Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Potato Tuber Growth and Yield Under Red and Blue LEDs in Plant Factories

  • Published:
Journal of Plant Growth Regulation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To investigate the effects of red and blue light on potato growth and yield, potato plantlets were transplanted under white (W), red (R), blue (B), and red + blue (RB; 50%R + 50%B) light in growth chambers. Plants under W had a significantly lower tuber yield per plant than the other treatments, although their shoot dry weights were the highest among all treatments. Potato plants under R had the highest tuber yield per plant among all treatments. The distribution of tuber yield under R showed a lower ratio of 2–20 g tubers and a higher ratio of > 20 g tubers, compared to tubers under W. Plants under R had greater leaf dry weight and slowly decreasing total leaf area compared to other treatments in the late stage of potato growth, thereby extending active tuber bulking under R. Although plants under B and RB did not significantly differ in tuber yield per plant, tuber bulking under B and RB occurred in different ways. Plants under RB advanced tuberization in the seedling stage, while tubers under B rapidly accumulated biomass in the medium stage. Plants under B had higher sucrose transport from leaves to sinks and stronger tuberization signals in tubers than those under W. Tubers under B had significantly increased levels of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase and sucrose synthase to promote starch biosynthesis, compared to tubers under W. Overall, red light increased tuber biomass accumulation, while blue light rapidly promoted tuber bulking.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Appeldoorn NJ, de Bruijn SM, Koot-Gronsveld EA, Visser RG, Vreugdenhil D, van der Plas LHW (1997) Developmental changes of enzymes involved in conversion of sucrose to hexose phosphate during early tuberisation of potato. Planta 202:220–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arnon DL (1949) Copper enzymer in isolated chloroplast polyphenol oxidase in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiol 24:1–15

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Austin J, Jeon YA, Cha MK, Park S, Cho YY (2016) Effects of Photoperiod, Light Intensity and Electrical Conductivity on the Growth and Yield of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) in a Closed-type Plant Factory System. Korean J. Hortic. Sci. 34(3):405–413

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bantis F, Koukounaras A, Siomos AS, Fotelli MN, Kintzonidis D (2020) Bichromatic red and blue LEDs during healing enhance the vegetative growth and quality of grafted watermelon seedlings. Sci Hortic 261:109000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baroja-Fernandez E, Munoz FJ, Montero M, Etxeberria E, Sesma MT, Ovecka M, Bahaji A, Ezquer I, Prat S (2009) Enhancing sucrose synthase activity in transgenic potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers results in increased levels of starch, adpglucose and udpglucose and total yield. Plant Cell Physiol 50(9):1651–1662

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birch PRJ, Bryan G, Fenton B, Gilroy EM, Hein I, Jones JT, Prashar A, Taylor MA, Torrance L, Toth IK (2012) Crops that feed the world 8: potato: are the trends of increased global production sustainable? Food Security 4(4):477–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs WR (1993) New light on stem growth. Nature 366:110–111

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buckseth T, Singh RK, Tiwari JK, Sharma AK, Singh S, Chakrabarti SK (2020) A novel sustainable aeroponic system for healthy seed potato production in India: an update. Indian J Agr Sci 90(2):243–248

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen LL, Zhang K, Gong XC, Wang HY, Gao YH, Wang X, Q., Zeng, Z.H., Hu, Y.G. (2020) Effects of different LEDs light spectrum on the growth, leaf anatomy, and chloroplast ultrastructure of potato plantlets in vitro and minituber production after transplanting in the greenhouse. J. Integr. Agr. 19(1):108–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen XL, Xue XZ, Guo WZ, Wang LC, Qiao XJ (2016) Growth and nutritional properties of lettuce affected by mixed irradiation of white and supplemental light provided by light-emitting diode. Sci Hortic 200:111–118

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen YY, Zhou B, Li JL, Tang H, Tang JC, Yang ZY (2018) Formation and change of chloroplast-located plant metabolites in response to light conditions. Int J Mol Sci 19(3):654

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chincinska IA, Liesche J, Krugel U, Michalska J, Geigenberger P, Grimm B, Kuhn C (2007) Sucrose transporter stsut4 from potato affects flowering, tuberization, and shade avoidance response. Plant Physiol 146(2):515–528

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Tandeau MN, Houmard J (1993) Adaptation of cyanobacteria to environmental stimuli: New steps towards molecular mechanisms. FEMS Microbiol Rev 104:119–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drozdova IS, Bondar VV, Bukhov NG, Kotov AA, Kotova LM, Maevskaya SN, Mokronosov AT (2001) Effects of light spectral quality on morphogenesis and source–sink relations in radish plants. Russian J Plant Physiol 48:415–420

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eskins K (2010) Light-quality effects on Arabidopsis development: red, blue and far-red regulation of flowering and morphology. Physiol. Plantarum 86(3):439–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbairn NJ (1953) A modified anthrone reagent. Chem Ind 4:86

