Together with Kenniscentrum Papier & Karton and Kenniscentrum Plantstoffen, Wageningen UR is also investigating whether tomato stems can be used in cardboard production. Wageningen UR developed this tomato packaging together with the Dutch Product Board for Horticulture, tomato growers and packaging producers. Several of Wageningen UR’s biobased economy related research projects focus on developing materials from agro-residuals. Wageningen UR works together with different partners to develop sustainable technologies for converting biomass into products. A biobased economy is an economy in which companies convert biomass into products, chemicals and energy. ‘Biobased economy’ is an important research and development theme at Wageningen UR. “This way, we use of plant based materials efficiently, a good example of biobased economy.” (Christiaan Bolck, Programme Manager biobased materials) This is how Wageningen UR contributes to improving the quality of life. By producing their own packaging the tomato growers reduce their carbon footprint. The method they used is similar to the methods they had previously developed for extracting Rubisco from other crop rest streams. Tomato growers produce more than enough leaves and stems to package tomatoes in their own leaves. Researchers at Wageningen have become the first in the world to extract high-value Rubisco protein from tomato leaves, one of the major rest streams of greenhouse horticulture. This packaging even smells like tomatoes. One of the products they developed was tomato packaging made from tomato leaves and stems. While searching for ways to reuse this natural material, researchers at Wageningen UR discovered that the fiber pulp from tomato plants can be used to produce packaging material. Up until now these leaves and stems went straight onto the compost pile. In the present paper a survey of the effects of greenhouse microclimate on crop response in general, and on tomato, pepper and eggplant in particular, was carried out and the findings are presented and discussed.Tomato growers are always left with a lot of leaves and stems. It is therefore difficult to predict intuitively, the management measures necessary to create optimal crop growing conditions and resource use. The growth of Solanaceous plants in a greenhouse is a complex process, governed by the interactions between the plant's genetic properties and the environmental conditions, as modified by climate control. From this point of view, the present paper addresses the information available to be taken into account when it comes for greenhouse climate control. In order to achieve computer control and management of all the principal greenhouse cultivation procedures, such as climate control, irrigation, fruit harvest etc., it is important to know the effects of greenhouse microclimate on crop response. In modern greenhouses, the role of the computer environment management and control is very important. Most of the work done was carried out in greenhouses in Northern countries, while much less has been done in Mediterranean, arid or tropical climates. The great volume of research carried out on tomato does not mean that nothing more left to be investigated. Considerable attention has been paid to pepper during the last few years, while eggplant is less studied. Among Solanaceae, the most researched crop is tomato. Their importance is also obvious when considering the large volume of scientific papers published on relevant subjects. Solanaceous crops (tomato, pepper and eggplant) constitute about 60% of greenhouse-cultivated areas.
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