Optimizing Plants and Cultivation System for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Following the successful completion of Volume I of “Optimizing Plants and Cultivation System for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)” and the significant interest shown in this research topic, we are pleased to announce the launch of Volume II. 

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), such as plant factories and vertical farms, is playing an increasingly important role in supporting human life. It can achieve year-round harvests and higher yields per unit area and can produce food for humans in adverse conditions (e.g., in epidemics and war) and extreme environments (e.g., in outer space, polar regions, and deep seas). For climate-controlled farms, the growth conditions (i.e., light, temperature, or humidity) are favorable for plants, and pests and diseases are effectively controlled. However, CEA farming systems face the challenges of limited time and space and high energy costs. Developing CEA, on the one hand, relies on optimizing and upgrading growing conditions and hardware facilities to provide a suitable growth environment for plants and, on the other hand, depends on the genetic engineering of crops to reduce their resource consumption while increasing their output. Crop varieties with high output (in terms of density, yield, and nutrition) and low consumption (small size, short growth cycle, and high photosynthetic efficiency) are needed. This Topic will showcase recent advances in improving plants and cultivating systems for CEA. Original research articles, reviews, and short communications are welcome.

Dr. Jie He
Dr. Leo Sabatino
Topic Editors