Agriculture (Jul 2022)

Photon Distribution of Sole-Source Lighting Affects the Mineral Nutrient Content of Microgreens

  • Viktorija Vaštakaitė-Kairienė,
  • Aušra Brazaitytė,
  • Jurga Miliauskienė,
  • Rūta Sutulienė,
  • Kristina Laužikė,
  • Akvilė Viršilė,
  • Giedrė Samuolienė,
  • Erik S. Runkle

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12081086
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 8
p. 1086

Abstract

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In the study, we cultivated basil, beet, and mustard microgreens under different lighting treatments from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and evaluated the contents of mineral nutrients. Microgreens grew under blue 447, red 638 and 665, far-red 731 nm LEDs, or the same spectrum but with partial substitution of 638 nm red with green 520 (BRG), yellow 595 (BRY), or orange 622 nm (BRO) LEDs (16 h photoperiod; total photon flux density of 300 μmol m −2 s −1). BRG, BRY, or BRO lighting had distinct effects on mineral contents among the microgreen species. BRG increased the content of mineral nutrients, especially in mustard and beet. In all microgreens, Ca and P were associated with BRG; in beet and mustard, Zn and Mg were associated with BRG; in basil, Zn was associated with BRY and Mg with BRO treatments. A broader photon spectrum increased Fe (up to 2.9–fold), K:Ca, P:Mg, and P:Zn in basil, and Fe:Zn in microgreens. We conclude that the partial replacement of red with green light was the most effective at enhancing the mineral nutrient content of microgreens, although responses varied among the crops studied.

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