Photosynthetic activity of high-wire cucumber crops is reduced under led lighting: a matter of light spectra?
Soilless heated greenhouses provide growers with the opportunity to control climatic parameters adapted to crop needs.
Cucumber crops in France represent approximately 560 ha, with a large percentage in heated greenhouses (72%). High wire cucumber crops are characterized by a poor distribution of light within the canopy that affects yield establishment.
Growers are looking for improvements of their crop performance.
The artificial lighting through LED may be part of the solutions, moreover as cucumber plant is very responsive to light.
In 2018, the first full LED-lighting high-wire cucumber crop trial in western Europe was ensured in CTIFL at Carquefou (North-West of France): two 320 m2 greenhouses compartments were requested, one as a control without additional light, and the other equipped with Top (135 µmol m‑2 s‑1) and Inter-LED (75 µmol m‑2 s‑1) lighting.
Incorporating LED lighting leads to a 70% yield increase from December to June, it also allows a more precocious production during the winter months and higher fruit quality.
Despite the high potential of LED, we also point out and discuss some specific improvements needed to fulfill cucumber special needs: notably, queries still subsist on the quality of the spectrum emitted by the LED in front of cucumber physiology.
Truffault, V., Cheminant, A. and Brajeul, E. (2020). Photosynthetic activity of high-wire cucumber crops is reduced under led lighting: a matter of light spectra?. Acta Hortic. 1296, 613-620
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1296.78
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1296.78
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1296.78
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1296.78
cucumber, greenhouse, LED lighting, photosynthetic activity, plant physiology, yield
English
1296_78
613-620