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An open system for collection of volatile organic compounds (VOC) was constructed to measure the emission rate of VOC from a whole plant of the small salad crops intended for use in NASA’s Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS). The design of the system provides a controlled plant growth environment in order to maintain normal plant physiology during VOC sampling. The system air is re-circulated through a heat exchanger to control the plant chamber temperature and humidity. An inlet air stream of 20 cc/min is purged through the system to prevent build-up of VOC to levels that may have adverse effects and to maintain system pressure at 1 atm. CO2 is added to maintain canopy concentration of 1000 μmole/mole and light is set at 250 μmol.m−2.sec−1 (photosynthetic photon flux, PPF). Overall, this system provides a nondestructive, steady state rate measurement of emitted plant VOC even at very low levels, regardless of plant age.