An Experimental Study of Soil Temperature Regimes Associated with Solar Disinfestation Techniques Under Greenhouse Conditions in Greece

This paper deals with an experimental study of various techniques that have been applied for soil disinfestation purposes under greenhouse conditions. Various meteorological parameters and soil temperatures were measured for four different experimental soil segments (three associated with different disinfestation techniques and one as a reference) at depths varying between 0–1 m and with a time interval of 5 min in a greenhouse located in the Agricultural University of Athens Campus, Greece. Results showed that plastic polyethylene films such as covers, metallic conductors or a combination of both were able to enhance heat transfer and temperature increase in greenhouse soil. For typical disinfestation conditions, the depth-averaged temperature values for plastic covers, metallic conductors, and the combination of both were found to be higher than those for the reference of about 5°C, 12°C and 15°C, respectively. Moreover, the remained population percentages 50 days after the initiation of the experiment were found to be 19.3%, 25.3%, 37.3% κ α ι 94% of the initial population, for the combination of metallic conductors and plastic covers, metallic conductors, plastic cover, and for the reference, respectively.

Keywords:

• Greenhouse
• Meteorological Parameters
• Heat Transfer
• Solar Disinfestation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in collaboration with the Greek Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES). The authors wish to thank Professor Aikaterini Sereli, Head of the Department of Sciences for useful comments and also Mr. John Frangoudakis (Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering), who reviewed an early version of the paper.