Optimal red:blue ratio of full spectrum LEDs for hydroponic pakchoi cultivation in plant factory
Keywords:
pakchoi, R, B ratio, yield, absorption spectrum, energy use efficiencyAbstract
Pakchoi, a popular leafy vegetable in China, is expected to be planted in plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs). In order to examine the effects of different red and blue light ratios (R:B ratio) on growth, photosynthesis, and absorption spectrum of plant leaves, and to analyze the energy use efficiency, the pakchoi (Brassica Chinensis L. cv. Xiazhijiao) was cultivated hydroponically under white LEDs with R:B ratios of 0.9 (L0.9) and 1.8 (L1.8), white plus red LEDs with R:B ratios of 2.7 (L2.7) and 4.0 (L4.0) for 40 d, respectively. The results showed that the leaf length and width were significantly greater in the L0.9 treatment than in other treatments, and the dry weight per plant increased by over 33% when R:B ratio decreased from 4.0 to 0.9. The net photosynthesis rates of pakchoi leaves ranged from 9.2 to 9.6 μmol/(m2·s) under different lighting conditions, which had no significant difference. The biggest difference in the spectrum absorptance of pakchoi leaves was expressed in green light waveband, and the highest absorption of plant leaves was under L0.9 and L1.8 treatments. The light energy use efficiency (LUE), photon yield (PY), and energy yield (EY) in L0.9 were over 25% higher than that in the other treatments, while there was no significant difference in the electrical energy use efficiency (EUE). In conclusion, an optimal light quality to cultivate pakchoi in PFALs was the white LEDs with R:B ratio of 0.9, and this finding could provide a promising lighting environment to hydroponic pakchoi yield and energy use efficiency. Keywords: pakchoi, R:B ratio, yield, absorption spectrum, energy use efficiency DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221503.7362 Citation: Li Y N, Liu N, Ji F, He D X. Optimal red:blue ratio of full spectrum LEDs for hydroponic pakchoi cultivation in plant factory. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(3): 72–77.References
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[2] Kozai T. Towards sustainable plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) for achieving SDGs. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(5): 28–37.
[3] Kozai T. Current status of plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) and smart PFALs. In: Smart Plant Factory: The Next Generation Indoor Vertical Farms, Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2018; pp.3–13.
[4] Pattison P M, Tsao J Y, Brainard G C, Bugbee B. LEDs for photons, physiology and food. Nature, 2018; 563(7732): 493–500.
[5] Agarwal A, Dutta Gupta S, Barman M, Mitra A. Photosynthetic apparatus plays a central role in photosensitive physiological acclimations affecting spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) growth in response to blue and red photon flux ratios. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 2018; 156: 170–182.
[6] Pennisi G, Blasioli S, Cellini A, Maia L, Crepaldi A, Braschi I, et al. Unraveling the role of red:blue LED lights on resource use efficiency and nutritional properties of indoor grown sweet basil. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2019; 10: 305. doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.00305.
[7] Wang J, Lu W, Tong Y, Yang Q. Leaf morphology, photosynthetic performance, chlorophyll fluorescence, stomatal development of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) exposed to different ratios of red light to blue light. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2016; 7: 250. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00250.
[8] Chen X, Guo W, Xue X, Wang L, Qiao X. Growth and quality responses
of 'Green Oak Leaf' lettuce as affected by monochromic or mixed radiation provided by fluorescent lamp (FL) and light-emitting diode (LED). Scientia Horticulturae, 2014; 172: 168–175.
[9] Nguyen D T P, Kitayama M, Lu N, Takagaki M. Bioactive compound accumulation and growth of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) under different types of white LED lights in plant factory. Acta Horticulturae, 2020; 1296: 921–928.
[10] Mickens M A, Skoog E J, Reese L E, Barnwel P L, Spencer L E, Massa G D, et al. A strategic approach for investigating light recipes for 'Outredgeous' red romaine lettuce using white and monochromatic LEDs. Life Sciences in Space Research, 2018; 19: 53–62.
[11] Sun J U O W, Nishio J N, Vogelmann T C. Green light drives CO2 fixation deep within leaves. Plant & Cell Physiology, 1998; 39(10): 1020–1026.
[12] Claypool N B, Lieth J H. Green light improves photosystem stoichiometry in cucumber seedlings (Cucumis sativus) compared to monochromatic red light. Plants, 2021; 10(5): 824. doi: 10.3390/ plants10050824.
[13] Li L, Tong Y, Lu J, Li Y, Yang Q. Lettuce growth, nutritional quality, and energy use efficiency as affected by red-blue light combined with different monochromatic wavelengths. HortScience, 2020; 55(5): 613–620.
[14] Samuolienė G, Viršilė A, Haimi P, Miliauskienė J. Photoresponse to different lighting strategies during red leaf lettuce growth. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B, Biology, 2020; 202: 111726. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2019.111726.
[15] Westmoreland F M, Kusuma P, Bugbee B. Cannabis lighting: Decreasing blue photon fraction increases yield but efficacy is more important for cost effective production of cannabinoids. PloS One, 2021; 16(3): e0248988. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248988.
[16] Both A, Bugbee B, Kubota C, Lopez R G, Mitchell C, Runkle E S, et al. Proposed product label for electric lamps used in the plant sciences. HortTechnology, 2017; 27(4): 544–549.
[17] Yan Z, He D, Niu G, Zhai H. Evaluation of growth and quality of hydroponic lettuce at harvest as affected by the light intensity, photoperiod and light quality at seedling stage. Scientia Horticulturae, 2019; 248: 138–144.
