Unigro GroDome Technology & Research Success offer a Solution to Water Shortages

The environmental accuracy of the GroDome at East Malling Research has enabled Dr Mark Else, Phillippa Dodds and June Taylor to develop irrigation management techniques that offer the potential to save water while maintaining or improving product quality.

The group’s work with strawberry has already shown that water savings of over 30% can be made without reducing the proportion or quality of class 1 fruit. Furthermore, the techniques can be used to control the height of Poinsettia, which could reduce future reliance on expensive and environmentally undesirable Plant Growth Regulators. This work is part of a larger Defra funded project in collaboration with Lancaster University and the University of Dundee.

The impact of Partial Root Drying (PRD) and Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) can vary with different crops, substrates and climatic conditions. In order to optimise these techniques, the plant hormones that control shoot and fruit growth under deficit irrigation must first be identified and quantified. The research team are using tomato plants grown in the Unigro GroDome to detect the small changes in the plant’s hormone profile that control leaf and fruit development. “This work will eventually enable us to tweak the PRD system to get the best results in different crops and growing systems,” said Phillippa Dodds.

“The ability to accurately manipulate the humidity and temperature in the GroDome is essential for our experiments,” said Dr Mark Else. “The GroDome’s running costs, being lower than controlled environment glass, allow us to utilise this environment for the life of the five year project,” he concluded.

The following article appeared in the July/August 2005 edition of 'Ecoeast Magazine':

"Unigro’s GroDome Revolutionises Plant Research

Unigro Ltd, based in north-west Kent, has designed and patented a multi-faceted, contained and controlled growing system allowing the production of plants for both research and food production 365 days per year. The GroDome technology not only provides a highly accurate level of control over the growing parameters, but also leads to a 50% reduction in energy consumption and running costs when compared to other controlled environment technologies. Surplus energy provided by Unigro’s facilities can be stored and exported to provide free heating for surrounding buildings, further reducing both the costs and elimiminating environmental impact.

The GroDome has been designed to maximise natural light levels reaching the crop and provides other major benefits over traditional glass structures, including security and high insulation qualities.

Unigro is attracting a great deal of interest from the UK plant research and horticultural industries where the need for sustainable and safe production is a major issue. The company is currently negotiating several major research contracts in the UK and has planning permission for a number of commercial sites in south east England, which it plans to develop in partnership with suitable, professional commercial growers." (end of article)