I-Corps: An accelerated growing platform for the production of tea

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力是为高效生产高品质茶叶开发一个加速生长的平台。茶树是一种常绿木本植物，是茶叶的提取原料。大约需要2年的时间从母株繁殖，再加上5年的田间生长，才能达到每株每年约0.5磅干茶的稳定生产潜力。建立3600株植物密度的成本约为10万美元/英亩，不包括土地成本。所提出的技术有可能将收获时间从7年缩短到6个月，它可以迅速扩大规模，并且通过特定的养分施用可以调节所生长叶子的化学特征。此外，该技术可用于为消费者生产新颖的茶产品。这个I-Corps项目是基于平台技术的发展，以加速茶树的生长，结合专有的营养解决方案，将茶叶收获时间从几年缩短到几周。此外，在拟议的技术中生产的茶叶的健康和感官属性可以根据所需的质量和消费者的偏好进行调整。希望使作物多样化的农民很容易采用这项技术。所提出的技术系统特别适合在自动化控制的室内环境中种植茶叶。与现有的茶叶生产方法相比，室内茶叶生产可能具有商业优势，因为茶叶的化学成分可以通过营养施用和有限的微生物和病原体暴露来控制。将快速增长的平台与感官和健康属性的调整相结合，提供了巨大的茶叶营销潜力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an accelerated growing platform for the efficient production of high-quality tea. Camellia sinensis, the plant from which tea is extracted, is an evergreen woody plant. It takes approximately 2 years to propagate liners from mother stock and an additional 5 years of field growth before reaching a steady production potential of approximately 0.5 lbs dried tea per plant per year. It costs ~$100K/acre to establish a 3,600-plant density, not including land costs. The proposed technology has the potential to reduce the time to harvest from 7 years to 6 months, it may be rapidly scaled, and the chemical profile of the leaf grown is tunable through specific nutrient applications. In addition, the technology may be used to produce novel tea products for consumers.This I-Corps project is based on the development of platform technology to accelerate tea plant growth that, in conjunction with proprietary nutrient solutions, reduce the time to tea harvest from years to weeks. In addition, the health and sensory attributes of the tea leaf produced in the proposed technology are tunable to desired qualities and consumer preferences. The technology may be easily adopted by farmers wishing to diversify their crops. The proposed technology system is especially well suited for growing tea in automated controlled indoor environments. Indoor production of tea may have a commercial advantage compared to existing tea production approaches because the chemical content of the leaf may be controlled by nutrient application and limited exposure to microbes and pathogens. Combining the rapid growth platform with tuning of sensory and health attributes offers enormous tea marketing potential.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.