Identifying, Quantifying, and Minimizing Variation in Controlled Environments

Objective(s):
The CE working group, along with related organizations, has worked since the late 1970s to reduce variability in environmental and cultural parameters in controlled environments through testing to identify and quantify variability, and through standards development. The original driver for this activity was to improve comparability among experiments conducted in controlled environments by researchers at different locations, and while this goal remains, the increasing use of large controlled environment facilities in commercial agriculture has again brought this concern to the forefront. This workshop will provide an overview of factors contributing to variability in controlled environments, the impact of variability in greenhouses and other controlled environment facilities used for commercial applications such as crop production and high-throughput plant screening, and techniques to identify and minimize problems related to variability. This information will have application to those researchers, ornamental and vegetable crop producers, plant breeders, and plant biotechnologists who work in controlled environments.