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EVEC Microgreens
Effect of Different Ratios of Blue and Red LED Light on Brassicaceae Microgreens under a Controlled Environment
The consumption of microgreens has increased due to their having higher levels of bioactive compounds and mineral nutrients than mature plants. The lightin
A. Brazaitytė, Jurga Miliauskienė, Viktorija Vaštakaitė‐Kairienė, Rūta Sutulienė, Kristina Laužikė, P. Duchovskis, Stanisław Małek
Plants · 2021 · https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040801
Abstract
The consumption of microgreens has increased due to their having higher levels of bioactive compounds and mineral nutrients than mature plants. The lighting conditions during the cultivation of microgreens, if optimally selected, can have a positive effect by further increasing their nutritional value. Thus, our study aimed to determine the changes in mineral nutrients contents of Brassicaceae microgreens depending on different blue–red (B:R) light ratios in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and to evaluate their growth and nutritional value according to different indexes. Experiments were performed in controlled environment growth chambers at IH LRCAF, 2020. Microgreens of mustard (Brassica juncea ‘Red Lace’) and kale (Brassica napus ‘Red Russian’) were grown hydroponically under different B:R light ratios: 0%B:100%R, 10%B:90%R, 25%B:75%R, 50%B:50%R, 75%B:25%R, and 100%B:0%R. A 220 μmol m−2 s−1 total photon flux density (TPFD), 18 h photoperiod, 21/17 ± 2 °C temperature and 60% ± 5% relative humidity in the growth chamber were maintained during cultivation. We observed that an increasing percentage of blue light in the LED illumination spectrum during growth was associated with reduced elongation in the microgreens of both species and had a positive effect on the accumulation of mostly macro- and micronutrients. However, different B:R light ratios indicate a species-dependent response to changes in growth parameters such as leaf area, fresh and dry mass, and optical leaf indexes such as for chlorophyll, flavonol, anthocyanin, and carotenoid reflectance.
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How to credit this work
A. Brazaitytė; Jurga Miliauskienė; Viktorija Vaštakaitė‐Kairienė; Rūta Sutulienė; Kristina Laužikė; P. Duchovskis; Stanisław Małek (2021). Effect of Different Ratios of Blue and Red LED Light on Brassicaceae Microgreens under a Controlled Environment. Plants. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040801 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Hosted by EVEC Athens (microgreens.org.gr). No changes were made to this article. Provided as-is, without warranties. EVEC Athens is not affiliated with, and this copy is not endorsed by, the authors or the publisher.
Explore this on our site
- How to grow it: Kale microgreens — growing guide
- How to grow it: Mustard microgreens — growing guide
- Related reading: Microgreens vs mature versions
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