The influence of CO₂ concentration on production processes in digital artificial agricultural ecosystems

Abstract It is noted that digital artificial agricultural ecosystems imply the use of digital control systems of abiotic factors, with appropriate software and algorithms. The algorithm through thermoregulation ensures the highest flow of moisture and nutrients through the plant. The leaf temperature corresponds to the maximum rate of photosynthesis. It is shown that CO2 assimilation and thermoregulation are related, as water vapor and carbon dioxide pass through the same stomatal openings. The aim of the research is to establish, for selected samples of vegetable crops, the level of CO2 concentrations at which the biomass growth of these crops is maximal, as well as the degree of thermoregulation heat reduction for average CO2 concentrations of 1000 ppm and higher. A specially designed stand was used for the studies. The following crops were used for studies of the influence of CO2 concentration on the thermoregulation heat: from vegetables the cucumber cultivar “Courage” and from green spices the cultivar “Coriander”, and for studies of the influence of CO2 concentration on productivity - salad cultivar “Gambrel”. The samples were planted in four cubes of mineral wool, in each of which five plants were placed. Variable concentration was provided by a system of carbon dioxide supply from a cylinder with a reducer, a hose and an electromagnetic valve. It was experimentally proven that the increasing of the CO2 concentration leads to an increase in the weight of green mass, and this increase has an extreme at the concentration of 2944 ppm (for the lettuce culture), with a slight decrease in thermoregulation temperature (for cucumber by 1.4 °C, and for coriander by 0.47 °C). Such a decrease will not lead to a significant deterioration of thermoregulation processes and may not be taken into account in the operation of digital control of them.