Lighting design affects the uniformity and growth of plants in a vertical farming system

Seong-Nam Jang; Min-Ji Kang; Han-Sol Sim; Ga-Oun Lee; Ye-Lin Kim; Du Yong Cho; Jea Gack Jung; Min Ju Kim; Jong Bin Jeong; Youngsam Park; Sorae Kim; Kye Man Cho; Hee Yul Lee; Elio Jin-Ha Kim; Ki-Ho Son

doi:10.14719/pst.3210

Authors

Seong-Nam Jang Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4497-5462
Min-Ji Kang Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7525-6429
Han-Sol Sim Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6871-2264
Ga-Oun Lee Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9491-9007
Ye-Lin Kim Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2469-0399
Du Yong Cho Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2735-2228
Jea Gack Jung Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0526-0965
Min Ju Kim Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2188-4632
Jong Bin Jeong Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7260-8877
Youngsam Park LED Business Team, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Road. Samsung 129 (Maetan-dong), Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7244-5225
Sorae Kim LED Business Team, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Road. Samsung 129 (Maetan-dong), Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1082-7310
Kye Man Cho Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5928-0532
Hee Yul Lee Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5015-9357
Elio Jin-Ha Kim LED Business Team, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Road. Samsung 129 (Maetan-dong), Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5569-4844
Ki-Ho Son Department of GreenBio Science and Agri-Food Bio Convergence Institute, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea; Division of Horticultural Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52725, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5442-7400

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.3210

Keywords:

baby leaf soybean, kale, lighting, light distribution, red LED, vertical farming

Abstract

Light is essential for plant production and has various effects on plant quality. Vertical farms typically use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as light sources. However, the cost of LEDs varies with wattage and the initial installation costs are generally high. Therefore, to explore more cost-effective LED designs, we aimed to investigate the impact of red LED chips density on light distribution and plant growth under the same total electricity consumption. To this end, we exposed baby leaf soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.; 5 days) and kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala; 18 days) to LEDs light with different arrangements of red and white chips. Plants were exposed to either 2 W chips with a red: white ratio of 4: 64 (2W4R treatment) or 1 W chips with a red: white ratio of 8: 64 (1W8R treatment) across the entire LED bar. We observed that the distribution of red light in the cultivation room differed depending on the density of the red LED chips. We found that arranging low-power red LED chips at narrow intervals resulted in uniform light distribution across the entire cultivation bed, positively affecting crop growth. Baby leaf soybean and kale exhibited uniform growth under 1W8R and growth was particularly enhanced in kale. This may be because of the dense leaf structure of kale, which promotes photosynthesis under a uniform light environment. The results of this study demonstrate that a favorable light environment can be created by altering the position and distribution of red LED chips, thereby inducing uniform growth in plants.

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