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Abstract
BackgroundThe use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) brings several key advantages over existing illumination technologies for indoor plant cultivation. Among these are that LEDs have predicted lifetimes from 50–100.000 hours without significant drops in efficiency and energy consumption is much lower compared to traditional fluorescent tubes. Recent advances allow LEDs to be used with customized wavelengths for plant growth. However, most of these LED growth systems use mixtures of chips emitting in several narrow wavelengths and frequently they are not compatible with existing infrastructures. This study tested the growth of five different plant species under phosphor coated LED-chips fitted into a tube with a standard G13 base that provide continuous visible light illumination with enhanced blue and red light.ResultsThe LED system was characterized and compared with standard fluorescence tubes in the same cultivation room. Significant differences in heat generation between LEDs and fluorescent tubes were clearly demonstrated. Also, LED lights allowed for better control and stability of preset conditions. Physiological properties such as growth characteristics, biomass, and chlorophyll content were measured and the responses to pathogen assessed for five plant species (both the model plants Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana bentamiana and crop species potato, oilseed rape and soybean) under the different illumination sources.ConclusionsWe showed that polychromatic LEDs provide light of sufficient quality and intensity for plant growth using less than 40% of the electricity required by the standard fluorescent lighting under test. The tested type of LED installation provides a simple upgrade pathway for existing infrastructure for indoor plant growth. Interestingly, individual plant species responded differently to the LED lights so it would be reasonable to test their utility to any particular application.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13007-015-0076-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) brings several key advantages over existing illumination technologies for indoor plant cultivation
The LED tubes emitted a much higher proportion of red light and substantially less green light, while the amount of blue wavelengths was similar for both sources
In contrast to other LED-based plant growth systems which usually contain a mixture of chips emitting in narrow bands, the LED tubes used in this study provided a full and continuous visible spectrum with pronounced blue and red irradiation
Summary
The use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) brings several key advantages over existing illumination technologies for indoor plant cultivation Among these are that LEDs have predicted lifetimes from 50–100.000 hours without significant drops in efficiency and energy consumption is much lower compared to traditional fluorescent tubes. Both fluorescent tubes and high pressure sodium lamps generate a lot of heat that must be removed from closed environments such as growth rooms and growth chambers, creating additional issues with the control of air-flow, humidity and irrigation. Based on the known advantages of LEDs, scientists had immediately started to think about their possible use in horticultural lighting [1,2,3]
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