IMPROVING YIELD, QUALITY, AND PROFITABILITY OF FOOD CROP PRODUCTION IN GREENHOUSES AND INDOOR FARMS

The overall research objective of this project is to optimize controlled environment production of leafy and fruiting vegetables and increase the profitability and adoption of this new approach to specialty food crop production in Texas and beyond. Specific focus areas include:optimize photosynthetic efficiency and crop yieldimprove crop morphology, secondary metabolite synthesis and nutritional valuescharacterize interactions among environmental factors (light, temperature, CO2, nutrient supply) and genotypes (species) to develop more profitable environmental control strategiesdevelop sensing technology for automated monitoring of crop growth and physiology,select crops better suited for controlled environment production.