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Plant responses to abiotic stress are neither singular nor linear. The research represented within this dissertation was intended to evaluate selected biochemical and physiological responses in two Arugulas (Images 1-5), to agronomic interventions designed to mitigate extreme environmental abiotic factors, characteristic of arid agricultural production regions. Plant stress responses were investigated under field conditions and within controlled environments (CE), during the course of a preliminary trial and three independent studies, all four directly related. The preliminary trial evaluated harvest and postharvest nutritional content (i.e., antioxidants) of two Arugulas, Eruca sativa (L.) Cav. ssp. sativa (P. Mill.) and Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC cv. Sylvetta; grown under field conditions in the semi-arid upper Sonoran Desert. In this trial, we defined baseline harvest and postharvest antioxidant values for the Arugulas, cultivated in a semi-arid environment. The initial study, conducted within a CE utilizing a water recycling system, evaluated changes in the nutritional value of three specialty leafy cruciferous vegetables: D. tenuifolia, E. sativa and Lepidium sativum; when subjected to increasing salinity levels in the nutrient solution. It was concluded that, when specific Crucifers are irrigated with moderately high levels of salinity, neither harvest nor postharvest nutritional values are compromised. The second study, investigated the response of a suite of plant physiological parameters (e.g., yield and photosynthetic rate) in the three Crucifers to salinity, within the CE. This research provided guideline salinity values where yields did not decline, and encourages growers to consider water resources compromised by salinity and nutrient solution recycling. During the third study, the influence of environmental conditions on the nutritional content in leafy vegetables, prevalent immediately before harvest, was investigated; by subjecting plants to reduced sunlight treatments and early irrigation termination. We observed that, modulating light intensity late in the season, and early irrigation termination strategies, modify the nutritional content of leafy vegetables; and potentially the subsequent postharvest shelf life. Collectively evaluated, this research suggests that simple agronomic interventions are valuable, yet practicable, tools that can enhance the nutritional content of specialty vegetables, in arid regions: be that intervention an imposed controlled-stress, utilizing nutrient recycling systems within a CE, or basic light-reduction and irrigation termination strategies within conventional fields systems.

2 pp. / In the semi-arid climate of southern AZ, evaporative cooling systems are commonly used and very effective for cooling homes (swamp coolers), outdoor areas (misters), and for greenhouses used for commercial and horticultural plant production (pad-and-fan, high-pressure-fog). The purpose of this brochure is to educate users about strategies they can employ to save water and improve the performance of evaporative cooling systems. Principles of operation, a list of advantages and disadvantages, and a comparison of common systems is also included, to help users decide the best system for them.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture, Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / In the temperate Midwest, interiorscapes are seldom a feature of public schools. The interior spaces of school environments tend to be dull, uninspiring, and do very little to nurture the wellbeing and needs of students. Interiorscapes can greatly influence the overall productivity of users by creating healthy, pleasant environments. Schools fail to create richer indoor environments for a number of reasons, such as lack of resources as well as knowledge about the design, implementation and benefits of interiorscapes. In addition students today “are not the outdoor-living [children] they were 100 years ago, and as much as 90% of [their] time may be spent indoors” (Manaker, 2). Healthy and stimulating school environments have the potential to enhance students’ productivity and creativity. Therefore the question at hand is: how can a Manhattan Kansas’ high school integrate the natural and built environment to create richer interior spaces? In this Master’s report, I explore the potential benefits of designing an interiorscape that integrates the natural and built environments within a school setting. Using Manhattan High School West Campus as the project site, I analyzed the effect and design of existing interiors on students through passive observation. Numerous research precedents identified valuable information on design processes and methodologies for designing interiorscapes and evaluating user interaction with existing places. Following a thorough analysis of the typology and characteristics of each precedent, I considered unique facets that were directly applicable to my project site. I then went to test the aspects selected from these precedents by incorporating them into the design for the selected project site; north courtyard and adjacent interior dining space. Based upon the precedent research and literature review, design goals and objectives evolved. The end product is a schematic design for Manhattan’s High School cafeteria area and north courtyard. The plan encompasses desired characteristics of an interiorscape and needs of its potential users. Ultimately, this proposal presents ideas for ways of implementing interiorscapes to enhance the overall productivity of users, while simultaneously strengthening the relationship between the natural and built environments.

Vegetable grafting confers soil-borne disease resistance through the use of selected rootstocks. Additional costs associated with grafted vegetable seedling propagation limit grower access to this technology. The use of low temperature storage in grafted seedling production reduces labor costs and allows propagators to meet the seasonal and narrow-window demand of growers. For the first part of the experiment 22 genotypes of Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae seedlings were evaluated in low temperature storage conditions (5 or 12°C). Seedling performance was better in 12°C storage than in 5°C storage. For the second part of the experiment watermelon, the most low-temperature sensitive species found in our first study, was grafted onto two different commercial rootstocks or on to other watermelon seedlings and stored at 12°C for two and four weeks. Both 'Strong Tosa' and 'Emphasis' rootstocks conferred chilling tolerance during storage to watermelon scions, allowing storage of grafted plants for two weeks.

