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LED Lighting in Greenhouse Horticulture: Which Part of The Spectrum Is Important For Plant Growth?

The HI-LED project aims to develop advanced LED lighting modules for horticultural applications like greenhouses. Greenhouses require supplemental artificial lighting in winter when sunlight is insufficient to maintain crop growth and production. Plants use light for photosynthesis and development, responding most strongly to blue and red wavelengths. Recent developments in horticultural lighting include the use of LEDs emitting these colors. Experiments in the HI-LED project investigate the effects of different light spectra on growth of young tomato and pepper plants, evaluating parameters like size, photosynthesis, and morphology. Greenhouse growers are interested in spectral effects on crops and view LEDs as offering perspectives for production and quality control.

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90 views3 pages

LED Lighting in Greenhouse Horticulture: Which Part of The Spectrum Is Important For Plant Growth?

The HI-LED project aims to develop advanced LED lighting modules for horticultural applications like greenhouses. Greenhouses require supplemental artificial lighting in winter when sunlight is insufficient to maintain crop growth and production. Plants use light for photosynthesis and development, responding most strongly to blue and red wavelengths. Recent developments in horticultural lighting include the use of LEDs emitting these colors. Experiments in the HI-LED project investigate the effects of different light spectra on growth of young tomato and pepper plants, evaluating parameters like size, photosynthesis, and morphology. Greenhouse growers are interested in spectral effects on crops and view LEDs as offering perspectives for production and quality control.

Uploaded by

Sagar Dwivedi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LED lighting in greenhouse horticulture

The HI-LED project is an EU project with the aim to develop advanced LED modules for optimal
lighting solutions for different applications. One of these applications is horticulture, where
the use of assimilation lighting is essential for year-round production of high-quality products.
The amount of sunlight in greenhouses in the winter is insufficient to maintain growth and
production of horticultural crops so that artificial lighting is necessary to supplement the
amount of sunlight.

Which part of the spectrum is important for plant growth?


Plants use light for the process of photosynthesis (growth) as well as for photomorphogenesis
(plant development and cellular metabolism). Plants use photosynthetically active radiation
(PAR), light wave lengths between 400 and 700 nm for photosynthesis as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.
Plant response in Photosynthetically Active radiation range
This can be either sunlight or artificial light. The other light-driven process is called
photomorphogenesis. PAR light is composed of different colors or wavelengths and what our
eyes see is different from what a plant perceives and responds as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Human eye response. Spectral response of rods and cones cells on the retina
While the human eye sees especially green, yellow and orange colors, plants respond more to
blue and red. Thus, different parts of the visible light spectrum, and some wavelengths just
outside of PAR (see figure), are readily perceived by plants and trigger plant responses,
resulting in changes in plant morphology and physiology. Morphogenesis determines plant
architecture, flower color and complex processes like flowering. In general, a light spectrum
like that of sunlight is thought to guarantee a normal plant development.

What are recent developments in the use of artificial lighting


in horticulture?
During the past decade light emitting diodes (LEDs) have made their introduction into
horticulture. Starting with red and blue LEDs, obviously due to their contributions to growth
(red) and morphogenesis (blue), LED modules with other wavelengths have made their
introduction as well. Although possible to use monochromatic light, LEDs usually emit a band
width of 20-50 nm with, for example, a peak at 450 nm for blue light. LED modules are used as
top lighting and inter lighting in the greenhouse as well closely layered in plant propagation
units.

What kind of horticultural experiments are done in HI-


LED?
Within the framework of HI-LED, Wageningen University Greenhouse Horticulture investigates
the effects of light spectrum on growth, development and underlying plant processes in
young tomato and pepper plants. Under a background of natural light, plants are grown under
LEDs supplied by Hortilux in the colors white, red, blue, amber, green and a combination of red
and blue (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. HI-
LED experiment for growing tomato and pepper plants

How are the spectral effects on plant growth evaluated?


We started our experiments with young tomato and pepper plants. They are grown for 3-4
weeks under the 6 light colors. During this period, we measure plant length, photosynthesis,
plant temperature, stomatal opening and leaf angles. At the end of the experiments, the
plants are harvested destructively. We divide the plants into leaves and stems, count the
number of leaves, measure their leaf area and weight and the weight of the stems. By
measuring these parameters, we can establish the effects of spectral composition on
elongation, assimilate production and partitioning and plant morphology. Under blue and green
light, we found the most outspoken effects: plants grown under green light were tallest with
the largest leaf area whereas plants grown under blue light were shortest, had their stomates
widest open, had low leaf temperatures and the lowest total plant weight.

What is the perspective for LED engines in greenhouse


horticulture?
On 10 December 2014, 130 greenhouse growers visited the HI-LED trials in Bleiswijk, The
Netherlands. They were highly interested in the effects of spectral composition on plant growth
and development. Their questions focused on the applications and perspectives of using LEDs as
steering light for their crops. Overall, their opinion was that we still need to gain more
knowledge on the specific advantages of LEDs to influence plant development, but that LEDs
offer great perspectives for production and product quality in greenhouse horticulture.

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