Justin Bohemen , Sabrina Carvalho , Céline C.S. Nicole , Donald Smith , Mark Lefsrud
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cannabinoid uniformity plays an important role in the quality and marketability of cannabis products. Light is an important environmental factor determining increased yield and improved secondary compound production, while energy consumption is a primary concern as lighting is one of the main input costs for controlled environment cannabis production systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate lighting strategies and compare these to commercial cultivation methods that maximize yield and uniformity of cannabinoids in cannabis plants. Four lighting treatments were investigated, including high pressure sodium (HPS) toplight, light-emitting diodes (LED) toplight, HPS toplight + interlight and LED toplight + interlight. Plants grown under HPS toplight displayed increased plant height. LED treatments significantly increased dry inflorescence mass compared to HPS treatments. The addition of interlighting increased biomass produced in the lower canopy, resulting in a significant increase in biomass produced per cannabis plant. When comparing light use efficiency (grams per mol), HPS toplight significantly increased inflorescence mass produced per mol of light received. However, analysis of power use efficiency expressed in grams per kilowatt-hour (kWh) revealed that LEDs provided increased yield at lower energy cost. LED toplight led to a 7 % improvement over HPS, with a 2 % increase in secondary metabolite production for Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (p < 0.05). Interlighting did not significantly impact the lower canopy inflorescence THC values. LED treatments were more energy efficient at producing grams THC when analyzing THC power use efficiency. Cannabigerol concentrations significantly increased with LED treatments compared to HPS. Major terpenes showed no significant differences between treatments. This study has demonstrated the added benefit of implementing interlighting and LED toplighting in an indoor controlled environment cannabis production system. Importantly, LED toplight and interlight strategies show potential in competing with conventional HPS lighting strategies.
期刊介绍:
Scientia Horticulturae is an international journal publishing research related to horticultural crops. Articles in the journal deal with open or protected production of vegetables, fruits, edible fungi and ornamentals under temperate, subtropical and tropical conditions. Papers in related areas (biochemistry, micropropagation, soil science, plant breeding, plant physiology, phytopathology, etc.) are considered, if they contain information of direct significance to horticulture. Papers on the technical aspects of horticulture (engineering, crop processing, storage, transport etc.) are accepted for publication only if they relate directly to the living product. In the case of plantation crops, those yielding a product that may be used fresh (e.g. tropical vegetables, citrus, bananas, and other fruits) will be considered, while those papers describing the processing of the product (e.g. rubber, tobacco, and quinine) will not. The scope of the journal includes all horticultural crops but does not include speciality crops such as, medicinal crops or forestry crops, such as bamboo. Basic molecular studies without any direct application in horticulture will not be considered for this journal.