Curvature-based approach to determining the optimal temperature regulation ranges for greenhouse peppers across growth stages

Authors

  • Jinghua Xu 1. College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China
  • Minke Hong 1. College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China;
  • Miao Lu 1. College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China
  • Xudong Hu 1. College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China
  • Pan Gao 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 3. College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China
  • Jin Hu 2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Internet of Things, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 3. College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China; 4. Shaanxi Engineering Research Center of Agricultural Information Intelligent Perception and Analysis, Yangling 712000, Shaanxi, China
  • Qingxue Li 5. Information Technology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China

Abstract

In protected agriculture, extreme temperatures can cause irreversible damage to crops, making temperature regulation a critical component of greenhouse environmental management. The dynamic optimization of the temperature ranges serves as the core strategy to enhance production stability. Consequently, identifying the optimal temperature ranges is pivotal for maximizing greenhouse production efficiency. This study proposes a novel method for determining the optimal regulation ranges throughout the multiple growth stages of greenhouse-grown peppers, incorporating curvature theory. A nested experiment was designed to obtain the photosynthetic rate (Pn) of peppers during the multiple growth stages under variable temperature, CO2 concentration, and photosynthetic photon flux density. A photosynthetic rate prediction model was then constructed using a backpropagation neural network optimized by a genetic algorithm, with an R2 of 0.9812 and an MSE of 1.35 μmol/(m2·s). The prediction model was subsequently discretized and applied to calculate the Gaussian response surface of Pn. Finally, the U-chord algorithm and the random restart hill-climbing method were employed to precisely define the boundaries of the temperature regulation ranges. Practice demonstrated that the average dry weight of pepper fruits in the experimental group was 96.83% higher than that of the no-operation regulation group and 243.65% higher than the fixed threshold group. This method not only enhances pepper growth but also exhibits superior regulatory tolerance. Its innovative temperature regulation strategy provides crucial technical support and establishes a reliable decision-making basis for the precise environmental management of greenhouse crops in protected agriculture.      

Keywords: photosynthetic rate prediction model; curvature theory; target boundary; greenhouse temperature regulation; machine learning

DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20261902.10170

 

Citation:  Xu J H, Hong M K, Lu M, Hu X D, Gao P, Hu J, et al. A curvature-based approach to determining optimal temperature regulation ranges for greenhouse peppers across growth stages. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2026; 19(2): 65–77.

References

[1] Zou Z Y, Zou X X. Geographical and ecological differences in pepper cultivation and consumption in China. Frontiers in Nutrition, 2021; 8: 718517.

[2] Rajametov S N, Lee K, Jeong H B, Cho M C, Nam C W, Yang E Y. The effect of night low temperature on agronomical traits of thirty-nine pepper accessions (Capsicum annuum L.). Agronomy-Basel, 2021; 11(10): 1986.

[3] Xia S B, Nan X N, Cai X, Lu X M. Data fusion based wireless temperature monitoring system applied to intelligent greenhouse. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2022; 192: 103576.

[4] Carotti L, Graamans L, Puksic F, Butturini M, Meinen E, Heuvelink E, et al. Plant factories are heating up: hunting for the best combination of light intensity, air temperature and root-zone temperature in lettuce production. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021; 11: 192171.

[5] Wang Y L, Lyu H Q, Yu A Z, Wang F, Li Y, Wang P F, et al. No-tillage mulch with green manure retention improves maize yield by increasing the net photosynthetic rate. European Journal of Agronomy, 2024; 159: 127275.

[6] Chen X Y, Jiang Z H, Yang J H, Ren J W, Rao Y, Zhang W. Data-driven decision support scheme for multi-area light environment control in greenhouse. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2023; 211: 108033.

[7] Xu H Y, Huang C L, Jiang X, Zhu J, Gao X Y, Yu C. Impact of cold stress on leaf structure, photosynthesis, and metabolites in Camellia weiningensis and C. oleifera seedlings. Horticulturae, 2022; 8(6): 494.

[8] Moore C E, Meacham-Hensold K, Lemonnier P, Slattery R A, Benjamin C, Bernacchi C J, et al. The effect of increasing temperature on crop photosynthesis: from enzymes to ecosystems. Journal of Experimental Botany, 2021; 72(8): 2822–2844.

[9] Li Y F, Hou J Y, Yang Y X, Sun Z T, Gao P, Hu J. Multi-objective optimization of the light environment regulation model for greenhouse cucumber using mopso and topsis. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2023; 39(19): 185–194. (in Chinese)

[10] Széles A, Huzsvai L, Mohammed S, Nyéki A, Zagyi P, Horváth É, et al. Precision agricultural technology for advanced monitoring of maize yield under different fertilization and irrigation regimes: A case study in eastern Hungary (Debrecen). Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 2024; 15: 100967.

[11] Lin Y, Chen Z, Yu G R, Yang M, Hao T X, Zhu X J, et al. Spatial patterns of light response parameters and their regulation on gross primary productivity in China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2024; 345: 109833.

[12] Cui X L, Hu T T, Lu J S, Chen S H, Zhao L, Li A Q, et al. Reduced irrigation combined with nitrification inhibitor enhances grain yield and water-nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat by improving the physiological characteristics. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 2025; 23: 102212.

[13] de Souza R R, Toebe M, Mello A C, Bittencourt K C. Sample size and shapiro-wilk test: An analysis for soybean grain yield. European Journal of Agronomy, 2023; 142: 126666.

[14] Gao P, Li B, Bai J H, Lu M, Feng P, Wu H R, et al. Method for optimizing controlled conditions of plant growth using U-chord curvature. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2021; 185: 106141.

