Submitted Successfully!
To reward your contribution, here is a gift for you: A free trial for our video production service.
Thank you for your contribution! You can also upload a video entry or images related to this topic.
Version Summary Created by Modification Content Size Created at Operation
1
Yaliang Xu
 -- 1543 2022-05-30 03:06:30 |
2 Adjust the reference format
Lindsay Dong
-5 word(s) 1538 2022-05-30 04:05:20 |

Video Upload Options

Do you have a full video?
Send video materials Upload full video

Confirm

Are you sure to Delete?
Yes No
Cite
If you have any further questions, please contact Encyclopedia Editorial Office.
Xu, Y.; , .; Yang, Q.; Li, Q. Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23527 (accessed on 17 May 2024).
Xu Y,  , Yang Q, Li Q. Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23527. Accessed May 17, 2024.
Xu, Yaliang, , Qichang Yang, Qingming Li. "Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23527 (accessed May 17, 2024).
Xu, Y., , ., Yang, Q., & Li, Q. (2022, May 30). Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/23527
Xu, Yaliang, et al. "Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light." Encyclopedia. Web. 30 May, 2022.
Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light
Edit
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/agronomy12051021

A plant factory with artificial light (PFAL) is defined as an advanced agricultural production system with a precisely controlled environment, playing an important role in vertical farming and urban food supply. Artificial light is one of the core technologies in PFALs and accounts for a large part of energy consumption; elevating the light utilization efficiency of plants is vital for the sustainable development of PFALs. Meanwhile, the enclosed structure of the plant factory resulted in the independence of its light environment, indicating that the light environment in PFALs can be custom-made. Lighting strategy is an attempt to reprogram the light environmental parameters in unconventional ways, resulting in innovative lighting modes for energy-saving, high-yield, and high-quality production in PFALs. 

plant factory artificial light lighting strategy energy conversion efficiency

1. Introduction

Plant factories are a type of closed production system, which integrated modern industrial technologies for the annual efficient production of crops [1][2]. As an artificially controlled environment production system, environmental factors in plant factories, such as temperature, humidity, light, CO2, nutrients, and water, are precisely controlled by artificial intelligence systems and electronic sensors, according to the requirement of crops, largely avoiding the restriction of a natural fluctuant environment and contributing to green manufacture [1][3][4]. Consequently, food production in plant factories is not limited by geographical factors, seasonal changes, and available spaces, producing green crops all year round and representing future agriculture [5]. With the continued expansion of the human population and the acceleration of urbanization, plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) possess extensive application prospects in the urban life of modern society [6].

2. Alternate Lighting

Distinct monochromatic spectrum exerts different specific effects on the photomorphogenesis, physiological performance, and developmental status of plants [7][8]. In the natural environment and conventional PFALs cultivation, plants were constantly irradiated by multichromatic sunlight or tailored spectral composition with a fixed ratio, so the potential of the light spectrum on crop production was still underestimated. Alternate lighting is an attempt that alternately irradiates plants with different light spectrums or spectral compositions for efficient crop production, including full-alternated lighting mode and overlay-alternated lighting mode [9][10][11]. Compared with full-alternated lighting, overlay-alternated lighting was relatively complicated and extendable, which shifted the irradiation time of blue/red light forward/backward based on concurrent lighting, ensuring crops were irradiated by the monochromatic spectrum for a certain time interval [10][12]. Some biological characteristics of crops were positively affected when exposed to alternate lighting; meanwhile, with the optimization of parameters, such as spectral composition, alternating intervals, and light intensity, the energy conversion efficiency in PFALs was elevated, and resulted in increased biomass and nutritional quality [9][13].
Blue light and red light were the most frequently used spectrums in alternate lighting, as they were photosynthetically active spectrums, being widely used in PFALs [14][15]. Besides, the physiological effects of both spectrums were extensively reported [16]. Although monochromatic blue and red light failed to meet the requirement of plants and led to dysfunctional photosynthetic responses [17], alternate lighting might be a good resolution. Chen et al. [9] alternately irradiated lettuce with monochromatic red and blue light under plant factory conditions, and the results revealed that phenotype and nutritive properties of lettuce were largely affected; specifically, significantly higher biomass was achieved compared with concurrent irradiation without extra energy consumption [9].
Surprisingly, alternate lighting might be a potential method of avoiding the negative effects of continuous lighting. A long photoperiod was negative for the normal growth of crops, as it usually caused interveinal chlorosis consequently [18]; nevertheless, continuous 24 h supplemental lighting with alternate blue and red light could alleviate the injury and led to increased net carbon exchange rates in tomato [19]. For lettuce cultivation in a plant factory, alternate lighting of blue and red light over a 24 h photoperiod resulted in significantly increased biomass, while ideal nutritive quality was simultaneously obtained [20].

