Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology最新文献

{"title":"Effect of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and Temperature on the Quality of Broccoli during Storage","authors":"Nguyen Thi Hang Phuong, T. Uchino, F. Tanaka, F. Tanaka","doi":"10.2525/ecb.60.43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.60.43","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47172754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of Aluminum Chloride on the Organogenesis of Two Types of Cymbidium In Vitro","authors":"A. Ona, K. Shimasaki, Md Asif Emteas","doi":"10.2525/ecb.60.85","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.60.85","url":null,"abstract":"The primary morphogenic pathway leading to the whole plant regeneration involves shoot organogenesis followed by root organogenesis in vitro (Malepszy, 2009). Apart from plant growth regulators, many treatments have been applied to improve the efficiency of regeneration of explant. One of them is incubation of cultures for a certain time under stress condition (low and high temperature, drought, salinity, metal). These types of stress have been found to have a positive effect on regeneration of plants (Puijalon et al., 2008). Aluminum (Al) is the 3rd most abundant element in the Earth’s crust (after oxygen and silicon), accounting for roughly 7% by mass. In soil, Al ions can be toxic to plants, but in combination with other minerals, it increases plant growth by enhancing phosphorus availability and activating the genes associated with abiotic stress (Noor et al., 2019). The effect of Al on plant growth, both toxic and beneficial, depends on the concentration and varies with species, physiological age, and growth conditions (Bojórquez-Quintal et al., 2017). Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) can produce metallic stress condition when added to culture media (Gallego et al., 2002). It enhanced shoot regeneration in date palm (Al-Mayahi, 2019), and increased micro-tuber and tuberous root production in Gloriosa superba L. (Subiramani et al., 2019). However, whether it can be used in orchid in vitro culture has not been reported yet. Cymbidium species are highly valued in the flower market due to its attractive foliage, flower color and pleasant aroma. So, a high quality plantlet is always on demand. Based on morphological and ecological characters, the genus Cymbidium can be differentiated into two types, protocorm-forming and rhizome-forming (Shimasaki and Uemoto, 1987). The protocorm and protocormlike body (PLB) forming type of Cymbidium are epiphytic, mostly common in tropical or subtropical regions and the rhizome-forming type includes terrestrial or saprophyte, which is widely distributed in oriental regions. The organogenetic pathways of PLB-forming and rhizome-forming types of Cymbidium are different (Ogura-Tsujita et al., 2007). The PLBs of PLB-forming Cymbidium are developed from apical meristem culture in vitro and developed shoots and roots within short period. In case of rhizomeforming types, rhizomes are developed directly from apical meristem culture in vitro and started forming more branches. However, shoot formation of a rhizome-forming type of Cymbidium is difficult compare with of PLB-forming type under an in vitro condition because rhizome has long dormancy period than PLBs (Shimasaki and Uemoto, 1987). In the present study we investigated the metallic stress effects of AlCl3 on in vitro cultures of two types of Cymbidium to identify its optimum concentration for regeneration of PLBs or rhizomes from inoculated PLB or rhizome, respectively, and formation of shoots and roots.","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49084562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Internet of Plants (IoP) Empowers Bottom-up Innovations in Greenhouse Horticulture","authors":"M. Kitano, K. Nomura, T. Yamazaki, T. Iwao, M. Saitou, M. Mori, D. Yasutake, T. Kaneko, H. Ukeda, Satoshi Ishizuka, T. Fujiwara, Toshihiro Okabayashi","doi":"10.2525/ecb.60.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.60.