Non­Destructive Testing of Growth Productivity

Abstract

The necessary condition for obtaining high yields is the management of plant production processes in closed artificial agroecosystems. It is important to control the intensity of these processes in a dynamic mode. (Research purpose) To develop a non-destructive method for controlling the plant productivity growth to create algorithms for controlling the plant production processes. (Materials and methods) The authors studied the dependence of plant productivity on leaf temperature. They determined the increase in plant leaf mass using digital scales, studied the leaf temperature and the control object with a pyrometric thermometer and measured the leaf surface area. (Results and discussion) The authors obtained the values of plant and environmental parameters and, taking into account the moisture consumption for transpiration cooling, determined the values of the lettuce leaf mass growth (Latuca sativa L.), which would be used in conjunction with other measured plant and environmental parameters to control the limiting factors in closed artificial agroecosystems. (Conclusions) The authors developed a non-destructive method to control plant productivity growth in climatic chambers using the example of Krasnyy Dubolistnyy lettuce. It was determined that the green mass growth rate had a maximum if the mass of cooling water during evaporation was 0.65 gram. That meant the plant tried to maximize the use of free energy and the productive factors that determined it. The weight values calculated from the experiment results (2.0 grams) corresponded to the data obtained at the Omsk State Agrarian University (1.9 gram) with an accuracy of 5 percent.