THE EFFECT OF LED LIGHT SOURCE ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF GREENHOUSE GROWN TOMATO

Insufficient sunlight in winter causes poor fruit setting, slow fruit growth and late fruit coloring. These, problems all relate to a reduction in productivity. Light emitting diode (LED) supplemental lighting requires less electricity, has much longer lifespan and makes possible to selectively emit specific wavelengths needed for the growth and morphogenesis of plants. Although the use of LED increased recently in protected horticulture, there are no standards to use LED as supplemental lighting in different horticultural crops. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of LED on the growth and yield of tomato.
In the forcing culture of tomato, the growth of plants was better under LED lamps than with high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Red and blue supplemental lighting of LED decreased harvesting time by 17 days and increased productivity by 2.6 fold when compared to no supplemental light.
LED supplemental light can reduce electricity consumption and increase productivity and, thus, increase farmer's income in the protected cultivation of tomato. It is more effective for reducing electricity consumption to using mixed LED lights (80 W) when compared to high-pressure sodium lamp (200 W).