Photochemical Characterization of Greenhouse-grown Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. ‘Green Towers’) with Applications for Supplemental Lighting Control

Abstract

Plant light use efficiency decreases as light intensity is increased, and a better understanding of crop-specific light responses can contribute to the development of more energy-efficient supplemental lighting control strategies for greenhouses. In this study, diurnal chlorophyll fluorescence monitoring was used to characterize the photochemical responses of ‘Green Towers’ lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and daily light integral (DLI) in a greenhouse during a production cycle. Plants were monitored continuously for 35 days, with chlorophyll fluorescence measurements collected once every 15 minutes. Quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII) decreased exponentially with PPFD, whereas electron transport rate (ETR) increased asymptotically to 121 µmol·m–2·s–1. Daily photochemical integral (DPI) is defined as the integral of ETR over a 24-hour period; DPI increased asymptotically to 3.29 mol·m–2·d–1 with increasing DLI. No effects of plant age or prior day’s DLI and a negligible effect of PPFDs 15 or 30 minutes before measurements within days were observed. Simulations were conducted using the regression equation of ETR as a function of PPFD {ETR = 121[1 – exp(–0.00277PPFD)]} to illustrate methods of increasing photochemical light use efficiency for improved supplemental lighting control strategies. For a given DLI, DPI can be increased by providing light at lower PPFDs for a longer period of time, and can be maximized by providing light with a uniform PPFD throughout the entire photoperiod. Similarly, the DLI required to achieve a given DPI is reduced using these same methods.