LED lighting achieves a 6% reduction in lettuce emissions in plant factories!
The planet continues to face severe climate change, crop yields are expected to gradually decrease in the coming years, and food shortages will become more severe. In addition, vegetable prices fluctuate greatly due to seasonal changes, which is also a problem. Prices remain relatively low during the autumn harvest, but skyrocket in winter. These issues suggest that crop production is highly dependent on climate. Agriculture faces challenges and requires new farming methods.
In addition to reduced crop yields, there is also the problem of food waste. According to research, more than 1/3 of fruit and vegetables are discarded before reaching consumers, mainly due to oversupply and spoilage. Vegetables in the U.S. travel an average of 1,596 miles from farm to fork, which can lead to food spoilage. To reduce transport distances, agriculture is finding new ways to grow vegetables in urban areas where consumer groups are located.
Indoor growing may solve all these problems, which is why large indoor farms are being built all over the world. Lighting is one of the most important factors in indoor growing. Indoor farms have no sunlight and the only light source available is artificial lighting. Therefore, optimized horticultural lighting is crucial to the success of indoor growing.
When it comes to indoor grow lighting systems, several factors must also be considered. One of the downsides to indoor growing is the high operating costs associated with high electricity bills due to the fact that indoor grow lights stay on for long periods of time. Therefore, an ideal lighting system should be able to save energy and reduce costs while promoting plant growth. In addition, indoor grow lighting must be able to withstand the extreme environment of high temperature and humidity and the frequent use of chemical fertilizers.
You can see our dedicated spectrum LEDs for horticulture lighting, which is the key to Samsung's indoor grow lighting solutions. Unlike regular white LEDs with a peak of 450nm, our solution reduces the peak to a shorter wavelength of 437nm for optimum efficiency in promoting plant growth.
Using a blue die that converts electrical signals into light energy, we discovered the peak wavelength at which efficiency can be improved. Our final LED spectral design is peaked at 437nm to achieve the highest photosynthetic photon efficacy (PPE).
Compared to conventional full-spectrum white LEDs with a peak at 450nm, the LED with a peak at 437nm has about 2% higher PPE and maintains higher efficacy at higher currents. This is very valuable for indoor grow environments where high currents are used.
Plants respond to the entire spectrum, including red, green and blue wavelengths that are suitable for growth. Among them, blue light not only affects photomorphogenesis, that is, the plant growth pattern responds to the light spectrum, but also promotes the production of secondary metabolites such as phenols or flavonols. Photomorphogenesis is light-mediated growth, whereby plant growth patterns respond to light spectra.
We have carried out a series of experiments in cooperation with famous Korean universities known for their agricultural and horticultural research. Over a period of six weeks, we grew two types of leafy vegetables under different LED lighting environments and different wavelengths. There are a total of 4 different light sources, including two newly designed 437nm spectrum, a narrow spectrum, blue and red combination, and a regular full spectrum white LED. All other cultivation conditions such as temperature and humidity are controlled and kept constant. By setting a uniform PPFD for each environment, we measured plant growth and power consumption under each LED light source. We further investigated differences in plant nutrient levels and the extent of bacterial formation related to crop storability. Through these experiments, we confirmed the specific advantages of dedicated lighting for horticulture lighting with a peak value of 437nm.