A biological lighting system to provide temporally- and spatially-modulated photon flux output and spectral power distributions to plants on a circadian and circannual basis, or circadian and life cycle basis, to maximize effective and efficient growth in a horticultural setting. The photon flux or irradiance output and the spectral power distribution are modulated to match circadian and circannual rhythms, with individual or multiple luminaires controlled through one or more controllers. Different lighting spectra can be employed depending on the direction of illumination. The photon flux or irradiance output and the spectral power distribution may be set as best suited for any particular plant species, and the system is also useful for raising animals.

A dense array of sensors positioned in a virtual environment is reduced to a sparse array of sensors in a physical environment, which provides sufficient information to a controller that responds to environmental conditions and parameters in the physical environment in substantially the same manner as it would to the same environmental conditions and parameters in the equivalent virtual environment. Data from a sparse array of virtual sensors is correlated with data from a dense array of virtual sensors and is used for generating control signals for hardware devices that influence a real or virtual interior environment. The correlated data and the control signals are used to train an artificial intelligence based controller that then controls the values of the parameters of the interior environment. A model of the interior environment is created using basic parameters in a computer-aided design application.

System for monitoring and regulating plant productivity comprising: a memory for storing instructions; a processor for executing the instructions to cause a method of monitoring and regulating plant productivity to be performed, the method comprising: receiving field data from monitoring sensors; computing, by the at least one processor executing a machine learning algorithm, a predicted value for a variable associated with the production environment condition of a crop field, the machine learning algorithm having been trained based on a training set comprising one or both of (a) the field data from the monitoring sensors, and (b) a generated feature derived from the field data; and determining, based on a threshold associated with the variable, that the predicted value for the variable indicates that an intervention in the crop field is to be initiated; and in response to the determining, causing a controllable device to vary the production environment condition.

One variation of a method for interpreting pressures in plants includes: accessing a first image of a first set of sentinel plants in a field; accessing a second image of a second set of sentinel plants in the field, recorded during a first period; interpreting a first pressure of a stressor in the first set based on features extracted from the first image, captured during the first period; interpreting a second pressure in the second set based on features extracted from the second image; deriving a model associating pressure at the first set and pressure at the second set based on the first pressure and the second pressure; interpreting a third pressure in the first set based on features extracted from a third image captured during a second period; and predicting a fourth pressure in the second set during the second period based on the third pressure and the model.

A method for inducing plants to increase their flavonoid compound content, includes performing an induction culture on a young shoot or an adult of a living plant, wherein flavonoid compound content of the young shoot or the adult of the living plant which has been subjected to the induction culture is higher than that of a young shoot or an adult of a living plant which is not subjected to the induction culture. Moreover, the induction culture includes a metal ion stimulation procedure comprising culturing the young shoot or the adult of the living plant in a culture environment with metal ion stimulation, wherein the culture environment with metal ion stimulation contains a metal ion used for stimulating the living plant, and the concentration of the metal ion used for stimulating the living plant is 5 μM-50 mM.

Methods for estimating plant age are provided. A first dataset comprising a first plurality of images of a first plurality of plants is obtained, including for each plant of the first plurality of plants, one or more first plant features. A second dataset comprising, for each plant of the first plurality of plants, a respective second plant location and plant age is obtained. The one or more first plant features and plant age for plants in the first plurality of plants are used to train a model for plant age determination. A third dataset comprising a second plurality of images of a second agricultural plot is obtained, including for a second plurality of plants in the second agricultural plot one or more corresponding second plant features. Ages for plants in the second plurality of plants are estimated by inputting one or more respective second plant features into the trained model.

Methods for estimating plant age are provided. A first dataset comprising a first plurality of images of a first plurality of plants is obtained, including for each plant of the first plurality of plants, one or more first plant features. A second dataset comprising, for each plant of the first plurality of plants, a respective second plant location and plant age is obtained. The one or more first plant features and plant age for plants in the first plurality of plants are used to train a model for plant age determination. A third dataset comprising a second plurality of images of a second agricultural plot is obtained, including for a second plurality of plants in the second agricultural plot one or more corresponding second plant features. Ages for plants in the second plurality of plants are estimated by inputting one or more respective second plant features into the trained model.

A flowerbed sales order system including a user terminal, a server apparatus capable of communicating with the user terminal, and an arrangement identificator that identifies arrangement of different colors and/or different types of plants for each of a plurality of regions included in a flowerbed, in which the user terminal includes an order placement request transmitter which transmits an order request of the flowerbed having the arrangement identified by the arrangement identificator by an operation of a user, and the server apparatus includes an order placement request receiver which receives the order request of the flowerbed.

Provided is a system for detection and analysis of a fibrous root system architecture of a plant, including a plant pot having at least one slit area extending through a cross section in an axial direction, at least one laser measuring unit, and a data analyzing unit, where each laser measuring unit has a laser transmitter and a receiver disposed corresponding to the slit area in such a manner that a laser beam emitted from the laser transmitter to the receiver goes across the cross section of the plant pot; measurement on all roots in the slit area is realized by a rotating stage, and the laser measuring unit swinging horizontally around the laser transmitter within a predetermined angle range; and the data analyzing unit is configured to perform statistical analysis on the roots of a plant to be measured according to laser measuring results.

A temperature control system comprising a first peripheral fluid circuit for the passage of a first heat exchanger fluid. The first peripheral fluid circuit comprises a first fluid connection for fluidly connecting a first peripheral heat exchanger in series with a first peripheral-evaporator heat exchanger. There is also provided a first peripheral pump for pumping the first heat exchanger fluid around the first peripheral fluid circuit. There is also provided a first evaporator circuit for the passage of an evaporator heat exchanger fluid through the first peripheral-evaporator heat exchanger. The first evaporator circuit comprises a first evaporator pump for pumping the evaporator heat exchanger fluid around the first evaporator circuit. The first evaporator circuit is fluidly isolated from the first peripheral fluid circuit. The first peripheral-evaporator heat exchanger is configured to permit heat exchange between the heat exchanger fluids.