[18] Park Y, Runkle E S. Spectral effects of light-emitting diodes on plant growth, visual color quality, and photosynthetic photon efficacy: White versus blue plus red radiation. PloS One, 2018; 13(8): 0202386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202386.
[19] Kusuma P, Pattison P M, Bugbee B. From physics to fixtures to food: current and potential LED efficacy. Horticulture Research, 2020; 7: 56. doi: 10.1038/s41438-020-0283-7.
[20] Yan Z, He D, Niu G, Zhou Q, Qu Y. Growth, nutritional quality, and energy use efficiency of hydroponic lettuce as influenced by daily light integrals exposed to white versus white plus red light-emitting diodes. HortScience, 2019; 54(10): 1737–1744.
[21] Yan Z, He D, Niu G, Zhou Q, Qu Y. Growth, nutritional quality, and energy use efficiency in two lettuce cultivars as influenced by white plus red versus red plus blue LEDs. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2020; 13(2): 33–40.
[22] Cope K R, Bugbee B. Spectral effects of three types of white light-emitting diodes on plant growth and development: absolute versus relative amounts of blue light. HortScience, 2013; 48(4): 504–509.
[23] Kong Y, Nemali A, Mitchell C, Nemali K. Spectral quality of light can affect energy consumption and energy-use efficiency of electrical lighting in indoor lettuce farming. HortScience, 2019; 54(5): 865–872.
[24] Kozai T, Niu G, Takagaki M. Plant factory: An indoor vertical farming system for efficient quality food production. Second edition, 2020; 405p.
[25] Kozai T. Resource use efficiency of closed plant production system with artificial light: Concept, estimation and application to plant factory. Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences, 2013; 89(10): 447–461.
[26] Kozai T, Niu G. Plant factory as a resource-efficient closed plant production system. In: Plant factory an indoor vertical farming system for efficient quality food production second edition, 2020; pp.93–115.
[27] Lichtenthaler H K, Wellburn A R. Determination of total carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b of leaf in different solvents. Biochemical Society Transactions, 1983; 11: 591–592.
[28] Chung H, Chang M, Wu C, Fang W. Quantitative evaluation of electric light recipes for red leaf lettuce cultivation in plant factories. HortTechnology, 2018; 28(6): 755–763.
[29] Agarwal A, Dutta Gupta S, Barman M, Mitra A. Photosynthetic apparatus plays a central role in photosensitive physiological acclimations affecting spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) growth in response to blue and red photon flux ratios. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 2018; 156: 170–182.
[30] Mickens M A, Torralba M, Robinson S A, Spencer L E, Romeyn M W, Massa G D, et al. Growth of red pak choi under red and blue, supplemented white, and artificial sunlight provided by LEDs. Scientia Horticulturae, 2019; 245: 200–209.
[31] Ying Q, Kong Y, Jones-Baumgardt C, Zheng Y. Responses of yield and appearance quality of four Brassicaceae microgreens to varied blue light proportion in red and blue light-emitting diodes lighting. Scientia Horticulturae, 2020; 259: 108857. doi: 10.1016/j.scienta.2019.108857.
[32] Hernández R, Kubota C. Physiological responses of cucumber seedlings under different blue and red photon flux ratios using LEDs. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 2016; 121: 66–74.
[33] Chang S X, Li C X, Yao X Y, Song C, Jiao X L, Liu X Y, et al. Morphological, photosynthetic, and physiological responses of rapeseed leaf to different combinations of red and blue lights at the rosette stage. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2016; 7: 1144. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01144.
[34] Fan X, Xue F, Song B, Chen L, Xu G, Xu H. Effects of blue and red light on growth and nitrate metabolism in pakchoi. Open Chemistry, 2019; 17(1): 456–464.
[35] Saleem M H, Rehman M, Fahad S, Tung S A, Iqbal N, Hassan A, et al. Leaf gas exchange, oxidative stress, and physiological attributes of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) grown under different light-emitting diodes. Photosynthetica, 2020; 58(3): 836–845.
[36] McCree K J. The action spectrum, absorptance and quantum yield of photosynthesis in crop plants. Agricultural Meteorology, 1972; 9: 191–216.
[37] Li Q, Kubota C. Effects of supplemental light quality on growth and phytochemicals of baby leaf lettuce. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 2009; 67(1): 59–64.
[38] Lee J W, Kang W H, Park K S, Son J E. Spectral dependence of electrical energy-based photosynthetic efficiency at single leaf and canopy levels in green- and red-leaf lettuces. Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology, 2017; 58(2): 111–118.
[39] Liu J, van Iersel M W. Photosynthetic physiology of blue, green, and red light: Light intensity effects and underlying mechanisms. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2021; 12: 619987. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.619987.
[40] Pennisi G, Orsini F, Blasioli S, Cellini A, Crepaldi A, Braschi I, et al. Resource use efficiency of indoor lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation as affected by red:blue ratio provided by LED lighting. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9(1): 14127. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50783-z.
[41] Piovene C, Orsini F, Bosi S, Sanoubar R, Bregola V, Dinelli G, et al. Optimal red:blue ratio in led lighting for nutraceutical indoor horticulture. Scientia Horticulturae, 2015; 193: 202–208.
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Published
2022-06-30
How to Cite
Li, Y., Liu, N., Ji, F., & He, D. (2022). Optimal red:blue ratio of full spectrum LEDs for hydroponic pakchoi cultivation in plant factory. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 15(3), 72–77. Retrieved from https://ijabe.migration.pkpps03.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ijabe/article/view/7362
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Animal, Plant and Facility Systems
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