Hydrobubbles to Boost Plant Growth Through Captured Carbon Utilisation

温室、大棚和室内农场等受保护的结构用于生产高价值的水果和蔬菜作物。它们通过改变和维持环境因素，如光照、温度、湿度和虫害压力，促进作物产量和质量的提高。对于位于北方纬度的国家来说，这些生产系统对于维持较长的生长季节和在当地生产许多高价值和具有重要商业价值的作物，包括草莓、西红柿、辣椒和黄瓜至关重要。尽管有这些好处，但这一行业的种植者仍面临相当大的风险，运营成本高，经济回报对价格和产量的变化很敏感。需要技术解决方案来克服生产力和可持续生产的挑战。该项目旨在通过多学科协作的方法来解决这些障碍。通过将农民、技术人员和研究人员聚集在一起，我们可以开发一种“气泡”生成技术，为整个行业带来巨大利益。这项技术通过向灌溉水中注入富氧的微米和纳米尺寸的气泡，促进水培系统中植物生长高达30%。这些气泡的物理特性意味着它们带负电荷，并被静电吸引到植物根部，在那里它们聚集在一起，不断为植物提供氧气。这已被证明对植物产量有益，研究报告表明，在许多作物品种中，根系发育、鲜重和特定植物生物化合物的合成都有显著改善。该项目将评估这一新技术在三种保护作物系统（温室、大棚和垂直耕作）中的可行性。它将确定微纳米气泡的应用是否可以：* 增加植物产量;* 改善作物质量;* 提高营养含量;* 减少病原体负荷;* 通过利用气泡过程中捕获的二氧化碳，为农业净零排放目标做出贡献。该项目将专注于提供用户驱动的，有效的和低成本的解决方案。它将以该领域以前发表的工作、技术开发能力、作物知识和数据分析为基础。这项技术将提高受保护作物生产系统的生产力和盈利能力，并实现经济转型，促进垂直农场的室内生产进入主流消费市场。这些好处是高度可出口的，有可能加强英国的农业技术主张，并将粮食生产推向可持续和富有成效的净零排放未来。

Protected structures such as greenhouses, polytunnels and indoor farms are used in the production of high-value fruit and vegetable crops. They facilitate increased crop yields and quality by altering and maintaining environmental factors such as light, temperature, humidity and pest pressure. For countries based in northern latitudes these production systems are critical to maintaining longer growing seasons and for local production of many high-value and commercially significant crops including strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Despite their benefits, considerable risks remain for growers in this industry with high operational costs and economic returns that are sensitive to changes in price and yield. Technological solutions are required to overcome the challenges of productivity and sustainable production. This project is designed to address these obstacles through a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach. By bringing together farmers, technologists and researchers, we can develop a 'hydrobubble' generation technology that will deliver significant benefits across the sector. This technology promotes plant growth in hydroponic systems by up to 30%, through the injection of oxygen-rich micro and nano-sized bubbles into the irrigation water. The physical properties of these bubbles means they are negatively charged and electrostatically attracted to plant roots, where they cluster to constantly supply oxygen to the plant. This has proven benefits to plant yield and studies have reported marked improvement in both root development, fresh weight and the synthesis of specific plant biocompounds in a number of crop varieties. This project will evaluate the feasibility of this new technology in three protected crop systems (glasshouse, polytunnel and vertical farming). It will establish whether the application of micro-nanobubbles can: * Increase plant yield;* Improve crop quality;* Boost nutritional content;* Reduce pathogen load;* Contribute to the target of net-zero emissions from agriculture through the utilisation of captured CO2 in the bubbling process.This project will focus on delivering user-driven, effective and low-cost solutions. It will build on previously published work in the area, capabilities in technology development, crop knowledge and data analysis. This technology will enable increased productivity and profitability from protected crop production systems and enable an economic shift, facilitating indoor production from vertical farms to enter mainstream consumer markets. These benefits are highly exportable, with the potential to strengthen the UK agri-technology proposition and move food production towards a sustainable and productive net-zero emissions future.