AUSTRALIAN PHYTOTRON WILL AID WORLD FOOD OUTPUT

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29994, 1 December 1962, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN PHYTOTRON WILL AID WORLD FOOD OUTPUT

Modem Installation For Plant Research

[By

KEN KENNEDY

CANBERRA. 'J’HE world’s most modem installation for plant research is in operation in Canberra after four years of planning' and construction. It is a £600,000 phytotron, expected to speed up considerably man’s efforts to increase world food production to meet the challenge of rapidly growing populations.

Overseas scientists, many from Asia, will take part in the work of the Canberra phyotron at the invitation of the Australian Government. They will study their own particular plant growth problems under climatic conditions such as would be experienced in their own countries.

Fifteen visiting scientists will take up residence in the capital in the first year of operations, making Canberra, with more than 100 plant scientists of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CJ5.1.R.0.) and the Australian National University, one of the major plant research centres of the world. , The new phytotron* which literally means: ''plantmachine,” has been installed by the Plant Industry Division of C.S.I-R.0., the Australian Government’s largest research organisation. It is housed in a two-storey building with floor area of 11,500 square feet. In specially constructed cabinets, glasshouses and rooms almost every known climatic condition can be duplicated, maintained indefinitely or varied at will.

Years Of Work Will Be Saved

This duplication or climatic variations will, in most cases, save years of work in preliminary research into plant growth that would be necessary under field conditions. It eliminates the danger of sudden climatic changes such as snap frosts or heat waves. Extraordinary precautions are taken to prevent contamination of the experimental areas by the introduction of plant diseases and insects. All air entering the controlled area is electrostatically filtered, research workers are required to change into sterilized clothes and over-shoes before entering the area and air pressure inside the building is kept at a slightly higher level

than outside to prevent an inrush of air through main entrances. Fumigation chambers and the isolation of rooms and cabinet banks within the controUed area are additional precautions to reduce the risk of contamination. Because of the danger of infection, soil is rarely used

tor growing plants during experiments. Perlite, a sterile gravel-like substance, is used to hold the roots of the plants, which are fed with nutritive solutions. Use Of Automation Appropriately, in this up-to-date scientific installation, extensive use is made of automation. Practically every phase of the complicated experiments is under the watchful eye of an electronic device as well as that of the scientist.

Temperatures rise and fall, humidity is constantly recorded, daylight hours extended or shortened —all to a pattern previously determined and set on the dials of programme-timers. Theoretically it is possible for the new Canberra phytotron to continue, experiments and record continuous data for long periods without the supervision of scientists or trained technicians. It will also make possible

rnore efficient research into plant diseases and inseat pests by isolating the subject to be investigated in sealed areas. Not The First The Australian phytotron is not the first plant research installation of its kind, but it is as large as any other and it is claimed to be technically far in advance of any other. It is unique in that climatic variations can be altered and controlled in each individual unit independently of each other.

When in full operation, many hundreds of experiments will be carried out simultaneously in the same Building. Earlier phytotrons—the first was established at Pasadena, U.S.A., in 1949, provided only set climatic conditions in a number of small individual rooms. To obtain climatic variations plants under test, hand to be moved from room to room.

Some phytotrons built subsequently have included limited climatic variation control; but it was not until the Australian version was completed, that complete and separate variation control within the one phytotron was achieved.

The Canberra phytotron comes into operation in two stages. This year it has 15 glass houses subject to natural light, but with temperature and humidity conditions under control, 140 cabinets, a spectrum room, dark rooms and a frost room.

The cabinets, designed by C.5.1.R.0. scientists and engineers, have, in addition to temperature and humidity controls, automatically closing shutters and interior lights which shorten or lengthen the “daylight hours,” perhaps the most important factor regulating plant growth. Twenty-three of the cabinets which will be in use during the first stage of development have been designed to operate solely under controlled artificial light conditions. Temperature control in the glass-houses of the phytotron is achieved by refrigeration based on the heat pump principle. Surplus heat from the 15 glass-houses, which in daytime would rise above normal requirements, Is transferred and stored in a large pond in the lower floor of the building. At night, when outside temperatures fall, the process is reversed and heat stored during the day in the water of the pond is fed back into the glass-houses.