Growth facilities

The Plant Growth Centre is composed of the following units:

Walk-in climate rooms

  • 6 multi-layer rooms with a working area varying from 16 to 20  m2
  • 12 single-layer rooms with a working area of 29 m2

The climate rooms have the following technical envelop:

  • Temperature range: 15-30 ºC (+/- 1.0 ºC)
  • Relative humidity range: 50%-90% rH (+/- 5%)
  • Day length settings for single layer rooms (in 4 output levels 100, 200, 300 or   400 µmol/m2/s)
  • Variable day length settings multi layer rooms (100 µmol/m2/s; adjustable from 100 to 0 %)
  • The single layer rooms are equipped with an automatic watering system
  • Tables are in height adjustable
  • 3 climate rooms are CO2-controlled (150-1500 ppm CO2)
  • All parameters are continuously logged and monitored by a central PC-system (Visi+ software)
  • At each room standard parameters can be followed on a display (SAIA-Burgers)
  • Agrozone system UV/Ozone treatment waste water
  • Working area is under GMO restrictions

All installations are under contract service maintenance and there is a yearly-based validation protocol.

Climate cabinets

The 18 climate cabinets can be independently set at variable parameter ranges.

The Botanical Gardens

In the research glasshouses of the Botanical Gardens at the Utrecht Science Park, the campus of Utrecht University, the Institute of Environmental Biology has the facility to grow large amounts of research plants.