Protocol for the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Each Growing Cycle and Process from Qualitative Point of View: A laboratory-scale validation of the Gardener distributed automation system in Display Units cultivating sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Abstract

This study presents a protocol for the qualitative evaluation of plant growing cycles in controlled Display Units (DU) operated by the Gardener distributed SCADA system. The protocol was validated under laboratory conditions on five Display Units cultivating sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), three of which were configured in a vertical layout and two in a horizontal layout. Each DU integrates the actuators required for a closed cultivation loop — water pump, oxygenator, CO₂ generator, ventilation, and LED grow light — together with a sensor stack delivering temperature, humidity, substrate temperature, CO₂, photosynthetic photon flux, and electrical-power data into the Gardener MeasureMatrix. Evaluation metrics combined fresh and dry biomass per plant, the fresh-to-dry weight ratio, and chlorophyll content (SPAD). Across all five DUs the system maintained the prescribed setpoints for the basil recipe and produced harvestable plants whose mean fresh weight ranged from 7.2g to 47.1g per plant depending on layout and position, with chlorophyll values consistent with healthy, non-stressed plants. The protocol thus offers a replicable methodology for qualitative assessment of growing cycles in compact controlled environments and provides a baseline for future cooperation with the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra.