Hugo Restrepo, professor of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and leader of this initiative.
This process allows controlling the metabolism of plants.
It is a procedure that consists in giving the plant, by means of water clouds, the nutrients and irrigation that it needs for its growth. -Unimedios
Medellín, dic. 16 de 2011 - Agencia de Noticias UN– Nebuphonia is a new technique developed in Colombia, which will allow using a minimum of water, less terrain and eliminate the pesticides in crops at a big scale.
Researchers form Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin, after investigating in literature from around the world, designed a new method that uses nebulization for the industrial production of vegetal food, eliminating the use of chemicals and optimizing to the maximum the water resource.
“It is a procedure that consists in giving the plant, by means of water clouds, the nutrients and irrigation that it needs for its growth,” explained Hugo Restrepo Pulgarín, leader of the project and director of the Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering.
Nebuponia is the name given to this innovative method. It is a system in which the drops of water are fragmented until a milimetric point, creating some sort of very delicate cloud or dew. There are two procedures: one, in which air and pressure are combined with a liquid source and other, in which ultrasound is used.
The advantage is that the crop does not depend on the weather conditions or the conditions of the soil; for this reason, vegetal products such as cilantro, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, tomato, strawberry, among others, can be cultivates with high nutritional contents and bigger productivity, without using pesticides or chemical compounds and, additionally, with little water consumption.
For using nebuphonia, two completely independent rooms are needed, each with its own nebilization system, for them to be regulated according to the needs of the productive process. Besides, each compartment has a control mechanism of relative humidity and temperature.
In the foliage chamber (upper part of the prototype) the nebulizers that provide water to the leaves are located; they occasionally provide nutritive solutions while an air conditioner duct helps to keep the appropriate temperature for the crop.
A couple of fans are automatically activated to change the air in the chambers: in the upper one, carbon gas is renewed (CO2) and in the lower, oxygen (O2) is renewed. On the other hand, a thermometer is placed to monitor some metabolic processes in the plant, which affect their survival, growth and reproduction.
In the root chamber (lower part), they are exposed to air only. Meanwhile, their environment is monitored with a sensor that indicates the functioning conditions. At the same time, nebulizers are activated to apply the amount of water needed.
“We can control the atmosphere in the foliar area (upper part of the leaves) and in the roots, in order to provide the nutrients in the water for them to be properly used. Therefore, we save 85% of the liquid that is used in a traditional crop. Besides, since pesticides are not used, 100% organic products are generated,” mentioned Ana Melisa López, a student and researcher of the project.
For a high quality product, cloned plant with high purity minerals, rich in calcium, potassium, phosphor, magnesium, and zing are needed, since the ideas is to develop their maximum genetic potential and make production in series that offer equal products.
This process allows the regulation of the metabolism of the plants. “When I need to provide nutrition, what I do is increasing the relative humidity in the roots and diminishing in the foliage or vice versa, depending on the need,” explained Restrepo Pulgarín.
He also mentioned that this model allows generating a new alimentation concept, since healthy products will be consumed with the possibility of adding better nutritional characteristics such as calcium, minerals and vitamins.
Precisely, the researchers from Universidad Nacional de Colombia will begin a study to identify substances that stimulate the production of secondary metabolites, chemical compounds synthesized by the plants that have non essential functions for them, but that permit improving the food quality of the product and, giving added value.
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(Por: By: End/grp/whg)
N° 23
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