Title: associate professor
Association/Company: Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’
Speech session
The innovation of plant biology
Speech
Dynamic changes of blue/red light supply affect yield, biometrical and biochemical characteristics of tomato
Abstract
The utilization of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) is an impacting innovation in modern tomato production systems. The present work was aimed to evaluate the effects of dynamic artificial light application on the growth of two tomato hybrids (Signum F1 and Meteor F1) supplied with two artificial light spectra (a spectrum composed of blue 450 nm, red 660 nm with deep pink 400-800 nm as a background, and a white 4000 K light as a control). The utilization of blue/red light emitting diodes (LED) during the vegetation phase in a growth chamber, with a gradual increase of red component, elicited a significant fruit yield increase by 1.61-1.75 times compared to control plants receiving white light. The predominant application of blue LED at early stages of plant development resulted in height decrease by 1.2-1.5 times. The blue/red light dynamics led to the increase of chlorophyll and carotenoids in leaves, of carotenoids, monosaccharides, taste index and nutritional value in fruits, compared to control plants, suggesting interesting prospects of this new technology utilization.
