Kleurrijke belichting
Samenvatting project
The ultimate goal is to substantially reduce energy use in greenhouses by optimising the spectrum of LED light, while maintaining or even improving production and product quality. Optimal use of additional farred (FR) will be studied: (1) Minimum intensity and optimal timing of FR needed to obtain significant yield increases, (2) Physiological and morphological aspects explaining genotypic variation in response to FR, (3) Where in the plant is the FR signal perceived and how is it transduced?
Doel van het project
Reduce energy use in greenhouses by optimizing the LED light spectrum
Motivatie
Supplementary light in horticulture is usually provided with HPS lamps. The efficiency of HPS lamps is at best 1.8 μmol per J, whereas efficiencies as high as 3.5 μmol per J have been reported for LEDs. This means that a transition from HPS to the most efficient LEDs would reduce energy use for lighting by about 50%. This project improves the production per unit LED light, and results therefore will stimulate the transition from HPS to LED. This project contributes to key technology ST1. Smart Technologies in Agri-Horti-Water-Food. This project focuses on LED technology, and furthermore advanced technologies for crop monitoring (e.g. chlorophyll fluorescence imaging) will be used.
Geplande resultaten
Deliverables of this project are:
Understanding the physiology of responses of fruiting tomato plants to FR light
Energy-efficient strategies for supplementing FR light
Year 1: first greenhouse test of FR light on fruiting tomato plants.
Output
Publicatie(s) peer reviewed – verwacht-2
Publicatie(s) peer reviewed – gerealiseerd-2
Impact
Impact –
The deliverables realized within this project were:
• Assessment of whether the total daily duration of far-red application or the specific timing within the photoperiod is more critical for improving tomato fruit yield.
• Establishment of far-red (FR) dose-response curves for two commercial tomato cultivars.
• Insights into the effects of FR application on top or within the canopy (top lighting vs. intracanopy lighting).
• Identification of the primary perception sites (leaves vs. fruit) for FR signals and the mechanisms of their transduction.
The project’s deliverables were shared at international scientific conferences and within applied horticultural symposia for grower groups to ensure practical adoption. Private partners benefitted from these insights for their breeding and LED recipe development. This project fostered the development of far-red light as a tool for yield improvement in tomato, supporting the horticultural industry’s transition toward its climate-neutral objectives.