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO, 2018. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare 18 June 2020

  • Fernie AR, Willmitzer L (2001) Molecular and biochemical triggers of potato tuber development. Plant Physiol 127:1459–1465

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Folta KM (2019) Breeding new varieties for controlled environments. Plant Biol 21(1):6–12

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geigenberger P, Stitt M (2000) Diurnal changes in sucrose, nucleotides, starch synthesis and AGPS transcript in growing potato tubers that are suppressed by decreased expression of sucrose phosphate synthase. Plant J 23:795–806

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gukasyan IA, Konstantinova TN, Chistyakova LV, Aksenova NP (1994) Effects of day length and light quality on the ultrastructure of the palisade parenchyma cells of potato plants. Russian J Plant Physiol 41(1):24–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Hana S, Maskova P, Tarkowska D, Masek T, Lipavska H (2017) Carbohydrates and gibberellins relationship in potato tuberization. J Plant Physiol 214:53–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannapel DJ, Sharma P, Lin T, Banerjee AK (2017) The multiple signals that control tuber formation. Plant Physiol 174(2):845

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hiromichi H, Kazuhiro S (2000) Effects of blue light and red light on kidney bean plants grown under combined radiation from narrow-band light sources. Environ Control Biol 38(1):13–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jasby AD, Platt T (1976) Mathematical formulation of the relationship between photosynthesis and light for phytoplankton. Limnol Oceanogr 21:540–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jungandreas A, Costa BS, Jakob T, Bergen MV, Baumann S, Wilhelm C (2014) The acclimation of Phaeodactylum tricornutum to blue and red light does not influence the photosynthetic light reaction but strongly disturbs the carbon allocation pattern. PLoS ONE 9(8):e99727

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jyotsna J, Zhang G, Shen SQ, Supaibulwatana K, Watanabe CKA, Yamori W (2017) A combination of downward lighting and supplemental upward lighting improves plant growth in a closed plant factory with artificial lighting. Hortisci 52(6):831-U132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsukasa K, Hidemiki O, Kazuyuki T (2015) Seed potato production system in japan, starting from foundation seed of potato. Breed sci 65(1):17–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, B.A., Stark, J.C., 1997. Potato Irrigation Management. Bulletin 789, University of Idaho, Cooperative, Extension Service:1–16.

  • Kim YH, Lee MG (2004) Tuber production and growth of potato transplants grown under different light quality. VII International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Production. Acta Hortic 659:267–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim YU, Seo BS, Choi DH, Ban HY, Lee BW (2017) Impact of high temperatures on the marketable tuber yield and related traits of potato. Eur J Agron 89:46–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyoko HT, Hiroshi E (2016) Molecular breeding to create optimized crops: from genetic manipulation to potential applications in plant factories. Front. Plant Sci 7:539

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee YI, Fang W, Chen CC (2011) Histological observation on the growth of potato plantlets in vitro under six different led light qualities. Acta Hortic 907:393–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li C, Liu D, Li LL, Hu SX, Xu ZG, Tang CM (2018) Effects of light-emitting diodes on the growth of peanut plants. Agronomy J 110(6):2369–2377

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li RN, You J, Miao C, Kong L, Long JH, Yan YZ, Xu ZG, Liu XY (2020) Addition of white light to monochromatic red and blue lights alters the formation, growth, and dormancy of in vitro-grown Solanum tuberosum L. microtubers. Hortsci. 55:71–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin C (2000) Plant blue-light receptors. Trends Plant Sci 5:337–342

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miyashita Y, Kimura T, Kitaya Y, Kubota C, Kozai T (1997) Effects of red light on the growth and morphology of potato plantlets in vitro: Using light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source for micropropagation. Third International Symposium on Artificial Lighting in Horticulture. Acta Hortic 418:169–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murry U, Jeff B, Matthew F (2010) Variability in harvest index of grain crops and potential significance for carbon accounting: examples from australian agriculture. Adv Agron 105:173–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro C, Abelenda JA, Cruz-Oró E, Cuéllar CA, Tamaki S, Silva J, Shimamoto K, Prat S (2011) Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T. Nature 478:119–122

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro C, Eduard C, Salomé P (2015) Conserved function of flowering locus t (ft) homologues as signals for storage organ differentiation. Curr Opin Plant Biol 23:45–53

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira CADS (2000) Potato crop growth as affected by nitrogen and plant density. Pesqui Agropecu Bras 35:940–950

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paradiso R, Arena C, Rouphael Y, d’Aquino L, Makris K, Vitaglione P, De Pascale S (2019) Growth, photosynthetic activity and tuber quality of two potato cultivars in controlled environment as affected by light source. Plant Biosyst 153:725–735