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44542252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expression Analysis of Flavonoid-related Genes in Green and White Asparagus Spears","authors":"D. Wambrauw, T. Kashiwatani, Maiko Matsuhashi, Satomi Yasuhara, Satoshi Oku, H. Shimura, K. Honda, T. Maeda, Takayuki Yamaguchi","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.191","url":null,"abstract":"Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) is one of the most widely produced vegetables in the world. Green and white spears originate from the same cultivar but are produced using different cultivation methods in Japan. White spears are shielded from sunlight, i.e., spears that grow in the absence of light, and green and white spears contain different phytochemicals due to these differences (presence vs. absence of light). Green spears contain rutin, while white spears do not have rutin but are rich in saponin (protodioscin) (Maeda et al., 2005, 2008, 2012). Rutin is one of the most significant flavonoids that has been reported to have biological activities, such as hypertension prevention, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-bacterial/ viral, and potent radical-scavenging properties. Rutin also has protective effects against capillary fragility and arteriosclerotic vascular changes (Griffith Jr. et al., 1944; Hellerstein et al., 1951; Middleton et al., 2000; Calabro et al., 2005; Guo et al., 2007). Consumer interest in functional foods, such as flavonoids, is increasing; and this interest has been stimulated by the potential health benefits that have arisen from the antioxidant activities of these compounds (Maeda et al., 2006). The main genes involved in rutin biosynthetic pathway are chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI), favanone-3-hydroxylase (F3H), favonoid-3¢-hydroxylase (F3¢H), and flavonol synthase (FLS), glucosyltransferase (GT) and rhamnosyltransferase (RT) (Fig. 1). Studies have revealed that light is one of the most important environmental signals regulating flavonoid biosynthesis (Fuglevand et al., 1996; Jenkins, 1997, 2001; Wade et al., 2001; Maeda et al., 2010; Kopsell and Sams, 2013; Carvalho and Folta, 2014). Supplemental lighting is introduced when asparagus is grown using the “Fusekomi” forcing culture technique, which is a unique cropping technique developed in Japan. With this technique, it was found that the amount of rutin increased as the number of lamps and the duration of light exposure increased, while spear color improved (Wambrauw et al., 2016). Nonetheless, the mechanisms behind this rutin enhancement have not been fully clarified. In addition, only a few studies have addressed the molecular basis of flavonoid metabolism regulation in asparagus (Yi et al., 2019), the effect of light on the accumulation of flavonoid-related genes and the role of light-regulated genes in enhancing rutin production. Therefore, we investigated the effects of light on rutin-related expressions of biosynthetic genes (CHS, CHI, F3H, F3¢H, FLS) and the amount of rutin in green (light-exposed) and white (light-shielded) spears.","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47533244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantification of the Effects of Alternating and Simultaneous Red and Blue Irradiations on Plant Morphology and Shoot Fresh Weight in Leaf Lettuce‘Greenwave’","authors":"Kaito Masuda, H. Nakashima, J. Miyasaka, K. Ohdoi","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.181","url":null,"abstract":"In the closed-type plant factories, artificial light sources, such as fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), are widely used as alternatives to sunlight. They, along with setting optimum environmental conditions (light, temperature, humidity, CO2, concentration of nutrient solution, and so on), can improve the productivity per unit area, and consequently increase the profit from small cultivation areas (Goto, 2012). However, only a few enterprises make a profit, due to the high initial cost for construction of closed-type plant factory units and the running costs of electric power such as lighting and air conditioning (Benke and Tomkins, 2017; Kozai, 2013). To reduce the running cost, LEDs are used as artificial light sources for plant growth, because of their lower power consumption and longer life span compared to fluorescent lamps. The morphogenesis of plants depends on the light spectra, and the illumination of LEDs is composed of a narrow range of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. Chlorophylls in plants mainly absorb red and blue lights and perform photosynthesis (Mohr and Schopfer, 1998); thus, several previous studies investigated the ability to increase yields by enhancing the efficiency of using these two colors. Shimokawa et al. (2014, 2020) investigated the growth of three cultivars of leaf lettuce, i.e., Summer Surge, Black Rose, Green Span (Lactuca sativa L. var. crispa) using Shigyo’s method, which involves alternating irradiation with red (LED; 660 nm, 100 mmol m 2 s ) and blue (LED; 450 nm, 60 mmol m 2 s ) lights. They found that this method enhanced the growth of two cultivars, i.e., Summer Surge and Black Rose, by increasing SFW compared to those under fluorescent light or simultaneous irradiation with red and blue lights. Using romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Cos Lettuce), Jishi et al. (2016) examined