Graduation Term

Summer 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Agriculture

Committee Chair

David Kopsell

Committee Member

Robert Rhykerd

Committee Member

Liangcheng Yang

Abstract

Vertical farming is the production of plants in a completely controlled, enclosed environment and represents an advanced, sustainable method to grow basil and other leafy crops. Vertical farming offers 365 days of continual production, using minimal input and efficient, low water usage. For this study we compared five different basil cultivars side-by-side under the same growing conditions in a controlled environment. The basil cultivars compared were, Sweet Thai, Genovese, Holy, Cinnamon, and Greek basils. During growth, data was collected three times for each cultivar including plant length, internode length, number of nodes, number of leaves per stem, SPAD (Soil Plant Analysis Development), and an overall fresh mass weight for each cultivar were measured in either millimeters or grams. Cultivar differences existed for basil growth parameters in a controlled environment, including fresh mass at harvest and growth parameters of number of nodes, number of leaves, stem length, and SPAD measurement. The Cinnamon basil cultivar performed the best in the controlled environment, followed by Greek and Genovese basil cultivars. This information will be useful to producers when making production decisions in future Vertical Farming Operations. This information will also be valuable to urban farmers looking to make specific cultivar choices for their growing systems.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

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Agribusiness Commons

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