Comparisons of Different Lighting Systems for Horticultural Seedling Production Aimed at Energy Saving

Pedro Garcia-Caparros, Rosa María Chica, Eva María Almansa, Antonio Rull, Lara Alicia Rivas, Antonio García-Buendía, Francisco Javier Barbero and María Teresa Lao
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Pedro Garcia-Caparros: Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Rosa María Chica: Engineering Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera. Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Eva María Almansa: Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Antonio Rull: Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Lara Alicia Rivas: Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Antonio García-Buendía: Engineering Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera. Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
Francisco Javier Barbero: Applied Physics Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera. Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain
María Teresa Lao: Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3, Carretera Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Nowadays, the evaluation of sustainability is an important aspect in the study of agricultural systems and the number of projects and methods for impact assessment of food production systems is increasing. In this work, we initially carried out a survey to know the status of the artificial lighting establishment in horticultural seedling nurseries in southern Spain. Taking into account the data obtained in the survey, we conducted an experiment with different types of fluorescent lamps (TLD-18, CF, TL5, TLD-56), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and their combinations along with the novelty white LEDs lamps and XTRASUN LEDs to evaluate their technical parameters and spectral light qualities. In addition, the effectiveness of light irradiance (ELI plant ) and the use of irradiance (UI) by cucumber and tomato seedling plants were estimated considering their light absorbance capacity previously analyzed. The results showed that TLD-18 lamps and their combinations, CF and XTRASUN LEDs, had a limited value of energy efficiency (VEEI) ≤ 2. The lamps essayed with the lowest total irradiance were LEDs (B, R, V, W) and the ones with the highest values were TLD58-6 lamps. The effectiveness of light irradiance (ELI plant ) and the UI were slightly higher in the case of cucumber than that of the tomato for all essayed lamps. Considering the effectiveness of the light irradiance (ELI plant ), TL5-6 lamps showed the highest values. On the other hand, considering the use of irradiance, XTRASUN LEDs on the mode of vegetative growth (VG) showed the highest values.

Keywords: artificial light; electric power; morphogenetically active radiation; nurseries; photosynthetically active radiation; spectral irradiance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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