May 6, 2021

Myths surrounding ‘white light’ – Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?

An interview with our plant specialist

·       There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light.

·       This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture.

·       In this interview, we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Light is perhaps the most important consideration for optimizing plant growth in a greenhouse or vertical farm. There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light. This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture. In this interview we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?

Interested in the first interview with Esther, where she answers the question if green light penetrates deeper into the canopy? Read it here.

First of all, what do we mean with white and green light?

When talking about light for plants, we often distinguish four basic colors: blue (400-499nm), green (500-599nm), red (600-699nm), and far-red (700-799nm). Purple light is actually a combination of red and blue light. Basically, you will get white light when you add enough green light to this red/blue light. Therefore, we will focus on the question of whether you need green light to grow better crops.

How efficient does a plant use green light for growth?

In the first interview it is explained that blue, red and green light are absorbed equally by a plant canopy and only far-red light is absorbed significantly less. But are all these colors used equally for growth?

In the early 1970’s, McCree measured the photosynthetic efficiency as a function of wavelength for a large number of plants. These data show a large commonality between the plants and has been averaged to what is now known as the “McCree curve”, see figure 1 below.

This shows that green light is used for photosynthesis, but at a lower efficiency when compared to red light. Since this early work, many researchers have found similar results. [Hogewoning 2012, Paradiso 2011]

For overall plant growth, not only the process of photosynthesis is important, but also other processes which, for instance, influence the shape of the crop. Therefore, for practical applications it is relevant to evaluate the total crop growth rather than only zooming in on photosynthesis.

So, what is the effect of green light on the crop? 

We have found that several crops have significantly higher fresh weight when actually grown without green light. For other crops, however, the amount of green light has no effect on the fresh weight. Also, we have found that to steer the shape of the crop, blue and far-red light are far more effective than green. Let me share some examples from our research.

At the Philips GrowWise Center, we have run a trial where we have grown eight RijkZwaan Salanova lettuce varieties under light spectra with both 0 and 20% green light, but with the same photon flux and percentage of blue light. The graph below shows the relative fresh weight of these crops, comparing the growth under both spectra with 0% green and 20% green light.

As you can see in this graph, not all lettuce varieties react the same. There are two varieties (RZ1 and RZ2) that grow slightly better under the spectrum with 20% green. However, most varieties have significantly higher fresh weight (even up to 20% more fresh weight for RZ8) when grown without green light.

The small effect which green light has on the growth of a crop is confirmed by an extensive academic study by Snowden, who compared the growth of 7 diverse plant species under 8 different spectral compositions: “In contrast to the significant effects of blue light, increasing green light in increments from 0 to 30% had a relatively small effect on growth, leaf area and net assimilation at either low or high PPF”. [Snowden 2016]

A second example from our own research is related to medicinal cannabis. In this trial, two different cultivars were grown under three different light spectra with 0%, 6% and 36% green at the same supplemental light level (600 µmol/m2/s).  Here, in addition to looking at the flower weight, we also looked at the quality of the crops.  

The graph on the right in Figure 3 below shows the dry flower weight for two different cultivars, whereas the graph on the left shows the percentage of active compounds, which are the key factor in determining the product quality for medicinal cannabis. 

The graph on the right shows that the dry weight remains the same for all three spectra, again confirming that the amount of green light has little effect on growth. However, the active compounds reduce substantially when the green content increases. Since these crops are grown specifically for their medicinal compounds, this leads to a preference of light spectra which contain little or no green.

To summarize: in our studies, we find that different crops require different light spectra for optimal growth. However, in most cases there is no benefit in adding more than a few percent of green; both for the yield and for the quality of the crop.

So, if green light has so little benefits, why use it?

That needs some further clarification; all of the above results describe the use of light by the crop, comparing yields at the same photon flux. However, they do not take into account how much electrical energy is needed to create this light. Since there are big differences in efficacy (mmol/Joule), this of course has a huge impact on the total energy usage. 

Red LEDs give far more photons per electrical Watt (μmol/W) compared to blue and green LEDs.

Our research shows that a spectrum with approximately 6% green light is sufficient for good color recognition by people and is 30% more energy efficient when compared to a ‘sun-like’ spectrum, which contains approximately 40% green light.    

At Signify, we want to provide our end customers with the optimal lighting solution to grow their crops in the most sustainable way. Green light is much less efficient than blue and red LEDs. Only a limited amount of green can be considered for most lighting applications as only a small amount of green light is required for good color recognition by people and as crops do not need a high amount of green light to grow well.

Esther de Beer is the manager of the plant specialist team at Signify horticulture LED solutions. She spends her days trying to make LED grow lights more effective. In this series of articles, she explains facts and fiction with regards to white light and how research has shown which light spectrum helps crops grow better.

 References:

Hogewoning S.W., Wientjes E., Douwstra P., Trouwborst G., Van Ieperen W., Croce R.  and Harbinson J., 2012.

Photosynthetic Quantum Yield Dynamics: From photosystems to Leaves. The Plant Cell 24: 1921-1935.

Paradiso, R., Meinen, E., Snel, J.F.H., De Visser, P.H.B, Van Ieperen, W., Hogewoning, S.W., Marcelis, L.F.M., 2011.

Spectral dependence of photosynthesis and light absorptance in single leaves and canopy in rose. Scientia Horticulturae 127: 548-554.

McCree, K.J., 1972.

The action spectrum, absorptance, and quantum yield of photosynthesis in crop plants. Agricultural Meteorology 9: 191-216.

Snowden, M.C., Cope, K.R, Bugbee, B., 2016

Sensitivity of seven diverse species to blue and green light: interactions with photon flux. Plos One 11(10): e0163121. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163121

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For more information:

Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify

Daniela Damoiseaux

Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69

Email: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com

www.philips.nl/horti 

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems, and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years, and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018, and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.