Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and berries are thriving inside. As the indoor ag industry matures, more growers are looking to find more efficient, sustainable and delicious varieties to grow in controlled environment agriculture systems.
To meet this growing need, Virginia Tech researchers are pioneering new cultivars of peppers that thrive inside. Most recently, scientists have begun trials on newly developed snacking pepper varieties designed to flourish in controlled environments.
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The timing is ideal. The CEA industry is growing at a rapid clip in Virginia, with more growers heading east to put roots down in the burgeoning mid-Atlantic state.
Developing the perfect pepper
“Our work centers on making the plant compact and accelerating growth all while maintaining the color, scent, nutrition, and sweetness,” Bingyu Zhao, the principal investigator of the project, said in a news release. “The plants need to be able to grow in a crowded environment while maintaining high yield rates to ensure profitability.”
Researchers are tackling this work in partnership with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and the university’s Department of Food Science and Technology.
To pioneer innovations in agriculture production, including CEA, Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences created the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture to spearhead work at the intersection of agriculture, science and technology. Professors Zhao and Yun Yin will lead the ag-focused research, according to the release.
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In collaboration with Yin, a food chemist, Zhao will evaluate the pepper’s flavor experience and ensure it can compete with its outdoor counterpart. Once the pepper is perfected, seeds will be available for purchase by producers.
After scientists have moved on from the snacking pepper, they plan to tackle more spicy variants.
“Flavor-important components will be evaluated and determined through instrumental and sensory combined techniques,” Yin said in the release. “We will also look into nutritional value of cultivars suitable for controlled environment agriculture production.”
