ROOTS– Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Ltd
ROOTS– Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Ltd. develops and commercializes disruptive, modular, cutting-edge technologies to address critical problems faced by agriculture today, including plant climate management via root zone temperature optimization and the shortage of water for irrigation.
Roots has developed proprietary know-how and patents to optimize performance, lower installation costs, and reduce energy consumption to a minimum — all in order to bring maximum benefit to farmers.
Roots was established in 2012 and graduated in 2016 from the prestigious technology incubator program administered by the Israel Chief Scientist Office.
ROOT ZONE TEMPERATURE OPTIMIZATION (RZTO)
Root temperatures influence all parameters of the plant’s physiology and an optimum Root Zone Temperature (RZT) range is essential for a plant’s robust growth, productivity and quality.
The RZTO system cools and heats roots as needed, depending on input from the temperature sensor placed within the root zone area. The systems is able to maintain an optimum range of temperatures (usually between 16-28 Degrees celsius) year round regardless of air
Benefits
• Dramatically reduce energy costs and environmental pollution. Optimal RZTO minimizes the need for heating/cooling the plants themselves significantly. Thus, growers can lower (or increase) the thermostats on their air heating/cooling systems if they incorporate Roots’ systems.
• Increased yield. Our field test results and commercial installations feedback point to a pattern of yield increase 20% to 250% compared between un-cooled and un-heated crops.
• Superior crop quality: The results indicate that the fruits and vegetables grown with RZTO tend to be larger, tastier, and mature earlier than the control groups.
• Faster time to market: To date, field tests conducted with lettuce, leafy vegetables, herbs, and flowers resulted in a significant shortening of the growing cycle, thus achieving excellent prices.
• Planting off-season: Due to our smart root cooling system, we
successfully planted flowers in hot climate areas earlier or plant earlier after the winder due to substrate heating.
• Irrigation savings: Enhanced moisture retention in the soil in cooled beds during the summer reduces irrigation rates.
• Reduction in the use of Pesticides – keeping the plant’s root zone temperature in an optimal range helps the plant resist infestation and improves the plant’s immune system; thus the need for expensive and environmentally damaging pesticides can be reduced.