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The normalized quantum efficiency (RQE) curve that shows the relative photosynthetic response to light of the average photosynthesizing plant – originally published by Mcree (1972a, 1972b), replicated by Inada (1976, 1978a, 1978b), and subsequently refined by Sager et al. (1982, 1988) — was used as the basis in developing the phytometric system, a new and more flexible concept of light measurement for plants. Based on the convolution of the RQE curve with the spectral power distribution (SPD) of a given light source, the phytometric measurement would yield units of phytoWm−2. The unit phytoW easily provides conversion factors to the radiometric, photometric, and photon flux (quantum) systems within the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of 400 to 700 nm or within the extended PAR of 300 to 800 nm. Indeed, a calculated phytometric value would provide a more accurate measure of photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) or yield photon flux (YPF).

The long-term hypothesis of this study is that the patterns in uptake of certain nutrient species in the hydroponic nutrient solution can serve as an early-warning stress detector for specific hydroponically grown crops. This is a two-part hypothesis: first, it posits that the time variation in the uptake of specific nutrient species under a given nutrient regime shows fairly reasonable regularity; and, second, it posits that deviations from such regularity actually correlate with the occurrence of certain plant stress. Addressing the first part of the hypothesis, the objective of the current study was to determine the temporal variations in the concentrations of nitrate, potassium, and manganese under the following four nutrient regimes used for sweetpotato hydroponics: standard or control, elevated nitrogen by ammonium, elevated nitrogen by nitrate, and elevated potassium conditions.

The next-generation of plant hydroponic systems for advanced life support will most likely require a dynamic monitoring capability for their nutrient species in solution for two reasons: (1) to be able to optimize nutrient use, which would help to reduce the mass and volume of stored inorganic chemicals; and (2) to be able to dynamically correlate the fluctuations in uptake of individual nutrient species with the plant’s physiological state (e.g., stress) over time under microgravity conditions. The latter in turn will provide advanced physiological diagnoses for the crops and could help reduce the astronaut man-hours for crop maintenance. The results of this study suggested that a combination of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy and ion selective electrodes (ISEs) could be a competent strategy for designing a dynamic nutrient-monitoring capability for hydroponic systems.

Hybrid solar and electric lighting (HYSEL) systems constitute the latest generation of lighting systems for advanced life support, exhibiting continued potential for reducing the significant electrical power demand of current bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS). Two experimental HYSEL systems were developed: one employing xenon-metal halide (XMH) lamps and the other adopting light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the electric-lighting components, and both using a mirror-based, fiberoptic-based solar collection system. The results showed that both the XMH and LED HYSEL systems effected reduced effective plant growing volume, indicating potential for a compact plant hardware design. The apparent electrical conversion efficiency of the LED HYSEL system exceeded that of the XMH HYSEL system by five-fold. Both the XMH and LED HYSEL systems provided reasonably acceptable spectral quality and lighting uniformity.

The long-term supplemental terrestrial solar lighting made available to the Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) located in the Subterranean Plant Growth Facility (SPGF) at The University of Arizona was determined for two cases where two types of Solar Irradiance Collection, Transmission and Distribution System (SICTDS) were used for the facility. Databases for hourly solar irradiance incident upon Tucson, AZ compiled over a 12-year period from 1987 through 1998 were used to calculate the projected average instantaneous PPF within the BPC per hour and per day throughout the year. The results showed that replacing the available solar irradiance within the BPC as delivered by the Himawari SICTDS in June would require either 97.7 W m−2 of HPS lighting or 185.9 W m−2 of CWF lighting supplied continuously for 450 hrs. In energy terms, these would be equivalent to 44.0 kW-hr m−2 for the HPS lamp and 83.7 kW-hr m−2 for the CWF lamp.