Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing demand for local food production is fueling high interest in the development of controlled environment agriculture. In particular, LED technology brings energy-saving advantages together with the possibility of manipulating plant phenotypes through light quality control. However, optimizing light quality is required for each cultivated plant and specific purpose.FindingsThis article shows that the combination of LED gradient set-ups with imaging-based non-destructive plant phenotyping constitutes an interesting new screening tool with the potential to improve speed, logistics, and information output. To validate this concept, an experiment was performed to evaluate the effects of a complete range of red:blue ratios on 7 plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana, Brachypodium distachyon, Euphorbia peplus, Ocimum basilicum, Oryza sativa, Solanum lycopersicum, and Setaria viridis. Plants were exposed during 30 days to the light gradient and showed significant, but species-dependent, responses in terms of dimension, shape, and color. A time-series analysis of phenotypic descriptors highlighted growth changes but also transient responses of plant shapes to the red:blue ratio.ConclusionThis approach, which generated a large reusable dataset, can be adapted for addressing specific needs in crop production or fundamental questions in photobiology.
Highlights
New urban agriculture business models are emerging as market demand for local production of high-quality fruits and vegetables is increasing [1]
The dataset was first used to evaluate the potential of the imaging platform to discriminate diverse plant species and morphologies, from narrow-leaf monocots (B. distachyon, O. sativa, S. viridis) to large-leaf caulescent tomato (S. lycopersicum) or multiplant bushes (E. peplus, O. basilicum)
It is clear from this study that the effects of light quality on plant phenotypes are strongly species-dependent, so no predictive clues can be generalized
Summary
New urban agriculture business models are emerging as market demand for local production of high-quality fruits and vegetables is increasing [1]. LED lighting fixtures show a great potential for energy saving compared to former technologies (e.g., high-pressure sodium lamps) [4, 5]. They provide control over spectral composition, flexible fixture format, durability, long operating lifetime, relatively cool emitting surfaces, and a photon output that varies linearly with electrical input current [6]. These attributes can greatly facilitate the application of photobiology at all stages of crop production, from propagation to postharvest quality control. Optimizing light quality is required for each cultivated plant and specific purpose
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