TITLE:
Advancement in Indoor Vertical Farming for Microgreen Production
AUTHORS:
Preethi Rajan, Rajasekaran R. Lada, Mason T. MacDonald
KEYWORDS:
Vertical Farming, Microgreens, Phytonutrients, BioStrate, Light Emitting Diodes, Plant Nutrition
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.10 No.8,
August
27,
2019
ABSTRACT: With the growing global urban population and the emergence of megacities, there is a huge demand
for arable land to meet the food demand and reduce malnutrition. Conventional
agricultural practices lead to deforestation of the land for crop production
and agricultural intensification to produce higher yield per unit area. These
activities have been established to have negative
impact on the environment thereby causing soil and water pollution. It is important to consider the use of vertical farming technology, which utilizes both
horizontal and vertical space, and efficiently uses nutrients, water, and time
(off season production with artificial
lighting) more effectively to produce higher yield per unit volume of space
than the conventional outdoor farming. Microgreens are taken into consideration
to be grown under innovative vertical farming technology since they are rich in
phytonutrients and they can be harvested in a short period of time. This paper
reviews the current growing conditions of microgreens in vertical
farming such as crop selection, media, light, nutrient solution, and containers
while identifying knowledge gaps. Further, study
in this area may lead to improved growing conditions to help solve the global
issues and challenges surrounding food security, safety, and resource
optimization.