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Kent might be known as the 'Garden of England' but one day parts of Wales, northern and south-west England could be home to underground 'fields' of corn and genetically modified crops.

Scientists have discovered that lowering the temperature reduces the height of corn crops without affecting its seed yield.

They think the crop could be grown in cool places such as caves and former mines in 'controlled-environment' facilities.

Farm of the future? Scientists have discovered that lowering the temperature for two hours a day reduces the height of corn without affecting seed yield. They think the crop could be grown in cool places such as caves and former mines (pictured) in controlled-environment facilities

Genetically-modified crops could also be grown in such isolated environments as this would prevent genetically modified pollen and seed from escaping into the ecosystem and crossing with wild plants, experts claim.

Cary Mitchell, professor of horticulture at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, believes that the technique could be useful for growing transgenic crops to produce high-value medicinal products such as antibodies.

'Grains of corn could be engineered to produce proteins that could be extracted and processed into medicine, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals such as essential vitamins,' he said.

'What we've done is show that you can successfully grow these high-value crops in contained environments.'

Professor Mitchell described corn as a 'good candidate crop' for the plant-derived pharmaceutical compounds industry.

Location, location, location: Genetically-modified crops could be grown in the isolated environments as this would prevent genetically modified pollen and seed from escaping into the ecosystem and crossing with wild plants, experts Yang Yang (left) and Cary Mitchel (right) said

This is because the plant's plentiful seeds and well-characterised genome can be modified in many ways.

Using plants as factories to generate bioactive medicines would be far cheaper than the current methods that rely on cell cultures from mammals, he said.

In order to grow corn in dark and cool underground spaces, professor Mitchell and his researchers Yang Yang and Gioia Massa installed a growth chamber with insulation and yellow and blue high-intensity lamps in a former limestone mine in Marengo, Indiana.

Their aim was to test how corn would react to an environment in which its growing conditions - light, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide - were tightly controlled.

But to their surprise, the hybrid corn responded by growing 'too well,' Dr Yang said.

'We coddled the plants with such luxurious conditions that the corn was touching the lamps before it had even tasselled (produced pollen-producing flowers),' he said.

To reduce the corn's height, the researchers borrowed a trick used by the greenhouse industry to dwarf Christmas poinsettias. 

Using a growth chamber that mimicked the temperature conditions and carbon dioxide levels of the mine, they dropped the temperature to 16°C (60°F) for the first two hours of each photoperiod - the time in which the corn received light.

The temperature was restored to 27°C (80°F) for 14 hours and then lowered to 18°C (65 °F) for eight hours of darkness.

Cream of the crop: In order to grow corn in dark and cool underground spaces the scientists installed a growth chamber with insulation and yellow and blue high-intensity discharge lamps in a former limestone mine in Marengo, Indiana. A stock image of a young corn crop is pictured

The temperature dip dwarfed stalk height by 10 per cent and reduced stalk diameter by nine per cent without significantly affecting the number and weight of the seeds.

'This is a technique you could easily do in a mine or cave,' Professor Mitchell said.

'It is an affordable, non-chemical means of taking genetically modified crops to harvest maturity without getting any kind of pollen or seed into the ecosystem.'

He said that former mines could be prime locations to grow high-value, transgenic plants because their natural coolness lessens the need to ventilate the heat produced by lamps.

The high levels of carbon dioxide in mines also promote plant growth.

'Productivity in a controlled environment is superior to that in the field and you can raise more than one crop per year.

'Controlled environment agriculture is going to be one of the big movements of the 21st century,' he said.

The experts think that caves and disused mines could prove an affordable, non-chemical means of taking genetically modified crops to harvest maturity without getting any kind of pollen or seed into the ecosystem. However, GM protestors (pictured tearing up plans in Oxfordshire) might disagree