Growth and Flowering Responses of Petunia to Various Artificial Light Sources with Different Light Qualities

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of artificial light sources with different light qualities on the growth and flowering characteristics of a herbaceous long-day plant, Petunia × hybrida Hort. Seedlings of petunia cultivar ‘Madness Rose’ were potted, acclimated for one week, and grown in a phytotron equipped with tube- and bulb-type fluorescent lamps (FL tube and bulb), tube-type white light-emitting diodes (LED tube), halogen lamps (HL), metal halide lamps (MH), and high pressure sodium lamps (HPS) for 10 weeks. The temperature, photoperiod, and photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) in the phytotron were 22 ± 2℃, 16 h, and 25 ±2 μmolㆍm -2 ㆍs -1 , respectively. Light sources combined with HL promoted stem elongation, and plant height and internode length decreased with increasing red to far-red (R:FR) ratio. FL tube + LED tube, HPS, and FL tube promoted branching, whereas plants grown under light sources combined with HL did not have any branches. Days to flowering (from longest to shortest) occurred as follows: FL tube + HL > FL tube + HL > MH > HPS = FL tube + FL bulb > FL tube + LED tube > LED tube > FL tube, indicating that reducing the R:FR ratio of the light sources promoted flowering. Only 20% of plants grown under an FL tube flowered, whereas under all other treatments, 100% of plants flowered. At 10 weeks after treatment, plants grown under HPS and MH had (cumulatively) 12 open flowers, and those grown under FL tube + FL bulb, LED tube, FL tube + LED tube, and HPS treatment had approximately seven flower buds. These results suggest that light sources with low R:FR ratios promote flowering and stem elongation in petunia, but they reduce its ornamental value due to overgrowth and poor branching.