflets, Cauliflowers. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North

Carolina State University

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-10.html


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Cauliflower

Established trial in cool season (lateNovember) 19 35 C

Aim to determine most appropriate waterrequirement

Greenhouse divided into three (3) zones

Receiving 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 L three timesweekly


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Cauliflower

Vegetative growthwas uniformed andvigorous

Photo showing plantsat 4 weeks

Used organically

approved insecticidesand encountered noserious pestsproblems


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Cauliflower

Heads harvested at approximately 3.5months

Plants which received - 1.5L averaged 0.75 lbs

1L averaged 0.81 lbs

0.5L averaged 0.55 lbs


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Cauliflower

Other factors

Plants closer to the front section of building

which received shading from polyethyleneside generally yielded higher

Plants in center and rear of building agedprematurely and generally yielded lower


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Cauliflower

High quality head

Very easily marketed


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Cauliflowers

Photo showing plantsaging pre-maturely

More research will haveto be done with respectto shading andventilation/cooling

Attempts will also be

made to sourcevarieties which areadapted to this region


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Sweet peppers

Annually imports rangefrom 65 277 T (2001 2006) Planning Unit

Imports from Middle

East, Cbean, Europe &Africa

Locally there is onemajor greenhouse

producer of sweetpeppers with a number ofsmall operation 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1st

Qtr

2nd

Qtr

3rd

Qtr

4th

Qtr

East

West

North

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

T

1 2 3 4 5

Year

Chart Showing Imports of Sweet Pepper 2001 - 2006


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Sweet peppers

This trial analyzed the performance of fourIsraeli varieties of sweet peppers under localgreenhouse conditions

Varieties analyzed are Baltasar, Canon, FAR7200 & FAR 7227

Established on September 7


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Fruit weight

Moderate differenceswere recorded amonganalyzed cultivars

Canon produced theheaviest fruit 168.167 g

FAR 7200 second at164.39 g

Baltasar third at 159.035g

FAR 7227 fourth at140.062 g

Fruit weights

0

50

100

150

200

Baltasar Canon FAR 7200 FAR 7227

Variety

(g)


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Average fruit weights after

15 harvest

Yields after fifteen (15) harvests

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

(g)

BALTASAR

CANON

FAR 7227

FAR 7200

There was

consistency in fruit

weights overharvesting period

Gradual increase in

weight for first four

harvest Peaked around 10

11 harvest and

gradually reduced


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Fruit weight

Comparison with

Zeraim Gedera found

that their anticipatedyields were higher

Baltasar 19.471%

Canon 18.929%

FAR 7200 12.537%

FAR 7227 14.235%

Graph comparing actual with expected yields

0

50

100

150

200

250

Baltasar Canon FAR 7200 FAR 7227

Variety

(g)


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Fruit weight

In Israel research usually carried out in fullyclimate controlled greenhouse

Pruning is practiced

Based on research carried out at RegionalResearch Institute AVDC Taiwan shows pruning-

Increases fruit weight by around 13%

Can decrease fruit number by as much as 33% http://www.arc-avrdc.org/pdf_files/Soem(17-

N).pdf


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Fruit set

Under open fieldconditions sweet peppersusually yield 4 6

peppers

FAR 7200 yielded highest29.174

Baltasar second 27.136

Canon third 23.017

FAR 7227 fourth 19.621


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Yields per m2

Overall goal to achieve75kg/m2 over 9 11 monthperiod

Many factors can affectincluding pest and disease,DTH interval of pesticides

Experiment was aborted after4 months which is halfpotential life

FAR 7200 recorded 43.163kg/m2

Baltasar recorded 38.840kg/m2

Canon recorded 34.836 kg/m2

FAR 7227 recorded 24.733

Comparison of Yields at 4 months

0

10

20

30

40

50

Balt sar Canon FAR 7200 FAR 7227

Variety

kg/m2

Actual

Half way


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Sweet peppers

Varieties performed well with respect to -fruitmass, fruit set, flower to fruit conversion, leafgrowth

Good rate of fruit set was achieved Fruit number vastly exceeded Indian study,

almost doubled

More effort must be made to extend periodof harvest


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Production

0

500000

1000000

1500000

Kg

2005 2006

Chart showing local production of lettuce compared

to imports

Local Production

Imports

Barbados provides a

large market for

lettuce In 2005 1388050 kg

were produced and

59050 kg imported

In 2006 1324210 wereproduced locally and

34100 kg imported


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Survey

In 2004 a survey carried out by MARDrevealed that over 90% of vegetable retailerspreferred larger heads of uniform size

It also showed farmers were dumping manysmall heads


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Experiment

On December 19, 2006three varieties Empire,Romain & Salad Bowl

Red were planted Greenhouse Graeme Hall

Ch Ch

Pilgrim Road Ch Ch

Both plots were treatedidentically in terms ofirrigation, fertilizertreatment and weedmanagement


