Influence of ventilation on airborne fungi in greenhouses: A case study of tomato greenhouses

Abstract

With the rapid development of greenhouses, the indoor air quality, particularly airborne microorganisms, is closely related to the health of farmers and needs more attention. In this study, the concentrations of airborne fungi at seedling, fruiting and harvesting stages in typical tomatoes greenhouses were tested. Temperature, relative humidity and the microbial concentrations were analysed. It was found that the dominant fungal genera are Aspergillus and Cladosporium, no matter it was in which growth stage. Ventilation is an effective way to reduce the concentrations of airborne fungi through dilution and decrease the relative humidity.