Copyright Hokubu Agricultural Institute in the prefecture of Hyogo

Japan's Hokubu Agricultural Institute in the prefecture of Hyogo undertook a joint research project with a private-sector company, and together they have developed a large-scale planting method that dramatically cuts costs and labor. Called the Biocell Shot Method, it enables the large-scale planting of seedlings on large slopes or flat surfaces using a machine-blowing method. The joint group has been promoting use of the method nationwide since.

The method allows the machine planting of ground cover plants for weed suppression with full ground coverage or creating a landscape of blooming flowers, which eliminates any need for trimming because of short plant height and ensures simple maintenance.

Specific seedlings and vegetation base materials are first mixed and stirred, and then they are blown on soil that has been prepared beforehand. Up to now, ground cover plants with the feature of vegetative reproduction could only be planted by hand, but the joint study group succeeded in creating this safe, cost-cutting and labor-saving method.

It can be used in places where weeding or the formation of a landscape is needed, such as the side slopes of roads, in parks, on river banks, and on ridges between rice fields. For example, the group created a flower garden one hectare in size beside an aircraft parking apron at Chubu International Airport in 2004, and they planted 1,300 square meters on the rooftop of a warehouse in the city of Okayama in April 2007. As the method reduces the cost of conventional rooftop planting by half, it is expected to contribute greatly as a measure to counter the urban heat island effect.


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Posted: 2008/06/20 04:56:25 PM

TAG Ecosystem , Non-manufacturing industry , Technology , University/Research institute