Hydrobubbles to Boost Plant Growth Through Captured Carbon Utilisation Application overview

温室、综合隧道和室内农场等受保护的结构被用于生产高价值的水果和蔬菜作物。它们通过改变和保持环境因素，如光、温度、湿度和虫害压力，促进作物产量和质量的提高。对于北纬地区的国家来说，这些生产系统对于维持较长的生长季以及许多高价值和具有重要商业意义的作物的当地生产至关重要，包括草莓、西红柿、辣椒和黄瓜。尽管有好处，但这个行业的种植者仍然面临着相当大的风险，因为他们的运营成本和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解决这些障碍。通过将农民、技术专家和研究人员聚集在一起，我们可以开发一种将在整个行业带来显著好处的“水泡”发电技术。这项技术通过向灌溉水中注入富含氧气的微米和纳米大小的气泡，促进水培系统中植物生长高达30%。这些气泡的物理性质意味着它们带有负电荷，并通过静电吸引到植物的根部，在那里它们聚集在一起，不断地为植物提供氧气。这已被证明对植物产量有好处，研究报告显示，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。该项目将评估这项新技术在三种受保护作物系统(温室、多层隧道和垂直耕作)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；*增加营养含量；*减少病原体负荷；*通过在鼓泡过程中利用捕获的二氧化碳来促进农业净零排放的目标。该项目将侧重于提供用户驱动的、有效的和低成本的解决方案。它将建立在以前发表的该领域工作、技术开发能力、作物知识和数据分析的基础上。这项技术将提高受保护作物生产系统的生产率和盈利能力，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。这些好处具有高度的可输出性，有可能强化英国的农业技术主张，并推动粮食生产走向可持续和生产性的净零排放未来。

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.