In the last twenty years the area and intensity of lighting in the greenhouse horticulture has increased considerably, with a resulting increase in the electricity usage. An advantage of LED lighting when compared to the regular SON-T lighting is the much higher conversion rate of electricity to light.
Furthermore, LED light offers the opportunity to create dynamic light recipes, in which the light can vary in light and intensity. However, there is still little knowledge available about the effects of light colors on the growth and development of crops and the functioning of biological crop protection in greenhouse horticulture when LED lighting is used as a supplement to sunlight. A lot of research into the influence of light colors on crop growth and development has been conducted on a single color, often in conditions without daylight, but only little research has been done on an integral approach of LED lighting in greenhouses with daylight.
In the project 'LED light in sunlight', this is what is being researched. In September, different varieties of chrysantheum and alstroemeria have been planted in the Innovation and Demonstration Center LED Lighting (IDC LED) at Wageningen University & Research in Bleiswijk. They have been placed under seven light spectra which differ in their blue, white, and red light. During the cultivation, the growth, development, and flowering is monitored, just as the underlying processes such as photosynthesis and light catching. The reproduction capacities of the Orius majusculus pirate bugs under the influence of the light spectra is being researched. In follow up tests, the effects of the light spectra on cucumber and tomato is being researched.
This research is being financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality, and LTO Glaskracht Nederland, as part of the program Kas als Energiebron. Signify contributed in the lighting and lighting control.
Read more here.