CO2 uit buitenlucht

The supply of additional CO2 in a greenhouse will be restricted in the future. The concentration in outside air has risen above 400 ppm. This may open the possibility to blow this air through the canopy to increase growth. In this project, the vertical CO2 concentration was measured in a vertical plane within to the canopy under different combinations of window opening, the activation of vertical fans and with or without dosing of additional CO2. For a Freesia and a tomato crop the result was that without CO2 dosing it was possible to maintain a concentration of over 350 ppm in the canopy at 5-10 cm distance from the leaf surface when the ventilation windows were open. Since, this is below outside concentration, additional supply of outside air may be an advantage. When extra CO2 was supplied, a reduction in window opening and the use of a screen increased the concentration between the canopy. The vertical distribution of CO2 within the canopy was never a problem. It can be concluded that the crop resistance to take up CO2 for a tomato and freesia crop is small and with respect to the other CO2 resistances, the crop resistance can be neglected. A positive effect of the use of vertical fans or the use of high pressure misting in the tomato greenhouse was not found, due to the strategy to keep the ventilation windows wide open. The concentration at 5-10 cm distance from the leaf is not necessarily the same concentration around the stomata because of boundary layer resistance. The effect of the boundary layer resitance on CO2 uptake is described in the report of Plant Dynamics called “Effecten van grenslaagweerstand op de fotosynthese bij tomaat en Freesia”.