Hello,
do you think that full spectrum LEDs are less useful than red and blue light for growing green, leafy plants (e.g. lettuce, spiderwort, cress etc.)? I have read many articles on this and know the theory. In practice, however, I see many greenhouses, especially in vertical farming, in which full-spectrum LEDs (cool white) are used. So who is right?
Thank you!
It's complex and depends on how you define "better"
The following paper suggests light color affects crop components...
Article LED Light Quality Affected Bioactive Compounds, Antioxidant ...
It's a complex topic.
A lot of recent research indicates that at high light intensities, green light drives CO2 assimilation more effectively than blue, and per photon absorbed about as effectively as red. So I would surmise that at high intensities, so-called full-spectrum could be better than R/B, though it will also depend on the spectral composition of the light in general. You can add a lot of extra red and still have a light appear white, due to our eyes preferential perception of the green spectrum.
Here's an article with research done on lettuce specifically, which might be useful to you.
Article Effects of supplementing green light to red and blue light o...
Of course, in a greenhouse or vertical farm environment you also need to take into account the comfort of the people working, as well as the ability to see the plants well to diagnose infections and pests, so there are more reasons to use white lights in a commercial setting than just the plant physiology.
In limited experiments, I have found that mosses photosynthesize using red/blue/green light and full spectrum LED light. It depends on the state of the moss being analyzed. I know that mosses are not commercial crops and I have only worked on small scale, however, there does not seem to be a best light that is the same for everything.
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