the irradiation patterns of various combinations of red (LED, 90 mmol m 2 s ) and blue (LED, 90 mmol m 2 s ) lights, such as simultaneous red―blue irradiation as well as irradiation with shifted red-light period, based on the study of Hanyu and Shoji (2002), in which they found that using blue light irradiation just before entering the light period promoted the growth of spinach. When a photoperiod was set using a cycle of blue monochromatic light; red monochromatic light; and dark period, the total leaf area and SFW were maximized. Kuno et al. (2017) investigated the cultivation of leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. crispa ‘Greenwave’) under simultaneous irradiation, alternating irradiation and shifted irradiation of red (LED, 120 mmol m 2 s ) or blue (LED, 120 mmol m 2 s ) light periods. The SFW obtained using alternating irradiation was significantly larger compared to that obtained using simultaneous irradiation. The SFW obtained using red monochromatic light was also large. Takasu et al. (2019) examined the optimum conditions for using alternating irradiations (ALTs) to cultivate Lactuca sativ","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48223741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Different LED Lights on the Organogenesis of a Cymbidium Cultivar","authors":"A. Ona, K. Shimasaki, Md Asif Emteas, A. Uddin","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.197","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial light is a primary source of energy which influence the morphogenesis and growth of plant cell, tissue and organ in tissue culture techniques (Reuveni and Evenor, 2007). For commercial micropropagation, using LEDs as a radiation source is increasing. To find out a optimum lighting condition is very importat for mass propagation of orchids. The effects of LED lights were studied in various orchid species (Anuchai and Hsieh, 2017; Kaewjampa and Shimasaki, 2012; Mengxi et al., 2011; Ramírez-Mosqueda et al., 2017). But most of the studies focus on red and blue LEDs. Hence, this study was taken to investigate effect of monochromic green LED, and alternating lighting condition of red, blue and green LEDs on PLB proliferation, fresh weight, shoot and root formation by protocorm-like bodies of a Cymbidium cultivar.","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43225392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Whole-plant and Single-leaf Photosynthesis of Strawberry under Various Environmental Conditions","authors":"L. Le, H. T. Dinh, H. Takaragawa, Kenta Watanabe, Y. Kawamitsu","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.173","url":null,"abstract":"Photosynthesis is a crucial process for the existence, development, and productivity of crops, which directly impacts the world food security (Amthor, 2000; Simkin, 2019). Hence, the photosynthesis of plants has been meticulously studied. One of the concerned research directions is to build plant growth models based on the photosynthesis process (Fourcaud et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2019; Amitrano et al., 2020). Therefore, to build accurate models, the photosynthetic measurement methods should be suitable and engender the most accurate results possible. Currently, two popular photosynthesis measurement methods are available which are, namely, the single-leaf measurement method and the whole-plant measurement method (for short, single-leaf, and whole-plant method, respectively). The application of the whole-plant method will overcome deviations in photosynthesis of plants introduced by differences in canopy structure, leaf ages, mutual shading, and leaf orientation (Lanoue et al., 2017; Nomura et al., 2020). The single-leaf method may not overcome those deviations without applying a proper practice. On the contrary, the advantage of the single-leaf method is its convenience and ease of measurement, and it can be flexibly moved in the measurement site. Therefore, in this study, we compare measurements of the whole-plant and singleleaf method on strawberry plants (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) grown under plant factory conditions to provide an overview of measurement methods for this plant species. The strawberry is a small herbaceous species with high economic values and convenient for the cultivation and measurement of photosynthesis.","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44991164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of an Efficient Anaerobic Co-digestion Process for Biogas from Food Waste and Paper","authors":"N. Shimizu, Kazuto Yoshida","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.165","url":null,"abstract":"This world is dependent on fossil fuel and there are various