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Comparison of growth rate

for cultivar Empire Empires in the

greenhouse grew morerapidly the ones in the

field

During the first week thedifference was anaverage of 2.25 cm

Increased to 3.9 cmduring third week

During the final weekslowed off to 2.93 cm

Comparison of Empire in field and greenhouse

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4

Height(cm)

Greenhouse

Open field


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Average yields

First random sampleswere taken Jan 23 2007 at31 days from field and

greenhouse

Romains in greenhouseaveraged 0.368 kg whilethe open field plants

weighed 0.215 kg onaverage which is 0.153 kgless

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

Weight (kg)

Rom SBR Empire

Comparison of yield between greenhouse and

open field


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Average Yields

Empires in the greenhouse weighed 0.3185 kgon average while their counter parts in thefield weighed 0.1246 kg less at 0.19386 kg

SBR under protected environment weighedan average of 0.1661 kg and 0.091 kg underopen filed conditions


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Average yields

A second random samplewas taken on Jan 31 at 39days

The greenhouse plantsstill out weighed the onescultivated in open field

The romains sampledfrom the greenhouseaveraged 0.3566 kg whilethe plants cultivated inopen field averaged0.3051 kg.

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

Weight (kg)

Romain Empire Salad bowl red

Ye ilds at se cond harvest

Greenhouse (kg)

Open Field (kg)


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Average yields

The cultivar empire produced an averagehead weight of 2884 g in the greenhouse anda significantly lesser weight in the open fieldof 1655g

Likewise the SBR in the greenhouse weighed2037 g with the ones in open field weighing

1524 g


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Reduced days to harvest

Lettuce cultivated in greenhouse matured in31 days

Lettuce cultivated in the open field maturedin 39 days


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Conclusion

Greenhouses provide the operator with theoption of producing organically orimplementing more Integrated Pest

Management techniques Greenhouses produce greater output for land

use area

More effort must be made to extend period of

harvest

A higher level of quality is achieved


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An evaluation of the most suitable

parsley under protected systems

Mr. Colin Wiltshire BSc. AgriculturalSciences Honors (UWI) MSc.

Environmental Engineering & ProjectManagement (University of Leeds)


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Introduction

Locally parsley is cultivated under open field

conditions where yields are typically low as result

of fungal problems During the rainy season (June November) these

diseases become particularly troublesome

Harvesting maybe limited to two or in extreme

cases one harvest before the plot is abandoned


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Introduction

Parsley is used in production of seasonings,

preparation of salads and pudding and souse

(local delicacy) Processors use fresh as well as dried parsley

Joycelyn Headley of Amandas Seasoning prefers

dried ground parsley with the stems removed

Shelf life of dried parsley is longer than fresh

parsley


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Introduction

Tremendous volume of parsley is imported annually-exact figures are unknown

In 2003 IICA estimated that 42 of 73 local hotels and31 of 87 restaurants use 2056kg annually


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Introduction

Locally no research has been done concerning

production of parsley under protected systems

It is therefore difficult to make recommendationsconcerning its management or most appropriate

varieties

This trial proposes to evaluate the most suitable

parsley cultivar for production under protectedsystems


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Introduction

Results displayed during this presentation are basedon information analyzed over the past 7 months.

Greenhouse trial is still ongoing. All open field comparisons are based on results

obtained from a study completed by A. Philips & S.Skeete 2009


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Material & Method

Involved four cultivars of curly parsleypetroselinumcrispum

Banquet

Green River (normally cultivated under open fieldconditions locally)

New curl summer

Triple Curl


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Material & method

Plot layout randomized block design with

replicates

Irrigated using 12 drip irrigation At harvest the entire plant was cut to a height of

3 above ground level

Immediately after harvest plants were treated

with mancozeb (fungicide) and a systemic

insecticide as well as micro nutrients


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Material & Method

Weights of the plants were recorded

Processable biomass was calculated by removing thepetioles and recording the leaf weights- The

difference was expressed as a percentage Dry matter content was calculated by drying the

processable biomass in a convection oven at 600 C for9 hours.


