Developing snacking peppers tailor-made for CEA

Added on 06 April 2023

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Developing snacking peppers tailor-made for CEA

In partnership with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, researchers in the Virginia Tech University School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Food Science and Technology are developing snacking peppers suitable for growing in controlled agriculture environments.

Bingyu Zhao, a professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, and Yun Yin, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, are the minds behind the process.

“Our work centers on making the plant compact and accelerating growth all while maintaining the color, scent, nutrition, and sweetness,” says Zhao, the principal investigator of the project and affiliated faculty member of the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture. “The plants need to be able to grow in a crowded environment while maintaining high yield rates to ensure profitability.”

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences created the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture to spearhead work on a changing agricultural landscape and to develop and evaluate needed modifications in agricultural production through informed scientific discovery and technology-driven innovation. This includes controlled environment agriculture.