Preliminary Investigation of LED Lighting as Growth Light for Seedlings from Different Tree Species in Growth Chambers

Stefania Astolfi,Rosanna Bellarosa,Chiara Marianello,Stefano Grego

doi:10.15835/nbha4028221

Abstract

The influence of light quality on growth and metabolic activity during pre-cultivation (in miniplug containers) of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) and wild cherry (Prunus avium) plants was investigated. Seedlings were grown in a growth chamber for a month under light-emitting diode (LED) light or fluorescent light. The LED lamps (Valoya) used in this study emitted a continuous spectrum thanks to a mixture of blue, green, red and far-red LEDs. Our results showed that plant response to light quality seems to be related to the plant species. In particular, in beech seedlings fresh and dry weight, shoot height and leaf area were greatest when plants were cultured under LED light, and lowest under fluorescent lamps. Furthermore, we found that LED-induced reduction of chlorophyll contents in beech and holm oak leaves resulted in an increase of the carboxylase capacity of Rubisco in the same plant species suggesting an improvement of light-use-efficiency in these plants. These results indicate that LED light may be suitable for the culture of plants in tightly controlled environments. The comparison of malondialdehyde levels between LED and fluorescent grown plants strongly supports this idea.

Highlights

A number of environmental concerns currently confront vegetation (Wang et al, 2005)
Young developing leaves from 30-day-old seedlings grown under light-emitting diode (LED) exhibited lower chlorophyll levels with 10-20% decrease in SPAD units, depending on plant species
It is interesting to note that plant photosynthetic performance might be independent of the relatively low amount of ch lorophyll as demonstrated by Saebo et al (1995). With this suggestion, we found that LEDinduced reduction of chlorophyll contents in beech and holm oak leaves resulted in an increased carboxylase capacity of RuBPC in the same plant species (Fig. 5a) suggesting an improvement of light-use-efficiency in these plants

Summary

Introduction

A number of environmental concerns currently confront vegetation (Wang et al, 2005). These include soil salinization, drought and decrease in water quality, wind erosion, and losses of biodiversity.It is well known that vegetation restoration strategies are needed to recovery degraded areas as well as in postfire restoration (Chazdon, 2008; Ciccarese et al, 2012). A number of environmental concerns currently confront vegetation (Wang et al, 2005). These include soil salinization, drought and decrease in water quality, wind erosion, and losses of biodiversity. It is well known that vegetation restoration strategies are needed to recovery degraded areas as well as in postfire restoration (Chazdon, 2008; Ciccarese et al, 2012). Among these strategies, abandoned farmland reforestation programs represent one of the most significant means in improving vegetation and controlling soil erosion (Wang et al, 2004). The increasing need to produce high-quality stock of seedlings, which can successfully survive and grow after outplanting (Wilson and Jacobs, 2006), contributes in stressing the importance of nursery culture treatments, namely growing media and fertilization practices, to improve the success of reforestation programs (Grossnickle, 2005; Navarro et al, 2006)

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