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Dendrobium officinale, endemic to China, is a rare and endangered medicinal herb. As a result of its high economic value, slow growth, and diminishing wild population, protected cultivation is preferred. However, little information is available on its growing environment and photosynthetic characteristics. In this study, the photosynthetic patterns of D. officinale were investigated under various environmental conditions by measuring the net CO₂ exchange rates continuously for several days or weeks. Under non-stressed growth chamber conditions with 12-hour light and 12-hour dark periods, D. officinale had concomitance of C3 and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis patterns. Different degrees of CAM in D. officinale, expressed as the percentage of CO₂ exchanges in the dark period to the daily amount of CO₂ exchanges, were observed depending on environmental conditions. With decreasing substrate water content, a typical CAM pattern was found, and concomitance of C3 and CAM patterns was found again when plants were rewatered. The accumulation of leaf titratable acidity during a dark period increased as substrate dried out but decreased again as plants were rewatered. A shorter light–dark cycle (4-hour light and 4-hour dark periods) led to a C3 pattern alone. The substrate moisture and light–dark cycle were inducible factors for switching between C3 and CAM patterns in D. officinale. These results indicate that D. officinale is a facultative CAM plant and the C3 pathway can be induced by controlling the growing environment. Further studies are needed to identify the optimal environmental conditions to enhance the growth of D. officinale.

Few researchers examined different red light amounts added in white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with varied daily light integrals (DLIs) for hydroponic lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). In this study, effects of DLI and LED light quality (LQ) on growth, nutritional quality, and energy use efficiency of hydroponic lettuce were investigated in a plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL). Hydroponic lettuce plants (cv. Ziwei) were grown for 20 days under 20 combinations of five levels of DLIs at 5.04, 7.56, 10.08, 12.60, and 15.12 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹ and four LQs: two kinds of white LEDs with red to blue ratio (R:B ratio) of 0.9 and 1.8, and two white LEDs plus red chips with R:B ratio of 2.7 and 3.6, respectively. Results showed that leaf and root weights and power consumption based on fresh and dry weights increased linearly with increasing DLI, and light and electrical energy use efficiency (LUE and EUE) decreased linearly as DLI increased. However, no statistically significant differences were found in leaf fresh and dry weights and nitrate and vitamin C contents between DLI at 12.60 and 15.12 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹. Also, no effects of LQ on leaf dry weight of hydroponic lettuce were observed at a DLI of 5.04 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹. White plus red LEDs with an R:B ratio of 2.7 resulted in higher leaf fresh weight than the two white LEDs. LUE increased by more than 20% when red light fraction increased from 24.2% to 48.6%. In summary, white plus red LEDs with an R:B ratio of 2.7 at DLI at 12.60 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹ were recommended for commercial hydroponic lettuce (cv. Ziwei) production in PFALs.