[15] Hou J Y, Li Y F, Sun Z T, Wang H Y, Lu M, Hu J, et al. A cooperative regulation method for greenhouse soil moisture and light using Gaussian curvature and machine learning algorithms. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2023; 215: 108452.

[16] Zhao Y, Jie Z, Zhang Y, Jiang C, Cao Y H. Negative Gaussian curvature regulated pattern evolution on curved bilayer system. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2024; 267: 108969.

[17] Pena J C, Napoles G, Salgueiro Y. Normalization method for quantitative and qualitative attributes in multiple attribute decision-making problems. Expert Systems with Applications, 2022; 198: 116821.

[18] Song P, Yue X, Gu Y, Yang T. Assessment of maize seed vigor under saline-alkali and drought stress based on low field nuclear magnetic resonance. Biosystems Engineering, 2022; 220: 135–145.

[19] Xian H F, Che J X. Unified whale optimization algorithm based multi-kernel svr ensemble learning for wind speed forecasting. Applied Soft Computing, 2022; 130: 109690.

[20] Vanli N D, Sayin M O, Mohaghegh M N, Ozkan H, Kozat S S. Nonlinear regression via incremental decision trees. Pattern Recognition, 2019; 86: 1–13.

[21] Chen D Y, Zhang J H, Sun Z T, Zhang Z X, Hu J. Multi-objective optimal regulation model and system based on whole plant photosynthesis and light use efficiency of lettuce. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2023; 206: 107617.

[22] Niu Y Y, Han Y X, Li Y D, Zhang M, Li H. Low-carbon regulation method for greenhouse light environment based on multi-objective optimization. Expert Systems with Applications, 2024; 252: 124228.

[23] Yang L, Song W W, Xu C L, Sapey E, Jiang D, Wu C X. Effects of high night temperature on soybean yield and compositions. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2023; 14: 1065604.

[24] Xu L H, Liu H, Wei R H. Research on integrated control strategy of light and CO2 in blueberry greenhouse based on maximizing Gaussian curvature. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery, 2022; 53(7): 354–362. (in Chinese)

[25] Djuren T, Kohlbrenner M, Alexa M. K-surfaces: Bezier-splines interpolating at Gaussian curvature extrema. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2023; 42(6): 210.

[26] Meyer M, Desbrun M, Schröder P, Barr A H. Discrete differential-geometry operators for triangulated 2-manifolds. In: Hege H C, Polthier K. (Ed.) Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Visualization and Mathematics III, 2003; pp.35–57.

[27] Hao S X, Cao H X, Wang H B, Pan X Y. The physiological responses of tomato to water stress and re-water in different growth periods. Scientia Horticulturae, 2019; 249: 143–154.

[28] Zhang J, Fang W K, Xu C D, Xiong A S, Zhang M C, Goebel R. Current optical sensing applications in seeds vigor determination. Agronomy-Basel, 2023; 13(4): 1167.

[29] Lu M, Liu H L, Xu J H, Li H M, Gao P, Mao H P, et al. A hybrid approach using chained-svr, mode and dea to optimize environmental control values in plant factories. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2025; 233: 110211.

[30] Guerra M, Gomez R M, Sanz M A, Rodriguez-Gonzalez A, Casquero P A. Effect of fruit weight and fruit locule number in bell pepper on industrial waste and quality of roasted pepper. Horticulturae, 2022; 8(5): 455.

[31] Bedirhanoğlu V, Yang H, Shukla M K. Reducing water salinity at flowering stage decreases days to flowering and promotes plant growth and yield in chile pepper. Hortscience, 2022; 57(9): 1128–1134.

[32] Both A J, Benjamin L, Franklin J, Holroyd G, Incoll L D, Lefsrud M G. Guidelines for measuring and reporting environmental parameters for experiments in greenhouses. Plant Methods, 2015; 11: 43.

[33] Wen Y, Zhang Y Q, Cheng R F, Li T. Photosynthetic induction of the leaves varies among pepper cultivars due to stomatal oscillation. Scientia Horticulturae, 2023; 318: 112126.

[34] Li H M, Lu M, Yuan K K, Zhang M K, Wang D, Hu J. Acquisition and analysis of the optimal nutrient solution temperature range for lettuce using U-chord curvature. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2024; 17(6): 93–100.

[35] Yin J, Liu X Y, Miao Y L, Gao Y, Qiu R C, Zhang M. Measurement and prediction of tomato canopy apparent. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(5): 156–161.

[36] Takagi D, Takumi S, Hashiguchi M, Sejima T, Miyake C. Superoxide and singlet oxygen produced within the thylakoid membranes both cause photosystem i photoinhibition. Plant Physiology, 2016; 171(3): 1626–1634.

[37] Wang K X, Xing Q F, Ahammed G J, Zhou J. Functions and prospects of melatonin in plant growth, yield, and quality. Journal of Experimental Botany, 2022; 73(13): 5928–5946.

[38] Queensland government, drought and climate adaptation program. Capsicum - critical temperature thresholds. 2020. Available: https://data.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/static/dcap/DCAP3/DCAP%203__3%20Capsicum%20CTT%20Final.pdf. Accessed on [2020-12-09].

Downloads

Published

2026-05-21

How to Cite

(1)
Xu, J.; Hong, M.; Lu, M.; Hu, X.; Gao, P.; Hu, J.; Li, Q. Curvature-Based Approach to Determining the Optimal Temperature Regulation Ranges for Greenhouse Peppers across Growth Stages. Int J Agric & Biol Eng 2026, 19, 65-77.

Issue

Section

Animal, Plant and Facility Systems