What Is BioTherm in Plant Breeding?

Function

• The BioTherm is a benchtop heating system that is used in plant propagation and in greenhouses. The BioTherm uses heat and tubing to create a microclimate for the plants, which keeps them at the optimal temperature.

Significance

• Greenhouses trap sunlight and keep the air warm inside the greenhouse, but the air closest to the plants needs to be warmer than the rest of the air in the greenhouse. This is especially true for delicate or tropical plants. The BioTherm warms the air closest to the plants. For example, if the air outside of the greenhouse is 30 degrees, inside of the greenhouse may be 50 degrees. But using a BioTherm, the air inside of the greenhouse closest to the plants can be kept higher, at 70 degrees. Because heat rises, it is difficult to keep the areas low to the ground where the plants are warm enough without a BioTherm.

Method

• A BioTherm uses a heat source to create hot water that is piped through a series of small pipes throughout a table that the plants sit on. After the water cools, it is piped back to the heat source to be heated up again. The tubes not only keep the plants warm, but heat the air around the plants through convection.

Importance

• The BioTherm keeps the growing medium as well as the plant foliage warm, creating a microclimate around the plant. This prevents the grower or plant breeder from having to waste excess energy heating the entire greenhouse and allows them to focus different temperatures around specific plant types.