Firstly, this article discusses the greenhouse engineering situation in three geographic areas which are relevant in the field of protected cultivation: Northern Asia, The Netherlands and the Mediterranean. For each area, the prevailing greenhouse type and equipment is briefly described. Secondly, the main technological constraints are pointed out and finally the research directions are discuss...

Mediterranean countries offer very favorable climatic conditions for growing plants in a protected environment: as a matter of fact, the high solar radiation allows the use of greenhouses with simple structures, covered with plastic film and without fixed installations for winter heating. They are called “Mediterranean greenhouses” and are totally different from those in Central and Northern Eu...

i t a c s s w p l b g The efficacy and cost of reduced release rates of the parasitoid Eretmocerus eremicus Rose and Zolnerowich (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) when combined with application of the insect growth regulator buprofezin were compared to those of a higher parasitoid release rate used alone for whitefly control (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Koltz...

Due to the randomicity of the natural growth of tomatoes in greenhouses and different storage days for market needs, it is difficult to find appropriate methodologies for certain ripe-tomato-harvesting robot systems. This paper proposes a novel approach for recognizing ripe tomatoes from the natural background in greenhouses and extracting abscission points after color segmentation for autonomo...

Investigations on the species composition and host range of aphids on ornamental greenhouse plants in Bulgaria was conducted over a period of five years, from 2008 to 2012. Twenty greenhouses, growing ornamentals for landscaping, plant collections and other purposes were observed. They were located in the regions of Sofia, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Pavlikeni, Varna and Burgas. The total number of colle...

A (semi-)closed greenhouse is a novel greenhouse with an active cooling system and temporary heat storage in an aquifer. Air is cooled, heated and dehumidified by air treatment units. Climate in (semi-)closed greenhouses differs from that of conventional open greenhouses. The aims of our research were first, to analyze the effect of active cooling on greenhouse climate, in terms of stability, g...

Replacing fossil flues by renewable and sustainable energies have been the concern of scientists working in this area over the recent decades. Furthermore, greenhouses play a key role in producing various crops year-round and in bohemian climates. For this objective, the greenhouses employ heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to provide the favourable conditions for the cons...

Evaporative cooling systems using a combination of evaporative pads and extractor fans require greenhouses to be hermetic. The greatest concentration of greenhouses in the world is located in southeast Spain, but these tend not to be hermetic structures and consequently can only rely on fogging systems as evaporative cooling techniques. Evaporative cooling boxes provide an alternative to such s...