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Materials & method

Data was analyzed statistically using soft wareprograms Mini Tab 15 and Genstat v 5.3

cluster is used to describe each plant as in somecases more than one seed may have germinated incell


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Results & Discussion

For the first three

weeks the rate of

growth was uniformamongst all varieties

After the first harvest

cultivar triple curl grew

more rapidly thanother varieties (F

pr>0.003)

GROWTH CURVE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

(cm)

BANQUET

TRIPLE CURL

NEW CURL

GREEN RIVER


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During the following weeks trend did not continue

Growth remained generally uniformed


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Please view photoshowing parsley at 17days

All varieties displayedsimilar plantarchitecturalcharacteristics to

green river Uniform growth

amongst all cultivars


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Growth Rate

Please view photoshowing parsley at 38 days

All varieties continue to

display similar plantarchitecturalcharacteristics to greenriver

Growth continues to beuniform amongst cultivars


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Average yields

Cultivar triple curlproduced highest yield perplant with an average of

0.204 kg. There is noinformation availableconcerning theperformance of this

cultivar under open fieldconditions

Differences highly significant

(F pr.< 0.002) SEM 0.498

Average yields

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

BANQUET GREEN RIVER TRIPLE CURL NEW CURL

(g)


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Yields

Variety Kg/plant Kg/Ha

Banquet 0.1541 16781

Green River 0.1663 18110New Curl

summer

0.1331 14495

Triple Curl 0.2038 22194SEM=0.0421


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Comparison of open field

and greenhouse After 6 months

greenhouse vastlyexceeded open field

production Banquet 47.5% higher

Green River 58.5% higher

New Curl Summer 65.4%higher

Yields obtained after sixharvests from greenhouseand two from open field(A. Philips & S. Skeete

2009)

Comparison of greenhouse and open field

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

BANQUET GREEN

RIVER

TRIPLE

CURL

NEW CURL

Kg/Ha

Greenhouse

Open field


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Processable biomass

Calculated by weighing entire plant, then removingthe stems and expressing difference as a percentage

Processors prefer to have stems removed


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Processable biomass

Banquet provided thehighest percentagewith 57.4 and new curlwas lowest with 55.5

Highly significantdifferences inprocessable biomass

(F pr.< 0.002) SEM 0.798

PERCENTAGE PROCESSABLE BIOIMASS

57.4

56.8

55.5

56.6

54.5

55

55.5

56

56.5

57

57.5

58

BANQUET TRIPLE CURL NEW CURL GREEN RIVER


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Processable biomass

Variety Kg per plant

(cluster)

Kg

Banquet 0.1541 0.088

Green River 0.1663 0.094

New Summer

Curl

0.1331 0.075

Triple Curl 0.2038 0.113


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Dry matter Content

Calculated by drying leaves in convectional oven

Dried leaves have longer shelf life

Some processors requests dried parsley


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Dry matter content

Triple curl yielded the

highest percentage

with 34.5 while cultivarBanquet yielded the

lowest with 27.8

Differences highly

significant (F pr.< 0.001)SEM 0.798

PERCENTAGE DRY MASS

3334.5

30.8

27.8

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

BANQUET GREEN RIVER TRIPLE CURL NEW CURL

%


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Dry matter content

Variety Kg/plant (processable) Kg/plant after

drying

Banquet 0.088 0.025

Green River 0.094 0.031

New Curl

summer

0.075 0.023

Triple Curl 0.113 0.039


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Disease occurrence

The plot was generally well maintained

There was no occurrence of die back or any other

serious disease problem for the first six months During the 7th month die back occurred in the

guard rows on the eastern side of the building

A point to note is the plants were not treated with

mancozeb fungicide at the 6th harvest


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Disease occurrence

Plants at 6.5 months

with no evidence of

die back or any seriousdisease problem


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Disease occurrence

Along the guard row there was a section whichwas more highly affected

Through casual observation it was noted that thesection which was affected to a lesser degreereceived unrestricted air flow.

While the section which was more severelyaffected received less air flow.

There is another building located to the east ofthe greenhouse in which trial was done


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Disease occurrence

Photo showing area

along guard row which

became affected bydie back


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Disease occurrence

Variety Percentage population

affected

Banquet 3.5

Green River 4.2

New Curl Summer 5.3

Triple

(F pr.< 0.001)

3

SEM 0.365


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Conclusion

Greenhouse allows for extended harvesting

period.

Increased number of harvests Plants display higher resistance to fungal

infestation

Cultivar Triple Curl displays great potential for

greenhouse production as well as processing

There appears to be no interaction betweennumber of petioles and overall plant weight


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Recommendation

More research should be carried out to determine

if there is an interaction between the application

of mancozeb (fungicide) and aeration on theexpression of die back in parsley.

A density trial should be designed with varying

number of plants in each cell to decide if there is

an interaction between number of plants per celland overall yields


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Recommendation

More research should be carried out to determine

if there is an interaction between the application

of mancozeb (fungicide) and aeration on theexpression of die back in parsley.

A density trial should be designed with varying

number of plants in each cell to decide if there is

an interaction between number of plants per celland overall yields


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Acknowledgement

Author would like to express appreciation to allpersons who lent assistance

Special thanks to

Mr. Adrian Kirton BADMC

Mr. Damien Hinds IICA

Mr. Selwyn Brathwaite MA

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