Method of Cultivating Plants and System Therefor

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method of cultivating plants comprising supplying at a given time a quantity of a plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator to the plants, wherein said quantity is adapted based on a prediction of a physiologic state of the plants at a time in the future relative to the given time, and is compensated for a difference between an indication of the real physiologic state of the plants at a time in the past relative to the given time and a theoretical physiologic state of the plants for said time the past.

Claims

1. Method of cultivating a plant, comprising supplying at a given time a quantity of a plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator to the plant, wherein said quantity is adapted based on a prediction of a physiologic state of the plant at a time in the future relative to the given time, and is compensated for a difference between an indication of the real physiologic state of the plant at the given time or a time in the past relative to the given time and a theoretical physiologic state of the plant for the given time or for said time the past.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said time in the future is determined based on an estimated time delay between the given time at which the plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator are supplied to the plant and the time at which the supplied plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator becomes effectively available.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the prediction of the physiologic state of the plant is based on a biological rhythm of the plants.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the predicted physiologic state of said plant is based on at least one water related parameter of said plant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plant protection product and/or growth regulator includes at least a systemic plant protection product and/or growth regulator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator is water-based or oil-based.

7. The method of claim 1, in which the plant comprises multiple plants that are cultivated in an open field.

8. The method of claim 7, in which a substrate that the plants are cultivated on includes or is soil.

9. A system for cultivation of plants, comprising one or more plant protection product feed devices for feeding one or more plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator to the plants, and a control apparatus connected to said one or more plant protection product feed devices and configured for controlling said one or more plant protection product feed devices according to the method of claim 1.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising a greenhouse for cultivation of plants, the greenhouse comprising a housing which defines an interior space, and one or more climate control devices for controlling one or more of: a temperature, a CO.sub.2 concentration, and/or a humidity of air in the interior space, and/or a supply of water and/or nutrients to the plants; wherein the control apparatus is connected to said one or more climate control devices and configured for controlling said climate control devices according the method of claim 1.

11. A computer readable medium provided with instructions thereon, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to claim 1.

12. A control apparatus comprising a computer readable medium according to claim 11.

13. A plant that is obtained or obtainable by a method according to claim 1, and/or using a system according to claim 9, and/or using a computer readable medium according to claim 11, and/or using a control apparatus according to claim 12.

14. A plant or a plant product that is cultivated using control data that is obtained in accordance with the cultivation method of claim 1.

15. A set of control data for use in a method of cultivating plants in accordance with claim 1.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the biological rhythm of the plant includes at least one rhythmic component.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one rhythmic component comprises at least one of a circadian rhythm component for said plant, a growth cycle component for said plant, and a developmental cycle component for said plant.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one water related parameter of said plant comprises at least one of a water evaporation rate, a water absorption rate, a water retention, a water balance, and a water drain for said plant and/or its substrate.

19. The system according to claim 9, further comprising an open field for cultivation of plants.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] The invention will further be elucidated on the basis of a drawing, in which:

[0024] FIGS. 1A and 1B show a circadian rhythm of a cultivated plant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate how the method of the invention may be carried out. FIGS. 1A and 1B particularly illustrate an example a cultivation of plants in a greenhouse. In FIG. 1A shows a model of the circadian rhythm of the plants to be cultivated, wherein curve Ep relates to the circadian transpiration rate of the plants as a function of time during a day, under ideal conditions. Curve Es denotes the circadian transpiration rate of the substrate on which the plants are to be cultivated in absence of any plant as a function of time. The shown circadian curves can be determined experimentally and/or theoretically, for example using a reference field or in a laboratory setting. The curves Ep, Es can be adapted to the particular climatologic and geographic circumstances at the open field where the potato plants are to be cultivated.

[0026] It can be seen that the plant transpiration rate has a maximum just after midday. The transpiration rate of the plants can be an indication of a consumption capacity of the plants, and is thus indicative of an activity of the plants. The circadian curves are accordingly a measure for the plants physiologic state during the day. A circadian curve for the plants may be available for each day during a growth season, or the circadian curve may be adjusted for the relevant day of the growth season.

[0027] In FIG. 1B, the curve Tp denotes a time delay, as a function of time, between a moment of water supply to the plants, and a moment of water drainage from the plant occurring at a water drainage. Ts denotes a time delay of the substrate, in absence of the plants. As transpiration by the plants may be difficult to measure directly, the time delay between supply and drainage may also provide an indication of a consumption of water by the plants, and hence of physiologic activity of the plants. A large time delay, for example, indicates a high uptake of water from the soil, and thus a high consumption of water by the plant. It is to be noted that the shape of the time-delay curves Tp and Ts are very similar to respectively the evaporation curves Ep and Es. Both the evaporation curves Ep, Es as well as the time-delay curves Tp, Ts are thus indicative of the circadian rhythm of the plant, and accordingly of the plant's activity during the day. It will be appreciated that the curves may be adjusted in accordance with the season, geographic location, meteorological data, etc.

[0028] A function of the time delay over time under optimal circumstances can be determined based on the transpiration model of FIG. 1A, indicated by curve Tp. Measurements of the actual time delay can be taken during the day, for example after watering the pants, which are denoted by measurements points Ta.

[0029] It is shown in FIG. 1B that from sunrise, at about 07:00, onward, the plants activity increases, which is indicated by the measured increasing time delay, i.e. indicating an increasing water extraction rate water.

[0030] The plants may be supplied with plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator at any time. At a given time, for example at 09:00 hr, a quantity of plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator is supplied to the plants. To account for a time delay between supply of the plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator and effective availability thereof to the plant, the quantity of plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator that is fed to the plant should be appropriate to the physiologic state of the plant at a time in the future. As indicated by the curves Ep and Tp, the plant's capacity of water uptake will change during the day, such that the supplied quantity should anticipate for this change accordingly. In this example, the expected time delay between supply and effective availability may be one hour. Hence quantity of supplied plant protection product and/or plant growth regulator should be adapted to the physiologic state of the plants at 10:00 hr. The prediction of the physiologic state of the plants can be based on the curves Ep, Es, Tp, Ts. It will be appreciated that the time delay between supply of plant protection product and plant growth regulator and effective availability thereof to the plant can be determined experimentally and/or theoretically. It will also be appreciated that the time delay between supply and availability may depend on the physiologic activity of the plant.

[0031] Further, the quantity of water is compensated for a difference between an indication of the real physiologic state at the given time, or in the past, e.g. as indicated by the measurements Ta, and a theoretical capacity of consumption of the plants at the given time or in the past, e.g. as indicated by curves Tp, Es. At the given time, here 09:00 hr, it is observed from the measurements that the real physiologic state is below the theoretic physiologic state. In other words, the plants' activity is below the theoretically modeled activity, for example due to bad weather conditions. The expected physiologic state at the time in the future, here 10:00 hr, may therefore be adjusted accordingly. Other factors may also be taken into consideration when predicting the physiologic state at a time in the future, such as the weather forecast.

[0032] Herein, the invention is described with reference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications, variations, alternatives and changes may be made therein, without departing from the essence of the invention. For the purpose of clarity and a concise description features are described herein as part of the same or separate embodiments, however, alternative embodiments having combinations of all or some of the features described in these separate embodiments are also envisaged and understood to fall within the framework of the invention as outlined by the claims. The specifications, figures and examples are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense. The invention is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Further, many of the elements that are described are functional entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributed components or in conjunction with other components, in any suitable combination and location.

[0033] In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word comprising does not exclude the presence of other features or steps than those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the words a and an shall not be construed as limited to only one, but instead are used to mean at least one, and do not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to an advantage.