environmental problems caused by human activities such as global warming and pollution from municipal, industrial and agricultural waste. It is necessary for sustainable development to treat wastes adequately and to develop renewable energy. Utilization of biomass wastes has attracted a lot of interest because it is a way of waste management and also a source of renewable energy. Anaerobic digestion is one of them and has high potential to produce energy (Noike et al., 2009; Ghosh et al., 1975). Processing methods of anaerobic digestion are classified by solid content of feedstock and fermentation temperature (IEA BIOENERGY, 2001). The dry thermophilic anaerobic digestion is expected to be suitable in Japan because it occurs a small amount of digestate. Anaerobic digestion is also sorted out by the used feedstock. Anaerobic co-digestion, that is the process using the feedstock made from several kinds of substrates, has some advantages to anaerobic digestion from single substrate due to be able to adjust component of feedstock. Nakajima showed that anaerobic co-digestion from food waste with rich nitrogen and paper with rich carbon improves biogas generation because the C/N ratio of the feedstock is optimized (Nakajima et al., 2016). Food waste and paper constitute the second and third largest unused biomass waste in Japan (Excerpts from “Biomass Nippon Strategy”, Cabinet Decision, March 31, 2006). The efficient recycling method of these waste has been required to achieve sustainable development and the dry thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion is one of the important options. Although anaerobic digestion has many advantages such as the simultaneous treatment of waste, the utilization of digestate as a fertilizer and the robustness to the environment, it is not popular in Japan. There is the problem that reaction intermediates of anaerobic digestion including volatile fatty acid (VFA) and ammonia cause inhibition of methanogenesis easily. Overloading of organic matter leads to the accumulation of reaction intermediates and results in failure of the process. In spite of the biological vulnerability, anaerobic digestion has the robustness to the environment because the process proceeds in the closed reactor. Anaerobic digestion could play the role of supply and demand adjustment in the energy mix with environmental dependent renewable energies like wind and solar power. The numerical optimization of organic loading rate (OLR) has been studied for various purposes. MendezAcosta regulated the VFA concentration and total alkalinity (TA) to improve the stability of anaerobic digestion process with the dynamical model (Mendez-Acosta et al., 2016). Mauky developed the feeding management to compensate the divergence between supply and demand energy with ADM1 (Mauky et al., 2016; Batstone et al., 2002). The used models in these studies were proper for each control strategies (e.g. Mendez-Acosta set ","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48897904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correlation Network Analysis Visually Identifies Interactions of Antioxidant Compounds with Plant Growth, Leaf Photosynthetic Performance, and Agronomic Quality in Strawberry","authors":"K. Zushi, Kan Tsutsuki, Hiromi Takahashi, M. Kirimura","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.147","url":null,"abstract":"Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) is a rich source of bioactive compounds, including ascorbic acid (ASA), and polyphenols, such as anthocyanins and phenolic acids, most of which exhibit high antioxidant activities both in vitro and in vivo (Giampieri et al., 2012). As antioxidant compounds are associated with health benefits, the dietary intake of strawberry is highly recommended (Hannum, 2004; Cervantes et al., 2019). However, in the strawberry fruit, the content of antioxidant compounds varies because of genetics, environmental factors, and cultural practices. Previously, several studies on strawberry focused on the effects of environmental factors, such as harvest season (Choi et al., 2016), air temperature (Balasooriya et al., 2019; Shin et al., 2007; Sun et al., 2012), and light-related factors, such as light intensity, light duration, and ultraviolet (UV) exposure (Palmieri et al., 2017; Cervantes et al., 2019), on antioxidant compounds. In general, environmental conditions such as air temperature and irradiation have great impacts on plant growth because of changes in the photosynthetic apparatus, such as the photoinhibition of photosystem II (PSII) (Xu et al., 2020). Changes in the photosynthetic apparatus affect antioxidant metabolism through the generation of reactive oxygen species in photosynthesizing tissues (Hajiboland, 2014), which