IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i3p841-d203862.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimization of LED Lighting and Quality Evaluation of Romaine Lettuce Grown in An Innovative Indoor Cultivation System

Author

Listed:
  • Danilo Loconsole

    (Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi Milano, via Celoria, 2, 20133 Milano, Italy)

  • Giacomo Cocetta

    (Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi Milano, via Celoria, 2, 20133 Milano, Italy)

  • Piero Santoro

    (MEG S.r.l., via Aleardo Aleardi 12, 20154 Milano, Italy)

  • Antonio Ferrante

    (Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi Milano, via Celoria, 2, 20133 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

Sustainability is the most critical point in micro-scale indoor crop systems. It can be improved through the optimization of all of the production factors, such as water, nutrients, and energy. The use of light-emitting diodes (LED) allows the fine regulation of the light intensity and light spectrum to be obtained, with a significant reduction in energy consumption. The objective of this study was the optimization of a LED-based protocol of light management for Romaine lettuce cultivation in a micro-growing environment specifically designed for home cultivation. Four different growing cycles were tested. In each one, the light spectrum was modified by increasing the percentage of red light and decreasing the blue light. This resulted in a change in the light intensity which ranged from 63.2 to 194.54 µmol m −2 s −1 . Moreover, the photoperiod was shortened to reduce the energy consumption and, in the last cycle, the effect of the daily alternation of dark and light was tested. The fresh and dry biomass produced were measured and the energy consumed in each cycle was monitored. The quality of lettuce was evaluated by measuring several physiological indexes, including chlorophyll a fluorescence, chlorophyll, sugars, nitrate, lipid peroxidation, carotenoids, and phenolic index. The results obtained showed that the productivity and the quality of lettuce can be positively affected by modulating the light quality and intensity, as well as other cultural practices. At the same time, the estimation of the electrical energy consumption indicated that little changes in the lighting recipe can significantly affect the energetic, environmental, and economic impact of home productions.