3. Intermittent Lighting

The rotation of Earth on its axis leads to the alternation of day and night, serving as an important environmental signal for the metabolism and development of plants [21]. In PFALs, the light–dark cycle was independent of sunrise and sunset, providing huge space for innovative regulation of the light environment. Intermittent lighting was another attempt to artificially remold the light environment in PFALs based on photoperiods, which separate the standard 24 h day/night alteration into short light/dark cycles and irradiate plants temporarily [22]. Besides, the short flash created by pulsed LEDs was considered as another kind of intermittent lighting, providing light on the seconds scale, even on the milliseconds scale [23][24]. Up to now, many endeavors have demonstrated that intermittent lighting is beneficial for crop production and possesses large potential in reducing energy consumption in PFALs [23][25]. Moreover, frequency and duty ratio (duration ratio of light in a whole light/dark cycle) are important design parameters of intermittent lighting [26][27].
Cheng et al. [22] divided the light/dark cycle of 16 h/8 h into short combinations of 8 h/4 h, 6 h/3 h, 4 h/2 h, 3 h/1.5 h, and 2 h/1 h under identical energy consumption, with results revealing that lettuce exposed to intermittent lighting treatments almost all show increased biomass, except for 6 h/3 h. Besides, the sweetness and crispness of lettuce were also influenced [22].
The stimulating effect of intermittent lighting on growth is partially attributed to its positive regulation of photosynthesis efficiency [24]. Further study revealed that adequate frequencies could improve fluorescence emission parameters of chlorophyll as Fv′/Fm′(maximum efficiency of PSII), NPQ (nonphotochemical quenching), ΦPSII (quantum efficiency of photosystem II), ETR (electron transport rate), and ø CO2 (quantum yield of CO2 assimilation) [28]. Notably, intermittent lighting was an effective strategy for regulating the photosynthetic pathway of CAM plants [29]. A short light/dark cycle of 2 h/2 h was reported to switch the photosynthetic pathway of Dendrobium officinale from CAM to C3, resulting in increased net CO2 exchange amounts and higher biomass [30]. However, this process is incompletely reversible, as D. offcinale maintained an increased net CO2 exchange amount when transferred back to 12 h/12 h [29]. Besides, it was assumed that more photoreceptor cells were formed when exposed to intermittent radiation [24].