affect plant growth and/or photosynthetic performance, leading to changes in the level of antioxidant compounds. However, the effects of plant growth and photosynthetic performance on fruit antioxidant compounds have not yet been investigated. Therefore, to enhance the level of antioxidant compounds in the strawberry fruit, it is necessary to understand the interactions of antioxidant compounds with plant growth and photosynthetic performance. A correlation network analysis can be used widely to visualize interactions among various factors (Newman, 2003). From the agricultural viewpoint, the correlation network analysis of plant metabolism can provide key insights into biochemical processes and their regulation (Toubiana et al., 2013). Previously, correlation network analysis has been used to perform metabolic data analysis of several horticultural crops, such as tomato (DiLeo et al., 2011; Zushi and Matsuzoe, 2011, 2015), pepper (Silva et al., 2016), and strawberry (Fait et al., 2008). In these studies, the correlation network and its structure have been characterized extensively in efforts to elucidate the design principles of metabolic interactions. For example, in strawberry fruit, the correlation network suggested that metabolism is","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44730751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Utilization of Snow and Geothermal Cold Heat for Temperature Control and Head Production in Witloof Chicory Hydroponic Forcing Culture in Summer","authors":"T. Uno, T. Kumano, H. Araki","doi":"10.2525/ecb.59.125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ecb.59.125","url":null,"abstract":"The exhaustion of finite fossil fuels and the impact of their mass use on the environment are of global concern. Attention is focused on the use of renewable energies such as sun, wind power and geothermal heat. The use of these energies is also desired in greenhouse horticulture, where large amounts of electric power and fossil fuels are employed (Kawamura et al., 2006; Fukui et al., 2009). Examples of using renewable energy in agricultural production are heating the inside of greenhouses through biomass combustion (Kawamura et al., 2006) and crop preservation using snow (Nakamura and Osada, 2001; Ishihara et al., 2005; Nikaido et al., 2014). However, using natural energy in agricultural production can be difficult as its abundance and form depending on geography and season. Previous research suggests that its unstable nature and energy smallness can be compensated by combining multiple energy types and inputting it locally (Angelis-Dimakis et al., 2011). In recent years, the demand for Western vegetables, including witloof chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), has increased in Japan (Ohtani, 2004), where almost all witloof chicory to date has been imported. However, doing so is expensive, and as such, domestic production of witloof chicory is anticipated for introduction to the Japanese market at a low price and high quality. Cultivation of witloof chicory comprises two stages: firstly, plant growing and harvesting of chicory roots in an open field and, secondly, implementing forcing culture of harvested roots for production of etiolated heads. Chicory roots are generally stored at a low temperature of roughly 0 °C and high relative humidity until forcing culture is implemented. The storage period is cultivar-dependent (König and Combrink, 2002). Forcing culture is generally carried out by employing high-density planting in a dark space under a controlled and constant temperature of 14 to 18 °C (Morishita, 1988). High temperatures cause rapid growth of loose and elongated heads, whereas low temperatures reduce growth rate and produce shorter and tighter heads (Ryder, 1998). Since loose, irregular shaped or small heads are not marketable (Sterrett and Savage, 1989), temperature control within a suitable range is important in forcing culture. In order to produce etiolated heads throughout the year, special equipment is needed for controlling the temperature within a suitable range in Japan (14 to 18 °C), particularly in summer and winter. In the commercial production of chicory heads, electrical air conditioning systems are applied in the forcing room, but this is a costly process. Since forcing culture can be carried out in an enclosed and narrow space, it is potentially viable to control temperature using natural heat sources, despite the limited energy density, compared to fossil fuels. Several studies have explored the feasibility of geo-","PeriodicalId":85505,"journal":{"name":"Seibutsu kankyo chosetsu. [Environment control in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43197158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}