Lighting in greenhouse horticulture is becoming increasingly more commonplace both nationally and internationally; for example, the total lit area in tomato cultivation has now surpassed 500 ha (>27%). Being able to supply customers throughout the entire year is a definite advantage for many growers, as it results in their customers being willing to commit to them. Even though the total lit area of tomatoes is by far the largest in the Netherlands, lighting is also provided for other vegetable crops, or there are initiatives in place for this to be realised in the future.
One of these initiatives concerns the cultivation of aubergines under lighting; based on previous experiences with lighting research involving, for example, peppers, a number of growers have decided to join forces and conduct their own private research into lighting in 2014-2015. This research is being carried out by Demokwekerij Westland, managed by Inno-Agro.
Considering the high electricity costs and the rapid rise of LED technology, the growers have decided it makes sense to acquire immediate experience with hybrid lighting; 210 μmol was therefore opted for in the trial setup, consisting of 60 μmol SONT and 150 μmol LED. This realised a net energy saving of over 10% and also resulted in a longer lighting time.
Lighting hasn’t yet been used in aubergine cultivation; this is why the decision was made to immediately work with a model-based method of cultivation at the start of the research. The growers managed to acquire a great deal of experience through this small scale research (100m2). This experience will be used during the forthcoming year when new steps are going to be taken.
For more information
Lemnis Oreon
Lorentzlaan 6
3401 MX IJsselstein
T: +31 30 760 0660