Controlled environment agriculture allows the production of fresh food indoors from global locations and contexts where it would not otherwise be possible. Growers in extreme climates and urban areas produce food locally indoors, saving thousands of food import miles and capitalizing upon the demand for fresh, tasty, and nutritious food. However, the growing of food, both indoors and outdoors, consumes huge quantities of water - as much as 70-80% of global fresh water supplies. The utilization of liquid desiccants in a closed indoor agriculture cycle provides the possibility of capturing plant-transpired water vapor. The regeneration/desalination of these liquid desiccants offers the potential to recover fresh water for irrigation and also to re-concentrate the desiccants for continued dehumidification. Through the utilization of solar thermal energy, the process can be completed with a very small to zero grid-energy footprint. The primary research in this dissertation focused on two areas: the dehumidification of indoor environments utilizing liquid desiccants inside membrane contactors and the regeneration of these desiccants using membrane distillation. Triple-bore PVDF hollow fiber membranes yielded dehumidification permeance rates around 0.25-0.31 g m-2 h-1 Pa-1 in lab-scale trials. A vacuum membrane distillation unit utilizing PVDF fibers yielded a flux of 2.8-7.0 kg m-2 hr-1. When the membrane contactor dehumidification system was applied in a bench scale controlled environment agriculture setup, the relative humidity levels responded dynamically to both plant transpiration and dehumidification rates, reaching dynamic equilibrium levels during day and night cycles. In addition, recovered fresh water from distillation was successfully applied for irrigation of crops and concentrated desiccants were successfully reused for dehumidification. If applied in practice, the liquid desiccant system for controlled environment agriculture offers the potential to reduce water use in controlled environment agriculture by as much as ~99%.

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Biostimulants offer an innovative approach to potentially improve crop yield and quality under abiotic stresses. Particularly, plant-derived protein hydrolysates (PH), a mixture of amino acids and soluble peptides from enzymatic or chemical hydrolysis of agricultural waste, are gaining global interest due to their sustainability and positive effects on crops. However, a functional role of the PH in crop yield and quality remains uncertain and is proposed to be associated with its phytohormone-like activities or serve as an additional nitrogen (N) source. Besides, the effects of PH on crop yield and quality are limited in intensive production systems such as greenhouse facilities. The purposes of this research are to examine the effects and mechanisms of PH on crops and to assess the potential of PH application to reduce fertilizer use in crop production. The specific objectives were to; 1) elucidate the hormone-like activities of PH in the adventitious rooting formation of cuttings, 2) evaluate the effects of different PH application methods on greenhouse crop yield and quality under different N levels when plants are grown with a commercial growing medium, and 3) examine the effects of PH application methods on yield and quality of hydroponically grown lettuce under different N levels and forms. Three conclusions were that 1) <a>the hormonal effects of PH are attributed to brassinosteroid-mediated processes, and PH has overlapping functions with auxin during adventitious rooting of cuttings in a plant species-specific manner</a>, 2) root application of PH (PH-R) effectively improves nutrient uptake compared to foliar spray of PH (PH-F), subsequently, increases the lettuce and tomato yield and quality regardless of N levels while PH-R did not change the chemical properties of growing media, and 3) PH-R effectively increases root growth, and subsequently, improving shoot yield and quality with significant PH × N levels and PH × NO₃:NH₄ratios interactions. Also, PH-R counteracted the negative effects of low NO₃:NH₄ratios on lettuce yield. The outcomes provide the optimization of PH and N fertilization in modern sustainable greenhouse production and the development of a new strategy for producing high-quality greenhouse crops with improved nutrient use efficiency.

Design of Controlled Environment for Tissue Engineering Malcolm Lapera Tissue engineering aims at relieving the need for donor tissue and organs by developing a process of creating viable tissues in the laboratory setting. With over 120,000 people awaiting a transplant, the need for generating tissue engineered organs is very large [3]. In order for organs to be engineered, a few issues need to be overcome. A work space that both creates an environment which maintains cell viability over an extended period of time as well as accommodates the necessary fabrication equipment will be needed to further tissue engineering research. Therefore, a design for a “Tissue Engineering Hood,” will be developed and evaluated. The goal of this design will provide an environment capable of providing 37°C, 95% humidity, and 5% CO2, actively deter contamination, and provide the necessary support hardware for a 3D printer designed for tissue engineering. The design detailed in this paper was implemented successfully and evaluated. The current design has issues creating the proper environmental conditions, however does actively prevent contamination, and provides the necessary support hardware for a 3D printer. The current design was capable of reaching a temperature of 32°C, had issues increasing the humidity while incorporating the laminar air flow aspect of the design, and design flaws in the door allowed CO2 to leak too rapidly. After remedying these and a few other minor issues described in the report, the tissue engineering hood will be a beneficial tool for use in tissue engineering.