A computer-based system points the way in micropropagation

Micropropagation is the most intensive branch of horticultural production and it has to be conducted in entirely controlled conditions. During the last 12 years or so, it has been transformed from an uncomplicated activity into a production which resembles well organised manufacturing. The main reason for such transformation was the rapidly growing demand for plants produced in vitro.

During the first years of fast micropropagation development, the number of plants produced was increasing rapidly, but the range of products was limited. In such situation, competition occurred on the market, and the only way to be competitive was to produce a more diversified range of better quality plants.

In parallel with the increasing number of plants and items produced, the complication in production management had been growing. Everyone involved in this kind of production knows how complicated production planning is for hundreds (sometimes thousands) of customers and for hundreds of species and varieties, which are to be sold all year round. The complication increases, if a few different products are sold within one variety or species, like microcuttings, plants rooted in vitro, tube plants acclimatised in a greenhouse.

All the factors bring about the necessity for computer application to enable the management of information flowing from production and optimisation of propagation in terms of product quality as well as costs.

Many, if not most, micropropagation laboratories around the world use computer programs, which help inventory of plant material as well as customers, orders and equipment. The advantages of such programs are obvious, but to resolve basic problems of today's micropropagation the computer(s) use in a production laboratory has to help in:

• choosing the proper technology to produce the specific product;
• production planning;
• controlling and integrating all activities of a common laboratory day, such as media preparation, cutting of plants, planting in a greenhouse, etc.;
• managing of production schedule changes due, for example, to alternation of orders by indecisive customers.

Lets look at these four point in more detail.

1. "The proper technology" means the technology which will assure obtaining a product of relatively high quality at minimal production costs. The meaning of " relatively high quality" must be considered and defined in relation to each order or customer as well as the general policy of the firm.
2. In production planning, not only the production schemes for particular products must be taken into account but also the possibilities of their realisation in respect to labour and the equipment available. In other words, we must consider the limitations of the laboratory during production scheduling.
3. The controlling and integrating of laboratory activities are understood as the coordination of events in a laboratory, e.g. cutting and media preparation plans as well as propagation in a laboratory, and the continuation of production in a greenhouse. These events must be coordinated in respect of time and the quality of operations to be performed.
4. Changes in customers orders are the most common reasons for headaches for propagation planners. Even one such change may make necessary the reconstruction of the whole finely tuned production schedule.

Expert system

All the above mentioned activities can be controlled by a properly devised computer program, which may be called the expert system. I have been involved in the development of such expert system in the last two years.

This system is based not only on the theoretical knowledge concerning micropropagation technologies but it also learns during its operation at a particular laboratory. So, the longer it operates in production, the more precise are its decisions concerning production planning and the choosing of optimal technology.

At the time of program installation in a particular firm, all production parameters must be introduced into a computer memory. These include:

• equipment (autoclave, laminar flow cabinets, growth chamber shelves) and their characteristics;
• work time of employees;
• plants produced and initial information on the technologies used for their production;
• description of customers and their orders.

Using such information, computer can plan and supervise production by itself or, in an indirect mode, under constant control of a laboratory manager. Optionally, the system can be enhanced by the detailed database concerning micropropagation of particular plants.

Such an expert system is the first step enabling control of the automation of micropropagation process. Automation of production is only possible in connection with mechanisation and robotisation. The first step to achieve this goal have been undertaken in the last few years. The semi-automatic media preparation system and robots for cutting plant material were presented during recent international symposiums in Monte Carlo and Tokyo.

The expert system, which can supervise micropropagation is the key for practical realisation of the production in automated plant factories, predicted to begin in early 1990s. In such plant factories plants will grow in totally controlled environment including air composition (carbon dioxide, oxygen, etc.) and will be manipulated by robots specialised in cutting, transplanting, etc.

To be successful with these technologies the algorithms describing plant growth and development must be elaborated in order to keep all production parameters (temperature, light, medium and air composition, etc.) at appropriate levels for the specific production goals.

As I mentioned above, the expert system I am working on has learning capabilities and, in reality, may learn very quickly. In most micropropagation technologies one propagation cycle (multiplication) last four to six weeks and is repeated several times in a year. The high turnover of operations performed on plant material enables fast perfectioning of the system. In addition, the system gathers and stores data in a form which enables their later analysis from different points of view.

The expert system is composed of many interrelated programs: from simple ones - providing registration of production facts (cutting of plant material, media preparation, selection of contaminations, planting out, etc.) to the most complicated - enabling automated control and the perfectioning of production. Such modularisation of the system facilitates its adjustment to the particular laboratory needs.

The general idea and modules of the system can be easily adapted to the needs of other fields of horticulture. However, it can be economically justified only in the case of the most intensive branches of production such as ornamental plants and vegetables.