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulet L, Massa GD, Morrow RC, Bourget CM, Wheeler RM, Mitchell CA (2014) Significant reduction in energy for plant-growth lighting in space using targeted LED lighting and spectral manipulation. Life Sci. Space Res., 2, 43–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ralph, P.J., Gademann, R., 2005. Rapid light curves: A powerful tool to assess photosynthetic activity. Aquat Bot 82:222–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivkin RB (1989) Influence of irradiance and spectral quality on the carbon metabolism of phytoplankton. I. Photosynthesis, chemical composition and growth. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 55:291–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saebo A, Krekling T, Appelgren M (1995) Light quality affects photosynthesis and leaf anatomy of birch plantlets in vitro. Plant Cell Tiss Org 41:177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuolienė G, Sirtautas R, Brazaitytė A, Sakalauskaitė J, Sakalauskienė S, Duchovskis P (2011) The impact of red and blue light-emitting diode illumination on radish physiological indices. Cent Eur J Biol 6:821–828

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevcikova H, Maskova P, Tarkowska D, Masek T, Lipavska H (2017) Carbohydrates and gibberellins relationship in potato tuberization. J Plant Physiol 214:53–63

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sulaiman A, Zhou X, Pang Y, Jin L, Bao J (2018) Improving starch-related traits in potato crops: achievements and future challenges. Starch Starke 170:700113

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang X, Zhang N, Si H, Calderón-Urrea A (2017) Selection and validation of reference genes for rt-qpcr analysis in potato under abiotic stress. Plant Methods 13(1):85

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Thiele A, Herold M, Lenk I, Gatz QC (1999) Heterologous expression of Arabidopsis phytochrome b in transgenic potato influences photosynthetic performance and tuber development. Plant Physiol 120(1):73–81

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van Harsselaar JK, Lorenz J, Senning M, Sonnewald U, Sonnewald S (2017) Genome-wide analysis of starch metabolism genes in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). BMC Genomics 18(1):37

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wallen DG, Geen GH (1971a) Light quality and concentration of proteins, RNA, DNA and photosynthetic pigments in two species of marine plankton algae. Mar Biol 1971(10):44–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallen DG, Geen GH (1971b) Light quality in relation to growth, photosynthetic rates and carbon metabolism in two species of marine plankton algae. Mar Biol 10:34–43

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • White AJ, Critchley C (1999) Rapid light curves: a new fluorescence method to assess the state of the photosynthetic apparatus. Photosynth Res 59:63–72

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Q, Su NN, Cui J (2013) Effect of led light treatments on growth and endogenous GA and IAA contents of tomato seedling. Acta Bot Boreali-Occidentalia Sin 33(6):1171–1176

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZG, Wang XX, Chen S, Gan LJ (2018) Optimal regulation of nutrient solution types and concentrations for virus-free seed potato breeding in plant factory. Trans CSAE 34(17):199–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoshida H, Mizuta D, Fukuda., N., Hikosaka., S., Goto., E. (2016) Effects of varying light quality from single-peak blue and red light-emitting diodes during nursery period on flowering, photosynthesis, growth, and fruit yield of everbearing strawberry. Plant Biotechnol J 33(4):267–276

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yorio NC, Goins GD, Kagie HR, Wheeler RM, Sager JC (2001) Improving spinach, radish, and lettuce growth under red lightemitting diodes LEDs with blue light supplementation. HortSci 36:380–383

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zha L, Liu W (2018) Effects of light quality, light intensity, and photoperiod on growth and yield of cherry radish grown under red plus blue leds. Hortic Environ Biotech 59(4):511–518

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang YJ, Sun F, Fettke J, Schottler MA, Ramsden L, Fernie AR, Lim BL (2014) Heterologous expression of atpap2 in transgenic potato influences carbon metabolism and tuber development. FEBS Lett 588(20):3726–3731

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng J, Hu MJ, Guo YP (2008) Regulation of photosynthesis by light quality and its mechanism in plants. Chin J Appl Ecol 19(7):1619–1624

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zrenner R, Salanoubat M, Willmitzer L, Sonnewald U (1995) Evidence of the crucial role of sucrose synthase for sink strength using transgenic potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L.). Plant J. 7:97–107

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0403903).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agronomy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Wei He & Zhi-Gang Xu

  2. College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Lijun Gan

  3. Lumlux Corp., Suzhou, 215143, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Min Pu

  4. National Lighting Test Centre, Beijing, 100020, People’s Republic of China

    Jin Li

Authors
  1. Wei He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Min Pu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhi-Gang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lijun Gan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

HW, XZG and GL conceived and designed the experiments; HW, PM and LJ performed the experiments, collected and analyzed the data; HW, GL and XZG drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhi-Gang Xu or Lijun Gan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Scott Finlayson.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

He, W., Pu, M., Li, J. et al. Potato Tuber Growth and Yield Under Red and Blue LEDs in Plant Factories. J Plant Growth Regul 41, 40–51 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10277-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10277-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation