Vegetative growth and development of tomato inside an agrivoltaic greenhouse

In a context of climate change, shading crops with photovoltaic panels appears to be a promising method to limit high temperature during summer. We studied the effect of tilted photovoltaic panels above a multispan greenhouse (dynamic agrivoltaic system) on the microclimate and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) growth and development. The shaded greenhouse received 30% less light than the control one. Shade dynamics were variable within the greenhouse, with plants located in the easter part of each span (ShdE) shaded in the morning while the plants in the western part (ShdW) were shaded in the afternoon. The shaded treatments were cooler than control one when the shade of the panels was cast directly on the plants (1.5°C cooler on average). All shaded plants had significantly higher plant height, leaf length and width. Shaded plants had significantly higher specific leaf area (SLA), with both higher average leaf area (10% more) and lower average leaf dry mass (15% less), except for ShdW, which had both high leaf dry mass and area. This study shows that tomato exposed to shading expresses a variable response depending on the shading time of the day, affecting leaf dry mass and dimension, which may be caused by different carbon and water status.