4. Continuous Lighting

As the sole irradiation source in PFALs, artificial light provides energy and acts as an important environmental signal for the growth and development of cultivated crops. Continuous lighting (CL) is an efficient cultivation strategy by extending the duration of light, theoretically driving crops to grow unceasingly in PFALs [31][32]. Crops exposed to a 24 h photoperiod displayed distinct statuses, as some of them experienced severe physiological damage, while some of them adapted well and obtained increased yield [33]. Particularly, for a life support system in space or basements in the polar regions, the food supply problems could be well resolved by this strategy. Besides, continuous lighting was also supposed to be used in breeding research, as the vegetative growth was stimulated and shortened the time for crop selection.
Continuous lighting has the potential to induce injury to photosynthetic organs, leading to various symptoms, such as photo-oxidative damage, early senescence, and/or decreased photosynthetic efficiency, which are usually mediated by hyperaccumulation of carbohydrates or negative effects on photoreceptors [32]. Velez-Ramirez et al. [32] reported that lettuce achieved increased biomass under CL, while tomato displayed CL injuries. This phenomenon is partly due to differences in CL tolerance. On the other hand, endogenous circadian rhythm may also play an important role. Besides, the phenotype of continuous lighting-induced injury was influenced not only by irradiation intensity, but the light spectrum also exerted a huge influence. Tomato seedlings exposed to continuous red or blue light displayed varied symptoms, while their combination could largely relieve it [34]. On the other hand, photoinhibition caused by continuous lighting is reversible when the duration time is short, while the accumulation of ROS and lipid peroxidation is inevitable in long-term treatment [35]. Integrating continuous lighting with alternate lighting of red and blue light might be a good resolution, as photosynthetic parameters under continuous lighting were similar to that of a 12 h photoperiod; moreover, diurnal metabolism of carbohydrate was also observed [20]. On the other hand, continuous lighting decreased the mineral contents of lettuce, as the growth was largely enhanced. However, it has been reported that an adequate combination of light quality and intensity was able to elevate biomass and mineral content simultaneously [31].
Considering the negative effects of continuous lighting in the long term and disproportionate input–output ratio, it was commonly used in the short term as a pre-harvest strategy for the enhanced nutritional quality of crops, and the harvested biomass was simultaneously enhanced [36][37].
Soluble sugars and Vc (Vitamin C) are also important quality traits of crops, which could be substantially improved by continuous lighting [35][37][38][39]. As the direct product of photosynthesis, soluble sugar biosynthesis is significantly elevated by extended lighting, leading to a more delicious taste in crops [40]. Vc, also named as ascorbic acid, exists widely in plants, as an antioxidant chemical, and is beneficial for human health [41][42]. Accumulation of Vitamin C in plants commonly acts as a defense mechanism, helping to wipe off the elevated excitation energy, and maintain the normal operation of photosynthetic apparatus from photooxidative damage under continuous lighting [35]. Besides, the content of Vc and the activities of enzymes involved in Vc biosynthesis were positively correlated with the light intensity [35]. As a result, stronger irradiation usually leads to a higher content of Vc in plants [39]. Besides, phytochemicals with antioxidant ability, such as glutathione [35] and phenolic substances [36], were induced to be increased, and antioxidant activity of the treated plants was also detected to be enhanced [43][44].

