Development of the Cultivation System with the Variable Light Source Distance to Plants with Sliding Shelf

Abstract

Production costs are an important issue in development of the plant factory. We developed a novel hydroponic cabinet to reduce the electricity cost, and examined its operability using the red leaf lettuce. This cabinet can adjust the light height to plant growth, and use the direct current power. We elucidated that the plant height became higher by adjusting the light height to leaf lettuce growth. At 30 days after transplant, the fresh and dry weight, leaf area and leaf number at light height adjusted treatment were significantly higher than the control. Our results indicate that changing the light height during plant growth was effective for reducing cultivation period and production costs.