Growth and stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Glycine max, Solanum tuberosum and Brassica napus cultivated under polychromatic LEDs

Abstract

BackgroundThe use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) brings several key advantages over existing illumination technologies for indoor plant cultivation. Among these are that LEDs have predicted lifetimes from 50–100.000 hours without significant drops in efficiency and energy consumption is much lower compared to traditional fluorescent tubes. Recent advances allow LEDs to be used with customized wavelengths for plant growth. However, most of these LED growth systems use mixtures of chips emitting in several narrow wavelengths and frequently they are not compatible with existing infrastructures. This study tested the growth of five different plant species under phosphor coated LED-chips fitted into a tube with a standard G13 base that provide continuous visible light illumination with enhanced blue and red light.ResultsThe LED system was characterized and compared with standard fluorescence tubes in the same cultivation room. Significant differences in heat generation between LEDs and fluorescent tubes were clearly demonstrated. Also, LED lights allowed for better control and stability of preset conditions. Physiological properties such as growth characteristics, biomass, and chlorophyll content were measured and the responses to pathogen assessed for five plant species (both the model plants Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana bentamiana and crop species potato, oilseed rape and soybean) under the different illumination sources.ConclusionsWe showed that polychromatic LEDs provide light of sufficient quality and intensity for plant growth using less than 40% of the electricity required by the standard fluorescent lighting under test. The tested type of LED installation provides a simple upgrade pathway for existing infrastructure for indoor plant growth. Interestingly, individual plant species responded differently to the LED lights so it would be reasonable to test their utility to any particular application.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13007-015-0076-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Growth and development of Arabidopsis thaliana under single-wavelength red and blue laser light

“…Plants grown under this specific laser light regime show phenotypic traits that differ only slightly from those grown under white fluorescent light (control) under similar growth conditions ( Fig. 4a ) and are in fact much like those reported for plants grown under similar monochromatic light with a broader spectra provided by the LEDs 5 32 ( Supplementary Figs S1 and S2 ). In laser-grown plants, the emergence of new leaves is delayed ( Fig.…”

“…The currently used light sources are inefficient because of their low light-to-heat output and the suboptimal light qualities for plant growth. Current lightings also incur high energy cost that may include the cost for extensive cooling to offset the high heat radiant output and this makes these lightings unsuitable for cost-effective large-scale plant production 5 .…”

“…Recently, the use of projector laser scanner consisting of laser diodes (50 to 100 mW) combined at three wavelengths (450 nm, 570 nm and 640 nm) in comparison to fluorescent lamp has been shown to be sufficient to grow radish sprouts by directing the emitted photons to the leaf surface 30 . Fluorescent lighting is less efficient as compared to laser as it emits several discrete wavelengths ranging from 350 nm to 750 nm in all directions and many of these wavelengths do not match the absorption profile of the plant photosynthetic apparatus 5 . Therefore, laser technology promises increased energy-efficiency and potentially cost-saving alternative artificial light source for small spaces (e.g.…”

“…1a ). This cool-emitting feature of laser light is economically attractive especially in larger enclosed growth spaces where extensive cooling that consumes both energy and water, is employed 5 32 . These attributes and the high-power capability of lasers offer the prospect of cost- and space-savings especially in a vertical horticulture setting where multiple-tiered growth spaces can be illuminated by a single laser light source that is guided through optical fibres or free space from a remotely installed parent laser illumination system ( Fig.…”

Application note: A novel low-cost open-source LED system for microalgae cultivation

“…There are few scientific articles, technical notes and applications dedicated for the usage of LEDs for plant cultivation and experiments (Shimada and Taniguchi, 2011;Janda et al, 2015;Yeh and Chung, 2009). …”