References

  1. Kozai, T. Resource use efficiency of closed plant production system with artificial light: Concept, estimation and application to plant factory. Proc. Jpn. Acad. 2013, 89, 447–461.
  2. Kozai, T.; Niu, G.H. Plant factory as a resource-efficient closed plant production system. In Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production; Kozai, T., Niu, G.H., Takagaki, M., Eds.; Academic Press Ltd-Elsevier Science Ltd.: London, UK, 2016; pp. 69–90.
  3. Kozai, T.; Kubota, C.; Jeong, B.R. Environmental control for the large-scale production of plants through in vitro techniques. Plant Cell Tissue Organ. 1997, 51, 49–56.
  4. Morgan, L. Plant factories—Closed plant production systems. In Hydroponics and Protected Cultivation: A practical Guide; CABI: Wallingford, UK, 2021; pp. 229–245.
  5. Kozai, T.; Niu, G.H.; Takagaki, M. Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production; Academic Press Ltd-Elsevier Science Ltd.: London, UK, 2016; pp. 3–5.
  6. Shinohara, Y. Plant factory as a new food resource production system. Kagaku Seibutsu 2015, 53, 402–406.
  7. Liang, D.D.; Yousef, A.F.; Wei, X.X.; Ali, M.M.; Yu, W.J.; Yang, L.Q.; Oelmueller, R.; Chen, F.X. Increasing the performance of Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) seedlings by LED light regimes. Sci. Rep. 2021, 11, 20967.
  8. Palmitessa, O.D.; Pantaleo, M.A.; Santamaria, P. Applications and development of LEDs as supplementary lighting for tomato at different latitudes. Agronomy 2021, 11, 835.
  9. Chen, X.L.; Yang, Q.C.; Song, W.P.; Wang, L.C.; Guo, W.Z.; Xue, X.Z. Growth and nutritional properties of lettuce affected by different alternating intervals of red and blue LED irradiation. Sci. Hortic. 2017, 223, 44–52.
  10. Jishi, T.; Kimura, K.; Matsuda, R.; Fujiwara, K. Effects of temporally shifted irradiation of blue and red LED light on cos lettuce growth and morphology. Sci. Hortic. 2016, 198, 227–232.
  11. Jishi, T.; Matsuda, R.; Fujiwara, K. Blue light monochromatic irradiation for 12 hours in lighting pattern with combinations of blue and red light elongates young cos lettuce leaves and promotes growth under high daily light integral. Hortscience 2021, 56, 940–945.
  12. Kuno, Y.; Shimizu, H.; Nakashima, H.; Miyasaka, J.; Ohdoi, K. Effects of irradiation patterns and light quality of red and blue light-emitting diodes on growth of leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.”Greenwave”). Environ. Control Biol. 2017, 55, 129–135.
  13. Shimokawa, A.; Tonooka, Y.; Matsumoto, M.; Ara, H.; Suzuki, H.; Yamauchi, N.; Shigyo, M. Effect of alternating red and blue light irradiation generated by light emitting diodes on the growth of leaf lettuce. BioRxiv 2014.
  14. Fang, W. Total performance evaluation in plant factory with artificial lighting. In Plant Factory Using Artificial Light: Adaption to Environmental Disruption and Clues to Agricultural Innovation; Anpo, M., Fukuda, H., Wada, T., Eds.; Elsevier Science: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2019; pp. 155–165.
  15. Chen, X.L.; Li, Y.L.; Wang, L.C.; Guo, W.Z. Red and blue wavelengths affect the morphology, energy use efficiency and nutritional content of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Sci. Rep. 2021, 11, 8374.
  16. Yeh, N.; Ding, T.J.; Yeh, P. Light-emitting diodes light qualities and their corresponding scientific applications. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 2015, 51, 55–61.
  17. Hogewoning, S.W.; Trouwborst, G.; Maljaars, H.; Poorter Ieperen, V.W.; Harbinson, J. Blue light dose-responses of leaf photosynthesis, morphology, and chemical composition of Cucumis sativus grown under different combinations of red and blue light. J. Exp. Bot. 2010, 61, 3107–3117.
  18. Velez-Ramirez, A.I.; Carreno-Quintero, N.; Vreugdenhil, D.; Millenaar, F.F.; Van Ieperen, W. Sucrose and starch content negatively correlates with PSII maximum quantum efficiency in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) exposed to abnormal light/dark cycles and continuous light. Plant Cell Physiol. 2017, 58, 1339–1349.
  19. Lanoue, J.; Zheng, J.; Little, C.; Thibodeau, A.; Hao, X. Alternating red and blue light-emitting diodes allows for injury-free tomato production with continuous lighting. Front. Plant Sci. 2019, 10, 1114.
  20. Ohtake, N.; Ishikura, M.; Suzuki, H.; Yamori, W.; Goto, E. Continuous irradiation with alternating red and blue light enhances plant growth while keeping nutritional quality in lettuce. Hortscience 2018, 53, 1804–1809.
  21. Belbin, F.E. Plant circadian rhythms and vertical agriculture. In Plant Factory Using Artificial Light: Adapting to Environmental Distruption and Clues to Agricultural Innovation; Anpo, M., Fukuda, H., Wada, T., Eds.; Elsevier Science: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2019; pp. 79–88.
  22. Chen, X.L.; Yang, Q.C. Effects of intermittent light exposure with red and blue light emitting diodes on growth and carbohydrate accumulation of lettuce. Sci. Hortic. 2018, 234, 220–226.
