​The Innovation Team of Plant Factory from Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IUA-CAAS), proposed a novel technical path recently. This research has been published in Horticulture Research(IF: 6.793) with the title "Plant factory technology lights up urban horticulture in the post-coronavirus world".

​Recently, the Innovation Team of Functional Plant Cultivation and Application, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IUA, CAAS), has clarified the molecular mechanism of Pathogenesis-Related Protein 1 (PR1) against potato late blight. The relevant research results were published in the Journal of Advanced Research with the title “Pathogenesis-related protein 1 suppresses oomycete pathogen by targeting againstAMPK kinase complex”.

The exhibition park of the National Agricultural Science & Technology Center consists of five functional sections: the leaf vegetable factory, the fruit vegetable factory, the vertical plant factory, the urban community horticulture and the intelligent agriculture. It displays the staged achievements from research teams of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on intelligent horticultural equipment, energy saving LED lighting, hydroponic vegetable factory, multi-layer stereo cultivation, big data analysis, recycling technology of urban organic waste and other technologies. With the theme of "Agricultural Innovation Leads Urban Green Life", the park serves both scientific research and exhibition, focuses on innovation and green development. It aims at exploring the advanced technology and concept of urban agriculture, boosting the construction of “Park City”, and providing green urban life for residents.

The leafy vegetable factory displays the technical achievements of mechanization, automation and intelligence of vegetable production from planting to harvesting. It makes use of the LED seeding factory for breeding, the robots for planting, the NFT-based hydroponic growing units for production, and mechanized means for harvesting. The factory significantly improves the labor productivity, saves 90% of water, and 70% of fertilizer. The year-round vegetable production has been achieved and the annual yield reaches 400 tons per hectare, which is 5 times more than that of a traditional open-field cultivation.

The fruit vegetable factory displays multiple technical achievements including “leitu” (artificial fiber soil) substrate, the integrated water and fertilizer technology, the energy saving LED lighting, the active heat storage-release system, the hanging robot and the intelligent control of IoT (Internet of things). It aims at achieving industrialized vegetable production in an energy-saving and efficient way. The factory saves 40% of water and 30% of fertilizer, while reaches an annual yield of tomato and cucumber of 40-50 kg per square meter.

The vertical plant factory is an efficient agricultural system for the year-round production of plants under fully controlled environment. The factory makes use of key technologies including the energy saving LED lighting, the multi-layer stereo cultivation, the even ventilation with perforated tubes as well as the intelligent control based on IoT (Internet of Things). The yield per unit area of this factory is 40 times more than that of the open field. The factory can be used for food production in Gobi, desert, island reef, urban construction, and even spaceship or out-space colony, etc. It is an important technical safeguard for food safety in the future.

The urban agricultural community is a new urban community, it makes full use of the public space and family space of the community, takes modern agricultural science and technology as supports to produce fresh agricultural and sideline products, and provides ecological environment and leisure space. The urban agricultural community is mainly composed of roof farm, balcony gardening, vertical vegetable garden, mobile orchard, edible fungus factory and other modules. The daily operation and maintenance are managed by the community management department, by means of relatively centralized management services on water, fertilizer and pests, as well as technical training, farming education, farming volunteers, and exchange platform.

The mobile plant factory is an emerging mode for vegetable cultivation which is transformed from a conventional container using the technologies including the energy saving LED lighting, the hydroponic cultivation and the intelligent environmental control, etc. Due to its mobility and no restriction on geographical and climatic conditions, the mobile plant factory has great practical prospects. It can be widely adapted to scientific research institutes, urban buildings, border posts, reefs, ships, and oil exploration platforms, etc.

The intelligent home horticulture equipment is developed based on the energy saving LED lighting and the hydroponic cultivation. It enables consumers to participate in the whole cultivation process from sowing to harvesting. The equipment also combine the technology of IoT (Internet of Things) to benefit consumers to manage the plants visually and remotely. The intelligent home horticulture equipment meet the requirements of residents to grow vegetables and flowers hands-on. Moreover, these equipment help to create an intelligent green area and provide healthy and green guarantee for urban life.