Plant research can present its challenges, with some specimens being highly sensitive to certain environmental factors. The actual research should be performed in a stable and safe environment such as a temperature controlled room.
Importance
A Cold Room is utilised to create certain types of environment for research purposes. They maintain an accurate and constant level of temperature, humidity, etc. to measure and examine the impact of environmental factors on plants and other plant-related objects involved in the research process.
A temperature controlled room may also serve as a sealed enclosure that is used for storing and preserving sensitive or variable items/specimens. This type of environment is usually equipped with alarms for easier monitoring.
Applications
Temperature controlled environments can be utilised for different applications related to plant research. Each application requires a unique temperature controlled environment that is constructed according to the specifications given by researchers/research institutes. Some plant research applications include:
· Plant Growth
Temperature controlled environments are used to evaluate certain impacts of temperature on plant growth and development. They should be able to keep a stable environment, without confusing the response of the plant from other environmental variables that are important to the research.
· Plant Pathology
The environmental factors, particularly temperature and humidity, can affect the proliferation of plant pathogens that cause diseases in plants. Temperature controlled environments are used to observe the effect of temperature on the development of plant pathogens so that researchers can create solutions to combat plant diseases. They are also used to manipulate the environmental factors in order to prevent the pathogens from spreading. (Source: Eshenaur and Anderson)
· Seed Germination
Temperature controlled environments for seed germination can be used for different purposes. They can be used to simulate a particular environment that will help overcome seed dormancy. Dormant seeds are those seeds that cannot germinate for a definite length of time under certain environmental conditions.
Temperature controlled environments are also used to control environmental factors in order to purposely delay or inhibit irregular germination. They can also be used to assess the interaction of environmental factors with the seed to normalise the germination in order to adapt to the periodic changes in the temperature controlled environment. (Source: Physiology and Biochemistry of Seeds in Relation to Germination)
Considerations
Environmental factors should be carefully considered in order to ensure that the most suitable environmental conditions are established for different plant researches. These environmental factors include temperature, humidity, light, air movement and carbon dioxide which should be maintained at certain levels which are necessary and suitable for the execution of plant research.
