S02 - Session O2 - Feasibility study on development of novel leafy vegetable varieties suitable for plant factory production via utilization of genetic resources in genebank

Authors: Masayoshi Shigyo *, Tri Manh Le, Kazuhiko Harada, Kenta Arai, Yuichi Ishizaki, Hitoshi Aoki, Chris Kik, Robbert van Treuren, Theo van Hintum

The genetic resources held by the Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN, the Netherlands) may contain several promising breeding materials for developing leafy vegetable varieties that can be utilised in protected cultivation. A detailed elucidation of the actual situation and pilot studies are therefore necessary. The importance of plant factory production has increased due to the frequent natural disasters caused by climate change in many parts of the world. Even though there are several advantages to encourage plant factories, including disease-free environment support, plant growth rate control, or systematic production, one of the biggest challenges to operating a plant factory is high management cost. To obtain the highest benefit and assure the quality of the product, it is necessary to effectively combine the varieties of plants and the condition of artificial cultivation. In this study, spinach and lettuce plants' growth rate and chemical composition could be considered a comparative study among genotypes under various LED light conditions. Within the framework of this study, the nine accessions of spinach and 17 of lettuce, including cultivated and wild species, introduced from CGN will be experimental plant materials. There are four light conditions, including fluorescent irradiation as control and three simultaneous LEDs-irradiation with a red/blue ratio equal to 3:1; 1:1 and 1:3 in each trial plot. All the experiments will be carried out under hydroponic conditions in the plant factory of Yamaguchi University. The plants will be harvested about one month after sowing, then plant weight (fresh and dry) and several phytochemical contents will be determined. The omics information of these accessions is now under development from the harvested materials. This research will enable the selection of new combinations of genotypes and light environments suitable for use in large-scale production at plant factories.