Comparative Study of the Regulation Effects of Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Planting Strategies on Strawberry Production in Greenhouse

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) assisted planting can improve in the precise management of protected horticultural crops while also alleviating the increasingly prevalent problem of labor shortage. As a typical representative of labor-intensive industries, the strawberry industry has a growing need for intelligent technology. To assess the regulatory effects of various AI strategies and key technologies on strawberry production in greenhouse, as well as provide valuable references for the innovation and industrial application of AI in horticultural crops, four AI planting strategies were evaluated. Four 96 m2 modern greenhouses were used for planting strawberry plants. Each greenhouse was equipped with standard sensors and actuators, and growers used artificial intelligence algorithms to remotely control the greenhouse climate and crop growth. The regulatory effects of four different AI planting strategies on strawberry growth, fruit yield and qualitywere compared and analyzed. And human-operated cultivation was taken as a reference to analyze the characteristics, existing problems and shortages. Each AI planting strategy simulated and forecast the greenhouse environment and crop growth by constructing models. AI-1 implemented greenhouse management decisions primarily through the knowledge graph method, whereas AI-2 transferred the intelligent planting model of Dutch greenhouse tomato planting to strawberry planting. AI-3 and AI-4 created growth and development models for strawberries based on World Food Studies (WOFOST) and Product of Thermal Effectiveness and Photosynthesis Active Radiation (TEP), respectively. The results showed that all AI supported strategy outperformed a human-operated greenhouse that served as reference. In comparison to the human-operated cultivation group, the average yield and output value of the AI planting strategy group increased 1.66 and 1.82 times, respectively, while the highest Return on Investment increased 1.27 times. AI can effectively improve the accuracy of strawberry planting management and regulation, reduce water, fertilizer, labor input, and obtain higher returns under greenhouse production conditions equipped with relatively complete intelligent equipment and control components, all with the goal of high yield and quality. Key technologies such as knowledge graphs, deep learning, visual recognition, crop models, and crop growth simulators all played a unique role in strawberry AI planting. The average yield and Return on Investment (ROI) of the AI groups were greater than those of the human-operated cultivation group. More specifically, the regulation of AI-1 on crop development and production was relatively stable, integrating expert experience, crop data, and environmental data with knowledge graphs to create a standardized strawberry planting knowledge structure as well as intelligent planting decision-making approach. In this study, AI-1 achieved the highest yield, the heaviest average fruit weight, and the highest ROI. This group's AI-assisted strategy optimized the regulatory effect of growth, development, and yield formation of strawberry crops in consideration of high yield and quality. However, there are still issues to be resolved, such as the difficulty of simulating the disturbance caused by manual management and collecting crop ontology data.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• strawberry
• planting strategies
• regulation effects
• automated greenhouse
• knowledge graphs