Vergara - 1976 - Physiological and morphological adaptability of ri

6 cuivnvri-i AND RICE
R. N. Morse. who in I955 visited various controlled environment facilities in
Europe and USA. At the Rothamstcd Experimental Station in England he saw
Dr. W. W. Schwabds cabinets with hand-operated photoperiod controls. which
generated the idea of a phjrtotron consisting of self-contained cabinets with
automatic pliotopcriod control standing within temperature-controlled glass
enclosures. the cabinets providing a level of temperature control not achievable
in large glass enclosures. Moreover, independent cabinets equipped with standard
components would greatly simplify, and economize in. management and
maintenance by comparison with installations with large, complex. and expensive
central air-conditioning equipment. In addition to cabinets using natural
light. artificially Iit cabinets were developed, including an extremely useful type
with highly effective yet economical control of humidity.
A project of this kind depends as much on the imagination, drive. and staying
power of the people involved. as on their technical expertise. Dr. Lloyd Evans.
a young New Zealander then at the Earhart Laboratory. who became the biologist
of the team. and Mr. Morse and his colleagues as research and developmental
engineers, possessed all these qualities. and more. The go-ahead for
design and development. with minimal funds but considerable enthusiasm. came
in 1955 after a visit from Dr. Went, who duly inspired our masters. the Executive
ofCSIRO. In the years which followed, every' major component had to be
designed, made, and exhaustively‘ tested both by the engineers in Melbourne and
the plant physiologists in Canberra. The design of the building itself and of its
operating components required a great deal of research and computation. As a
result of this design and exploratory effort, the finished installation presented no
surprises and few problems. Experiments have floived smoothly‘ from the first
day to this. The endeavors to secure administrative, political, and financial
support for a project of this size-the cost was A$l,350,t)0t)—v.=ere equally
arduous and successful. Eventually‘. the Australian government funded the entire
project, and CERES was opened by the then Prime Minister. Sir Robert Menzies.
in August 1962.
The IRRI phytotron being dedicated today inherited from CERES the overall
concept of the building design and the inclusion of a number of cabinets, though
the latter are of Japanese rather than Australian design. None of the other large
phytotrons has made a major feature of independently’ controlled, naturally‘ lit
cabinets as an integral pan of the installation. In general they consist of chambers
in which temperature, day‘ length, often humidity, and. in some. the composition
of the atmosphere and the light quality can be controlled. Most installations
have both naturally and artificially lit chambers. but some only the
latter. Larger phytotrons. with year of completion. include Pasadena (1949)
(now dismantled). Moscow (1957). Hokkaido (1956. old. I966. new). Gif( 1958-
I963). Canberra (I962), Madison (I964). Durham and Raleigh (I968). Palmersttin
North (I970). Martonvasar (I972), and various others of a sometvhat
lesser size. like the installations at Misima and Kyoto. at Uppsala and Brisbane.
and three at Wageningen.