Controlled Atmosphere Production
Carbon dioxide is increasingly used to improve growth and yield in a controlled glasshouse environment. It has a direct effect on vegetative growth (Figure 5) leading to a significant increase in root, stem and leaf production (Figure 6).
At later stages of growth, carbon dioxide also prolongs flowering without influencing significantly the length of time of fruit growth (Figure 7)
Carbon dioxide concentrations of up to 600ppm also help plants to better utilize nutrients (Figure 8) and growers should increase fertilizer use accordingly
Water use efficiency is also improved in controlled CO2 atmospheres (Figure 9).
In addition, utilizing carbon dioxide in the glasshouse helps boost fruit quality through improving the sugar content in the fruit (Figure 11)
The end result is a higher yield – particularly where nutrition is not limiting (Figure 10).
