Feasibility Study of Rice Growth in Plant Factories

Global food production will need to increase more than 50% before 2050 to satisfy the food demands of an increasing human population. To solve this food crisis, an increase in rice production will be necessary as rice is especially vital for the nutrition of much of the population in many countries. One solution to the future food shortage worldwide would be to cultivate crops in places where plants to do typically grow (e.g., desert and Antarctic). The technology for “plant factories”, a new facility to grow plants under a controlled environment that would enable high yield and high quality production year-round, is progressing. Through the computer-based, automated control of environmental conditions for optimal rice growth, the external environmental conditions would have little effect on the plants growing inside the plant factory. In the near future, the plant factory could play an important role in areas where field productions are difficult or impossible. Moreover, since producing biopharmaceuticals in plants through genetic engineering technologies has many economic and qualitative benefits, the trial to produce useful materials in transgenic plants is examined in the plant factory. Transgenic plants might therefore expand the usefulness of plant factories. In this review article, feasibility of rice growth in plant factories is summarized. it needs neither solar energy nor natural soil. So, its productivity is independent of the outside climate and soil fertility. In the near future, plant factories with artificial light could provide the possibility to expand food production into areas where crop plants cannot currently grow (e.g., desert, Antarctic, and highly-polluted areas). Three Types of Plant Factory and their Characteristics The concept of a plant factory has not yet been fixed definitively. A plant factory is a new facility to grow plants under a controlled environment and is able to get high yield and high quality productions year-round. Through the computer-based, automated control of conditions for optimal plant growth, including the environmental factors of temperature, light, CO2 concentration and nutrient source, a plant factory is a labor-saving food production technology where crops inside the facility would be largely unaffected by the weather. Plant factories are mainly categorized into three types based on their characteristics: i) plant factories with sunlight, ii) plant factories with sunlight and supplemental light, and iii) plant factories with fully artificial light (Figure 1). i) Plant factories with sunlight (typical Dutch type greenhouse) This is a system that uses sunlight without supplemental lighting. Generally speaking, the solar lighting system is considered to be an advanced greenhouse. This type of plant factory is installed with a CO2 gas supply, thermal screen, shading curtain and heat pump to optimize Citation: Yamori W, Zhang G, Takagaki M, Maruo T (2014) Feasibility Study of Rice Growth in Plant Factories. J Rice Res 2: 119. doi: 10.4172/ jrr.1000119