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Located on the Domaine de St Maurice in Montfavet, alongside our research unit, our experimental facilities are designed to meet the needs of research teams focusing on bacterial, fungal and viral diseases of fruits and vegetables in the Mediterranean basin. To carry out our missions, we are required to:

• Produce plant material, with a wide diversity of species, to support experiments on the biology and evolution of these pathogenic microorganisms, as well as their interaction with host plants.
• Set up and run experiments in greenhouses, climatic chambers, cold tunnels or open fields, following a research protocol.
• Monitor IEPV infrastructures to optimize their operation.
• Follow the evolution of cultivation techniques and alternatives proposed for phytosanitary surveillance.
• Ensure full traceability of experiments and all climatic data.

Experimental facilities

• A 200 m² production unit
• 1700 m² of S1 or S2 containment level greenhouses
• A 340 m² S3 containment level greenhouse
• 15 units of climatic chambers and phytotrons of varying dimensions and containment levels
• 6 cold shelters covering 768 m²
• 8,000 m² of field plots
• A waste treatment unit
• A farm shed and workshop.

Facilities management by an IEPV team: 2 areas of expertise

• "Plant Production and Experimentation" whose role is to produce the plants needed for experiments, and to set up and run experiments.
• "Maintenance and Workshop", which maintains the facilities. These agents are also involved in the design and construction of prototype equipment.

Variable levels of containment depending on the organisms handled in climatic chambers and greenhouses

• Low containment for phytopathogenic organisms (mainly bacteria, fungi and viruses of vegetable crops).
• High containment (S3-type greenhouse) for quarantine phytopathogenic organisms and recombinant viruses under conditions that comply with the regulations applicable to these microorganisms.
• High containment (NS3-type climatic chambers) for rearing certain virus-carrying insects.

Production systems

• Open-ground and soilless production processes, taking into account research protocols and environment preservation.
• Reinforced prophylaxis with a "forward march" method
• Numerous drip irrigation systems, with the possibility of applying different abiotic stresses (water stress, differentiated nitrogen solutions, combinations of stresses).

• Experiments are conducted according to an "environmental management system" (EMS) designed to control the environmental impact of activities: application of containment standards for the organisms handled, thermal treatment of biological waste, treatment of phytosanitary effluents on biological beds, energy savings through computerized greenhouse climate management, waste sorting...
• Quality assurance: drafting of work procedures, traceability of experiments, reliability of results through recording of climatic and technical data.
• This continuously improving system has been recognized by ISO 14001 certification in 2019, as part of INRAE's collective EMS approach.

Computerized climate management using the Aria supervisor, greenhouse pilot and PLC

The unit invested in this greenhouse and climate chamber control system as part of a quality assurance initiative and to reduce energy consumption. The system enables remote monitoring and management of the PLCs (Programmable logic controllers) controlling the boiler room, greenhouses and climatic chambers. It records certain climatic data (temperature, humidity, lighting duration, etc.). A program can be used to consult and transmit instructions for setting greenhouse or climatic chamber parameters. Technical surveillance of the installations is ensured by an alarm system that sends a telephone call to the duty or on-call agent.