Suggested Citation

  • Danilo Loconsole & Giacomo Cocetta & Piero Santoro & Antonio Ferrante, 2019. "Optimization of LED Lighting and Quality Evaluation of Romaine Lettuce Grown in An Innovative Indoor Cultivation System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:841-:d:203862
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/841/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/841/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Singh, Devesh & Basu, Chandrajit & Meinhardt-Wollweber, Merve & Roth, Bernhard, 2015. "LEDs for energy efficient greenhouse lighting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 139-147.
    2. OKUBO Toshihiro & Matthew A. COLE & Robert J.R. ELLIOTT, 2010. "Environmental Outsourcing," Discussion papers 10055, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Yeh, Naichia & Chung, Jen-Ping, 2009. "High-brightness LEDs--Energy efficient lighting sources and their potential in indoor plant cultivation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2175-2180, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Menghang & Yan, Tingxiang & Wang, Wei & Jia, Xuexiu & Wang, Jin & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír, 2022. "Energy-saving design and control strategy towards modern sustainable greenhouse: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    2. Danilo Loconsole & Bernardo Murillo-Amador & Giuseppe Cristiano & Barbara De Lucia, 2019. "Halophyte Common Ice Plants: A Future Solution to Arable Land Salinization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Bożena Matysiak & Stanisław Kaniszewski & Jacek Dyśko & Waldemar Kowalczyk & Artur Kowalski & Maria Grzegorzewska, 2021. "The Impact of LED Light Spectrum on the Growth, Morphological Traits, and Nutritional Status of ‘Elizium’ Romaine Lettuce Grown in an Indoor Controlled Environment," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Elisabeta Spunei & Nătălița-Mihaela Frumușanu & Gheorghița Măran & Mihaela Martin, 2022. "Technical–Economic Analysis of the Solutions for the Modernization of Lighting Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Md Obyedul Kalam Azad & Katrine Heinsvig Kjaer & Md Adnan & Most Tahera Naznin & Jung Dae Lim & In Je Sung & Cheol Ho Park & Young Seok Lim, 2020. "The Evaluation of Growth Performance, Photosynthetic Capacity, and Primary and Secondary Metabolite Content of Leaf Lettuce Grown under Limited Irradiation of Blue and Red LED Light in an Urban Plant ," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Latifa Bachouch & Neermalsing Sewraj & Pascal Dupuis & Laurent Canale & Georges Zissis & Lotfi Bouslimi & Lilia El Amraoui, 2021. "An Approach for Designing Mixed Light-Emitting Diodes to Match Greenhouse Plant Absorption Spectra," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Sukhan Rattanaloeadnusorn & Nopparat Buddhakala & Thanasak Lomthong, 2023. "Utilization of Palm Oil Midrib Biochar as Soil Amendment with a Newly Isolated Bacillus sp. SM11 for Growth Enhancement and Nitrate Reduction in Romaine Lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia )," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-11, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Md Obyedul Kalam Azad & Katrine Heinsvig Kjaer & Md Adnan & Most Tahera Naznin & Jung Dae Lim & In Je Sung & Cheol Ho Park & Young Seok Lim, 2020. "The Evaluation of Growth Performance, Photosynthetic Capacity, and Primary and Secondary Metabolite Content of Leaf Lettuce Grown under Limited Irradiation of Blue and Red LED Light in an Urban Plant ," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Chiara Burattini & Benedetta Mattoni & Fabio Bisegna, 2017. "The Impact of Spectral Composition of White LEDs on Spinach ( Spinacia oleracea ) Growth and Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Wang, Tianyue & Wu, Gaoxiang & Chen, Jiewei & Cui, Peng & Chen, Zexi & Yan, Yangyang & Zhang, Yan & Li, Meicheng & Niu, Dongxiao & Li, Baoguo & Chen, Hongyi, 2017. "Integration of solar technology to modern greenhouse in China: Current status, challenges and prospect," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1178-1188.
    4. Richard T. Carson & W. Michael Hanemann, & Raymond J. Kopp & Jon A. Krosnick & Robert C. Mitchell & Stanley Presser & Paul A. Rudd & V. Kerry Smith & Michael Conaway & Kerry Martin, 1997. "Temporal Reliability of Estimates from Contingent Valuation," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 73(2), pages 151-163.
    5. Ulltveit-Moe, Karen Helene & Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2011. "Why are firms that export cleaner? International trade and CO2 emissions," CEPR Discussion Papers 8583, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Toshihiro Okubo & Yuta Watabe & Kaori Furuyama, 2016. "Export of Recyclable Materials: Evidence from Japan," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 15(1), pages 134-148, Winter/Sp.
    7. Jota Ishikawa & Toshihiro Okubo, 2017. "Greenhouse-Gas Emission Controls and Firm Locations in North–South Trade," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 637-660, August.
    8. Ciriaci, Daria & Palma, Daniela, 2010. "Geography, environmental efficiency and Italian economic growth: a spatially-adapted Environmental Kuznets Curve," MPRA Paper 22899, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Ajagekar, Akshay & Decardi-Nelson, Benjamin & You, Fengqi, 2024. "Energy management for demand response in networked greenhouses with multi-agent deep reinforcement learning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    10. Dennis Dannehl & Thomas Schwend & Daniel Veit & Uwe Schmidt, 2021. "LED versus HPS Lighting: Effects on Water and Energy Consumption and Yield Quality in Lettuce Greenhouse Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-11, August.
    11. Rojas-Hernandez, Rocío Estefanía & Rubio-Marcos, Fernando & Rodriguez, Miguel Ángel & Fernandez, José Francisco, 2018. "Long lasting phosphors: SrAl2O4:Eu, Dy as the most studied material," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2759-2770.
    12. Yeh, Naichia & Yeh, Pulin & Chang, Yuan-Hsiou, 2015. "Artificial floating islands for environmental improvement," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 616-622.
    13. Li-Chun Huang, 2019. "Consumer Attitude, Concerns, and Brand Acceptance for the Vegetables Cultivated with Sustainable Plant Factory Production Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-14, September.
    14. Singh, Devesh & Basu, Chandrajit & Meinhardt-Wollweber, Merve & Roth, Bernhard, 2015. "LEDs for energy efficient greenhouse lighting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 139-147.
    15. Yeh, Naichia & Yeh, Pulin & Shih, Naichien & Byadgi, Omkar & Chih Cheng, Ta, 2014. "Applications of light-emitting diodes in researches conducted in aquatic environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 611-618.
    16. Peter, Angela Paul & Koyande, Apurav Krishna & Chew, Kit Wayne & Ho, Shih-Hsin & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Chang, Jo-Shu & Krishnamoorthy, Rambabu & Banat, Fawzi & Show, Pau Loke, 2022. "Continuous cultivation of microalgae in photobioreactors as a source of renewable energy: Current status and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Parajuli, Samvid & Narayan Bhattarai, Tek & Gorjian, Shiva & Vithanage, Meththika & Raj Paudel, Shukra, 2023. "Assessment of potential renewable energy alternatives for a typical greenhouse aquaponics in Himalayan Region of Nepal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 344(C).
    18. Teodor Rusu & Reed John Cowden & Paula Ioana Moraru & Mihai Avram Maxim & Bhim Bahadur Ghaley, 2021. "Overview of Multiple Applications of Basil Species and Cultivars and the Effects of Production Environmental Parameters on Yields and Secondary Metabolites in Hydroponic Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    19. Cuce, Erdem & Harjunowibowo, Dewanto & Cuce, Pinar Mert, 2016. "Renewable and sustainable energy saving strategies for greenhouse systems: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 34-59.
    20. Nima Asgari & Matthew T. McDonald & Joshua M. Pearce, 2023. "Energy Modeling and Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Greenhouses for Tomato Cultivation Utilizing the Waste Heat of Cryptocurrency Miners," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-42, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:841-:d:203862. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.