Browsing by Author "Jaatinen, Henri"

The aim of this research was to study the effect of air current speed on yield of basil (Ocimum basilicum L. cv. ‘Marian’) in vertical farming. A fan system was built to form an air current gradient inside the culture layer. Environmental conditions (air current speed, temperature, relative humidity, light) were measured before and during the experiment. The experiment was conducted at a vertical farm owned by Novarbo Oy in Säkylä, Finland, which is a showroom and research facility for Novarbo Vertical Farm Concept. The cultivation was performed with LED-lights (Valoya, Finland) without sunlight and fertigation was done by NFT-technique in gutters with mineral fertilizers. Climate control of the facility was managed with Novarbo Vertical Farming droplet curtain. Basil plants were grown for 29 days between January and February of 2019. The plants were grown for 21 days before transplanting to the vertical farm. The experiment was conducted in one layer with three different air currents grouped by 0 m/s, 0,5 m/s and 1,2 m/s. Air temperature of the area averaged 22 °C with 76,5 % of relative humidity and light intensity of 200 µmol/m2/s was maintained during the experiment. Results of the experiment were contrary to expectations based on the literature and previous studies in vertical farming. The highest biomass formation was achieved by a group of plants grown under the lowest (0 m/s) air current speed. A group that was grown under the highest air current speed (1,2 m/s) yielded the lowest biomass as expected. According to the results, it can be said that air current speed has an impact on the yield in basil cultivation. However, no recommendations can be made for optimal levels of air current speed due to the sources of error. Plant material of commercial quality that was used in this experiment was not suitable for accurate interpretation of the results. It could be advisable to do further research focusing on air current speed of 0,1 – 0,5 m/s to find optimal level for efficient yield formation.