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EVEC Microgreens
Advancement in Indoor Vertical Farming for Microgreen Production
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 malnutr
Preethi Rajan, Rajasekaran R. Lada, Mason T. MacDonald
American Journal of Plant Sciences · 2019 · https://doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2019.108100
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.
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How to credit this work
Preethi Rajan; Rajasekaran R. Lada; Mason T. MacDonald (2019). Advancement in Indoor Vertical Farming for Microgreen Production. American Journal of Plant Sciences. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2019.108100 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Hosted by EVEC Athens (microgreens.org.gr). No changes were made to this article. Provided as-is, without warranties. EVEC Athens is not affiliated with, and this copy is not endorsed by, the authors or the publisher.
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