Comparative Assessment of Hydroponic Lettuce Production Either under Artificial Lighting, or in a Mediterranean Greenhouse during Wintertime

Orfeas Voutsinos, Maria Mastoraki, Georgia Ntatsi, Georgios Liakopoulos and Dimitrios Savvas
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Orfeas Voutsinos: Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Maria Mastoraki: Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Georgia Ntatsi: Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Georgios Liakopoulos: Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Dimitrios Savvas: Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: Butterhead lettuce was grown hydroponically in a vertical farm under high (HLI) and low (LLI) light intensity (310, and 188 μmol m −2 s −1 , respectively) and compared to hydroponically grown lettuce in a greenhouse (GT) during wintertime in Athens, Greece (144 μmol m −2 s −1 ). The highest plant biomass was recorded in the HLI treatment, whereas LLI and GT produced similar plant biomass. However, the LLI produced vortex-like plants, which were non-marketable, while the plants in the GT were normal-shaped and saleable. Net photosynthesis was highest in the HLI and higher in the LLI than in the GT, thereby indicating that light intensity was the dominant factor affecting photosynthetic performance. Nevertheless, the unsatisfactory performance of the LLI is ascribed, not only to reduced light intensity, but also to reduced light uniformity as the LED lamps were closer to the plants than in the HLI. Furthermore, the large solar irradiance variability in the GT resulted in substantially higher adaptation to the increased light intensity compared to LLI, as indicated by chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. Light intensity and photoperiod are believed to be the primary reasons for increased nitrate content in the GT than in the vertical farming treatments.

Keywords: artificial lighting; chlorophyll fluorescence; gas exchange; indoor farming; soilless culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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