The National Research and Development Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Estidamah) organized its first open day on modern protected cultivation technologies at the Center's headquarters in Riyadh Techno Valley, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The open day programs began with a detailed lecture about the Center and its strategic objectives, which include – but are not limited to – enhancing water-use efficiency, increasing productivity, and reducing the use of insecticides, in addition to discussing three levels of technologies used in the field of protected cultivation: low-tech plastic-covered greenhouses that use fan cooling systems, medium-tech glass-covered greenhouses that use pad-and-fan cooling systems, and high-tech closed greenhouses cooled by mechanical air-conditioning systems.
On the other hand, the open day programs covered many topics, including climate control, fertilization, and the effect of light transmissivity on crop productivity. Based on an experiment conducted by Estidamah Center on cucumber cultivation in three levels of greenhouses with different coverings – clear glass, diffused glass, and polycarbonate panels – the results showed that the higher the percentage of light transmitted inside the greenhouse, the higher the cucumber yield; thus, greenhouses covered with clear glass that is cleaned regularly provide the highest crop productivity, even under high temperature and radiation conditions in the summer.
The open day was attended by 40 participants from various disciplines, who showed great interest and interaction with the topics presented and the facts shared with them. The participants also went on field tours inside the Center's greenhouses and received further information and hands-on training on the modern technologies used by the Center in the field of protected cultivation.