Product Physiology

---

Stomatal malfunction in Chrysanthemum and/or Arabidopsis

Stomatal malfunction leads to increased water loss and reduces postharvest keeping quality in plant products. It is induced by growing plants at high relative humidity (RH) and is an intriguing scientific and practical problem in modern horticulture. To reduce energy us in ...

---

Transcription factors and quality traits

MYB transcription factors are involved in the regulation of many quality related traits, such as the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, anthocyanins, volatiles, but also cell shape, and stress resilience (Allan and Espley, 2018). We are interested in the MYB TF family of Petunia, because of many ...

---

Non-destructive quality measurements: image analysis

We are developing a colour cabinet together with Track32, a start-up that is specialized in computer vision and artificial intelligence. We are looking for a student that will set up the first pilot experiments, and pilot analyses. The colour cabinet can be used to segment individual ...

---

RNAi based Postharvest Solutions

Recent developments on RNAi based technologies to protect plants are promising. Most applications are to protect plants against pathogens. In postharvest, reduction of respiration and ethylene signalling are essential to prolong shelf life/keeping quality. This is often done by lowering temperature ...

---

Inducing anthocyanin production by rootzone cooling and supplementing far red light

Anthocyanins are useful antioxidants for plants and humans. Plants produce these red or purple compounds in response to environmental stresses, such as high light intensities or cold temperatures. One hormone that is involved in...

---

The effect of far-red light on carbohydrate partitioning to dwarf tomato fruits.

Fruit yield can be viewed as the product of total biomass production and harvest index (fraction partitioned to fruits). Within a vertical farm system, where dwarf tomato plants are grown determinately the fraction of total dry weight...

---

Effect of far-red applied at different developmental stages on carbohydrate partitioning to dwarf tomato fruits

Vertical farms have had success producing fresh greens and herbs and now it is the time to transition to crops with higher value and more calorie-dense. A promising candidate crop -both scientifically and commercially- is dwarf...

---

Enriching lettuce with Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is not usually produced by plants, so people on a vegan diet need to use artificial Vitamin B12 supplements. Lettuce can take Vitamin B12 up when it is supplied with the nutrient solution. In this project there are multiple topics to work on A) Establishing a relationship between amount of Vit B12 fed...

---

The effects of alternating red and blue light on young tomato plants (in collaboration with the Institute of Urban Agriculture, China)

The experiment will be conducted in the Institute of Urban Agriculture, CAAS (Chengdu, China). Leaves under monochromatic red light suffered abnormal photosynthetic functioning including...

---

Questions or other ideas for thesis topics? Please contact the HPP student coordinator Katharina Hanika.