Concentrations of perillaldehyde, limonene, and anthocyanin of Perilla plants as affected by light quality under controlled environments

Abstract

Perilla plants with red coloured leaves grown in red-enriched light treatments (i.e., red lamps alone (R), a mixture of blue and red lamps (BR), and a mixture of green and red lamps (GR)) had greater dry weight, bigger leaves, and more leaves than those grown in other treatments (i.e., blue lamps alone (B), a mixture of blue and green lamps (BG), and green lamps alone (G)). Although the concentrations of perillaldehyde and limonene in leaf tissues (mg g −1 leaf DW) were 1.6–1.9 and 1.5–1.9 times higher, respectively, in the G treatment than in red-enriched light treatments, the contents of perillaldehyde and limonene per plant (mg/plant) were 1.8 times higher in the BR treatment than those in the G treatment. The content of anthocyanin per plant was also 4.3 times higher in the BR treatment than that in the G treatment. Therefore, within the six different combinations of fluorescent lamps used in the present study, the BR treatment was a suitable light quality for producing plants with high contents of perillaldehyde, limonene, and anthocyanin under controlled environments.