Elemental technologies for realizing a fully-controlled artificial light-type plant factory

Plant factories are cultivation facilities that enable year-round production of vegetables and other produce by allowing precise control and monitoring of cultivation conditions and plant growth. At Osaka Prefecture University, the Research and Development Center for the Plant Factory has been established as a cutting-edge R&D base specializing in the development of a plant growth facility operated entirely under artificial light. This plant factory is the largest-scale facility of its kind among universities in Japan and can produce 5000 heads of lettuce each day. In this paper, we describe some key technologies for efficient cultivation and energy conservation that have been established in this plant factory.