  23. Dong, C.; Shao, L.Z.; Liu, G.H.; Wang, M.J.; Liu, H.; Xie, B.Z.; Li, B.W.; Fu, Y.M.; Liu, H. Photosynthetic characteristics, antioxidant capacity and biomass yield of wheat exposed to intermittent light irradiation with millisecond-scale periods. J. Plant Physiol. 2015, 184, 28–36.
  24. Sivakumar, G.; Heo, J.W.; Kozai, T.; Paek, K.Y. Effect of continuous or intermittent radiation on sweet potato plantlets in vitro. J. Hortic. Sci. Biotechnol. 2006, 81, 546–548.
  25. Avgoustaki, D.D.; Bartzanas, T.; Xydis, G. Minimizing the energy footprint of indoor food production while maintaining a high growth rate: Introducing disruptive cultivation protocols. Food Control 2021, 130, 108290.
  26. Jao, R.C.; Fang, W. Effects of frequency and duty ratio on the growth of potato plantlets in vitro using light-emitting diodes. Hortscience 2004, 39, 375–379.
  27. Son, K.H.; Lee, S.R.; Oh, M.M. Comparison of lettuce growth under continuous and pulsed irradiation using light-emitting diodes. Hortic. Sci. Technol. 2018, 36, 542–551.
  28. Olvera-González, E.; Alaniz-Lumbreras, D.; Ivanov-Tsonchev, R.; Villa-Hernández, J.; Lara-Herrera, A. Chlorophyll fluorescence emission of tomato plants as a response to pulsed light-based LEDs. Plant Growth Regul. 2013, 69, 117–123.
  29. Cheng, Y.S.; He, D.X.; He, J.; Niu, G.H.; Gao, R.F. Effect of light/dark cycle on photosynthetic pathway switching and CO2 absorption in two dendrobium species. Front. Plant Sci. 2019, 10, 659–668.
  30. Cheng, Y.S.; He, D.X.; He, J.; Niu, G.H.; Ji, F. Effects of short light/dark cycles on photosynthetic pathway switching and growth of medicinal Dendrobium officinale in aeroponic cultivation. Int. J. Agric. Biol. Eng. 2019, 12, 38–43.
  31. Liu, W.K.; Zha, L.Y.; Zhang, Y.B. Growth and nutrient element content of hydroponic lettuce are modified by LED continuous lighting of different intensities and spectral qualities. Agronomy 2020, 10, 1678.
  32. Velez-Ramirez, A.I.; Ieperen, W.V.; Vreugdenhil, D.; Millenaar, F.F. Plants under continuous light. Trends Plant Sci. 2011, 16, 310–318.
  33. Sysoeva, M.; Markovskaya, E.; Shibaeva, T. Plants under continuous light: A review. Plant Stress 2010, 4, 5–17.
  34. Mdp, A.; Hh, A.; Swp, A.; Mc, A.; Hl, A.; Cca, B. Leaf chlorosis, epinasty, carbohydrate contents and growth of tomato show different responses to the red/blue wavelength ratio under continuous light. Plant Physiol. Biochem. 2019, 141, 477–486.
  35. Zha, L.Y.; Liu, W.K.; Zhang, Y.B.; Zhou, C.B.; Shao, M.J. Morphological and physiological stress responses of lettuce to different intensities of continuous light. Front. Plant Sci. 2019, 10, 1440.
  36. Bian, Z.H.; Cheng, R.F.; Yang, Q.C.; Wang, J.; Lu, C.G. Continuous light from red, blue, and green light-emitting diodes reduces nitrate content and enhances phytochemical concentrations and antioxidant capacity in lettuce. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 2016, 141, 186–195.
  37. Zhang, Y.B.; Zha, L.Y.; Liu, W.K.; Zhou, C.B.; Yang, Q.C. LED light quality of continuous light before harvest affects growth and AsA metabolism of hydroponic lettuce grown under increasing doses of nitrogen. Plants 2021, 10, 176.
  38. Zha, L.Y.; Zhang, Y.B.; Liu, W.K. Dynamic responses of ascorbate pool and metabolism in lettuce to long-term continuous light provided by red and blue LEDs. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2019, 163, 15–23.
  39. Zhou, W.L.; Liu, W.K.; Yang, Q.C. Quality changes in hydroponic lettuce grown under pre-harvest short-duration continuous light of different intensities. J. Hortic. Sci. Biotechnol. 2012, 87, 429–434.
  40. Bian, Z.H.; Cheng, R.F.; Wang, Y.; Yang, Q.C.; Lu, C.G. Effect of green light on nitrate reduction and edible quality of hydroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under short-term continuous light from red and blue light-emitting diodes. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2018, 153, 63–71.
  41. Plevin, D.; Galletly, C. The neuropsychiatric effects of vitamin C deficiency: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry 2020, 20, 315–323.
  42. Schlueter, A.K.; Johnston, C.S. Vitamin C: Overview and update. J. Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med. 2011, 16, 49–57.
  43. Bian, Z.H.; Yang, Q.C.; Li, T.; Cheng, R.F.; Barnett, Y.; Liu, C.G. Study of the beneficial effects of green light on lettuce grown under short-term continuous red and blue light-emitting diodes. Physiol. Plant. 2018, 164, 226–240.
  44. Wu, M.C.; Hou, C.Y.; Jiang, C.M.; Wang, Y.T.; Wang, C.Y.; Chen, H.H.; Chang, H.M. A novel approach of LED light radiation improves the antioxidant activity of pea seedlings. Food Chem. 2007, 101, 1753–1758.
More
© Text is available under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Upload a video for this entry
Information
Subjects: Agronomy
Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :
Yaliang Xu
,
,
Qichang Yang
,
Qingming Li
View Times: 1.5K
Entry Collection: Environmental Sciences
Revisions: 2 times (View History)
Update Date: 30 May 2022
Table of Contents
    1000/1000
    Hot Most Recent
    Feedback