Swiss Caviar House (Asia) Limited
Farmland Technologies Research and Development Centre
LED Growth Light Technology
INTRODUCTION
Plant Lights are developed for the following reasons:
1. to supplement plants grown in area with insufficient sun light
2. to elongate photoperiod and increase daily light sums
3. to enable plants to grow in area without natural light, i.e., indoor agriculture.
Our LED Plant Light focuses on the latter purpose – indoor agriculture, thus opens the possibility to City Farming.
LED is adopted as it is energy efficient, cool and long lasting. Making plants to be able to flourish under artificial lights is critical in increasing agricultural output as this means farming can be carried out in factories in a multi-layer manner. ‘Fields’ are extended vertically. Even in urban area with shortage of land, agriculture can still be practiced, supplying what the city needs.
WAVELENGTHS FOR PLANT GROWTH
Light is indispensable to photosynthesis. In the full spectrum of sunlight, not all wavelengths are useful. Only 400-700nm can be used for photosynthesis, a process plants convert sun energy into biomass. This spectral range is called photosynthetically active radiation, abbreviated as PAR. This corresponds to the range of light visible to the human eye. Shorter wavelengths will be too energetic that it will damage plant cells and tissues. Longer wavelengths will be too weak for photosynthesis to take place.
The most beneficial wave lengths for plant growth are red and blue. Blue is for initial vegetative stage while Red is for flowering stage. In our Research Centre, we will test the followings:
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The right proportion of red and blue light for different types of plants at different life stages so as to achieve optimum yield and quality;
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Other wave lengths that affect plant growth including shape and texture;
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Efficiency on converting electrical power to light energy, this minimizes the electricity bill and reduces heat;
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Technology on improving life span of the LED Grow Light.
BENEFITS OF LED GROW LIGHT
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Controlled environment so that plants are protected from hostile climatic issues like insufficient sun light, typhoons, extreme temperatures.
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Free from pests.
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All-year-round growing because of controlled temperature and light exposure.
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Best combination of wavelengths and duration of light for plant growth.
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Longer daily photoperiod and this means faster growth.
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LED is cooler than traditional fluorescent grow lights, so that plants can be placed closer to the LED lights leading to more efficient use of space.
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Saving on electricity.
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Enables City Farming.
The following tests will be done in our Research Centre:
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Improvement on plant growth with application of only LED Grow Light;
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Improvement on plant growth with application of both LED Grow Light and Kiko Water.