2025-04-19

How can plants shorten their growth cycle and increase annual yield through lighting strategies?

By optimizing the lighting strategy to shorten the plant growth cycle and increase the annual yield, it is necessary to combine technical means such as spectrum regulation, photoperiod management, light intensity optimization and intelligent control. The following are specific methods and scientific basis:


1. Photoperiod regulation to optimize the growth stage

The vegetative growth stage of plants is maintained by extending the daily light time (>12 hours) to inhibit premature entry into reproductive growth. For example, long-day conditions can accelerate the biomass accumulation of leafy plants and shorten the maturity cycle by about 20%-30%. For crops that need to be induced to bloom, the light time can be shortened in stages to trigger the flowering reaction and achieve precise cycle control.


2. Light intensity-light time dynamic coupling strategy

Extend the light time to 16-18 hours under weak light intensity (<200μmol/m²/s), so that the cumulative amount of photosynthetic products per day reaches 1.3 times that of short-term irradiation with strong light (>500μmol/m²/s). This method is particularly suitable for LED supplementary lighting scenarios, which can reduce equipment energy consumption while ensuring growth rate.


3. Timing regulation of spectrum combination

Seedling stage: Increase the proportion of blue light (450nm) to 30%-40% to inhibit leggy growth and promote root development. Rapid growth stage: Red-blue light ratio of 6:1 combined with far-red light (730nm) pulses to activate photomorphogenesis genes.

Maturity stage: Add UV-A band to enhance secondary metabolite synthesis


4. Intermittent lighting technology

During periods of insufficient natural light, an intermittent mode of 10 minutes of light/5 minutes of darkness can increase light energy utilization by 18%. This method maintains continuous photosynthetic efficiency by alleviating the light inhibition phenomenon of photosystem II.


5. Intelligent light environment control system

Integrate environmental sensors and growth models to dynamically adjust parameters:

When the temperature is >28℃, automatically shorten the lighting time to prevent photorespiration

When the CO₂ concentration is <800ppm, simultaneously increase the light intensity to above the compensation point

When the leaf area index reaches the critical value, switch to wide-angle fill light mode


Experimental data show that the comprehensive application of the above strategies can increase the annual harvest of lettuce from 6 to 9 times and increase the yield of tomatoes by more than 40%. In practical applications, parameter optimization needs to be combined with the light response curve of specific crops.

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