The impact of light heterogeneity in controlled environment agriculture on biomass of microgreens

Daphne Ezer; Ethan Redmond; William Claydon; Gina Vong; Katherine Denby; Alice Thomas; Pheobe Sutton; Alana Marielle Rodrigues Galdino Kluczkovski

The impact of light heterogeneity in controlled environment agriculture on biomass of microgreens

Daphne Ezer
, Ethan Redmond
, William Claydon
, Gina Vong
, Katherine Denby
, Alice Thomas
, Pheobe Sutton
, Alana Marielle Rodrigues Galdino Kluczkovski

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Yield is impacted by the environmental conditions that plants are exposed to. Controlled environmental agriculture provides growers with an opportunity to fine-tune environmental conditions for optimising yield and crop quality. However, space and time constraints will limit the number of experimental conditions that can be tested, which will in turn limit the resolution to which environmental conditions can be optimised. Here we present an innovative experimental approach that utilises the existing heterogeneity in light quantity and quality across a vertical farm to evaluate hundreds of environmental conditions concurrently. Using an observational study design, we identify features in light quality that are most predictive of biomass in different kinds of microgreens (kale, radish and sunflower) that may inform future iterations of lighting technology development for vertical farms.

Original language	English
Journal	Quantitative Plant Biology
Publication status	Published - 23 Apr 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

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DE_Accepted_Corrections_VerticalFarmMethodsPaper_ACCEPTEDCORRECTIONS (1)
This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.
Accepted author manuscript, 4.43 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The impact of light heterogeneity in controlled environment agriculture on biomass of microgreens",

abstract = "Yield is impacted by the environmental conditions that plants are exposed to. Controlled environmental agriculture provides growers with an opportunity to fine-tune environmental conditions for optimising yield and crop quality. However, space and time constraints will limit the number of experimental conditions that can be tested, which will in turn limit the resolution to which environmental conditions can be optimised. Here we present an innovative experimental approach that utilises the existing heterogeneity in light quantity and quality across a vertical farm to evaluate hundreds of environmental conditions concurrently. Using an observational study design, we identify features in light quality that are most predictive of biomass in different kinds of microgreens (kale, radish and sunflower) that may inform future iterations of lighting technology development for vertical farms. ",

author = "Daphne Ezer and Ethan Redmond and William Claydon and Gina Vong and Katherine Denby and Alice Thomas and Pheobe Sutton and \{Rodrigues Galdino Kluczkovski\}, \{Alana Marielle\}",

note = "This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University{\textquoteright}s Research Publications and Open Access policy. ",

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AU - Ezer, Daphne

AU - Redmond, Ethan

AU - Claydon, William

AU - Vong, Gina

AU - Denby, Katherine

AU - Thomas, Alice

AU - Sutton, Pheobe

AU - Rodrigues Galdino Kluczkovski, Alana Marielle

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

PY - 2025/4/23

Y1 - 2025/4/23

N2 - Yield is impacted by the environmental conditions that plants are exposed to. Controlled environmental agriculture provides growers with an opportunity to fine-tune environmental conditions for optimising yield and crop quality. However, space and time constraints will limit the number of experimental conditions that can be tested, which will in turn limit the resolution to which environmental conditions can be optimised. Here we present an innovative experimental approach that utilises the existing heterogeneity in light quantity and quality across a vertical farm to evaluate hundreds of environmental conditions concurrently. Using an observational study design, we identify features in light quality that are most predictive of biomass in different kinds of microgreens (kale, radish and sunflower) that may inform future iterations of lighting technology development for vertical farms.

AB - Yield is impacted by the environmental conditions that plants are exposed to. Controlled environmental agriculture provides growers with an opportunity to fine-tune environmental conditions for optimising yield and crop quality. However, space and time constraints will limit the number of experimental conditions that can be tested, which will in turn limit the resolution to which environmental conditions can be optimised. Here we present an innovative experimental approach that utilises the existing heterogeneity in light quantity and quality across a vertical farm to evaluate hundreds of environmental conditions concurrently. Using an observational study design, we identify features in light quality that are most predictive of biomass in different kinds of microgreens (kale, radish and sunflower) that may inform future iterations of lighting technology development for vertical farms.

M3 - Article

SN - 2632-8828

JO - Quantitative Plant Biology

JF - Quantitative Plant Biology

ER -