The influence of ambient UV radiation on growth, chlorosis, and flavonoid content was examined in four cultivars of cucumber (`Ashley', `Poinsett', `Marketmore', and `Salad Bush'). Plants were grown from seed in UV exclusion chambers consisting of UV transmitting plexiglass (10% T, 285 nm), lined with 3- or 5-mil Llumar (10% T, 399 or 404 nm) to exclude UV-A and UV-B, 5-mil polyester (10%T, 319 nm) to exclude UVB, or cellulose acetate (10% T, 291 nm) to transmit UV-A and UV-B. Plants were grown in 15 cm plastic pots containing vermiculite and were fertilized daily with nutrient solution. Despite their differential sensitivity to supplemental UV-B radiation, all four cultivars responded similarly to the exclusion treatments. After 19 to 21 days, plants grown under ambient UV-A and UV-B generally had less stem, leaf, and root biomass and less total height and total leaf area than those grown under conditions in which UV-A and UV-B or only UV-B was excluded. Flavonoid content, leaf number, and floral development were unaffected by UV. These findings demonstrate the extreme sensitivity of cucumber to current levels of solar UV radiation.
In order to determine whether the concentration of floral petal anthocyanin pigments could be increased, ultraviolet radiations in the UV-A and UV-B wavelength bands were presented to a variety of flowering plants to partly restore those wavelengths filtered out by greenhouse glass. In no tested plant did the supplementary ultraviolet radiation enhance floral anthocyanin content. Supplementary UV radiation has no economic value in greenhouse production of flowering plants.
of UV-B (280–315 nm) on plant growth ( Huché-Thélier et al., 2016 ; Liu et al., 2011 ; Wargent et al., 2009 ). In nature, plants grow under sunlight where UV-A (315–400 nm) photons are present 10 to 100 times more than UV-B ( Moan, 2002 ). Compared
, including their transmittance properties in the UV-B, UV-A, and visible ranges. We also examined data collected on foliage temperature to evaluate whether the plastics were associated with temperature changes that might affect Japanese beetle populations
. The coverings included standard UV-stabilized poly film (standard); diffuse poly (diffuse); full-spectrum clear poly (clear); UV-A/B blocking poly (block); standard + 55% shadecloth (shade); and removal of standard poly 2 weeks before initial harvest
Plants were grown under light-emitting diode (LED) arrays with various spectra to determine the effects of light quality on the development of diseases caused by tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) on pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), powdery mildew [Sphaerotheca fuliginea (Schlectend:Fr.) Pollaci] on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), and bacterial wilt (Pseudomonas solanacearum Smith) on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). One LED (660) array supplied 99% red light at 660 nm (25 nm bandwidth at half-peak height) and 1% far-red light between 700 to 800 nm. A second LED (660/735) array supplied 83% red light at 660 nm and 17% far-red light at 735 nm (25 nm bandwidth at half-peak height). A third LED (660/BF) array supplied 98% red light at 660 nm, 1% blue light (BF) between 350 to 550 nm, and 1% far-red light between 700 to 800 nm. Control plants were grown under broad-spectrum metal halide (MH) lamps. Plants were grown at a mean photon flux (300 to 800 nm) of 330 μmol·m-2·s-1 under a 12-h day/night photoperiod. Spectral quality affected each pathosystem differently. In the ToMV/pepper pathosystem, disease symptoms developed slower and were less severe in plants grown under light sources that contained blue and UV-A wavelengths (MH and 660/BF treatments) compared to plants grown under light sources that lacked blue and UV-A wavelengths (660 and 660/735 LED arrays). In contrast, the number of colonies per leaf was highest and the mean colony diameters of S. fuliginea on cucumber plants were largest on leaves grown under the MH lamp (highest amount of blue and UV-A light) and least on leaves grown under the 660 LED array (no blue or UV-A light). The addition of far-red irradiation to the primary light source in the 660/735 LED array increased the colony counts per leaf in the S. fuliginea/ cucumber pathosystem compared to the red-only (660) LED array. In the P. solanacearum/ tomato pathosystem, disease symptoms were less severe in plants grown under the 660 LED array, but the effects of spectral quality on disease development when other wavelengths were included in the light source (MH-, 660/BF-, and 660/735-grown plants) were equivocal. These results demonstrate that spectral quality may be useful as a component of an integrated pest management program for future space-based controlled ecological life support systems.
The influence of ambient UV radiation on growth and flavonoid concentration of Lactuca sativa L. (`New Red Fire' lettuce) was examined. Plants were grown outdoors for 31 days from seed in window boxes covered with one of three different UV filters—UV transparent tefzel (10%T, 245 nm), UV-B-absorbing polyester (10%T, 319 nm), or UV-Aand UV-B-absorbing Llumar (10%T, 399 nm). Plants were grown in plastic pots filled with vermiculite and subirrigated with nutrient solution. Lettuce plants grown in the absence of solar UV-A and UV-B radiation showed a significant increase in leaf number and biomass of tops and roots as compared to those grown under ambient UV-A and UV-B. They also had a lower concentration of flavonoids and other UV-absorbing substances at 270, 300, and 330 nm (on both an area and on a dry-weight basis). These findings should be of interest to researchers involved in protected cultivation because the transmission of UV-B radiation is greatly attenuated by standard greenhouse glass. Our results also have implications for human nutrition, since bioflavonoids are important as antioxidants.
Some apple growers place specially designed bags with liners around fruit in the field to produce a unique surface color required by some premium markets. However, heat damage has been observed on `Fuji' apples that were bagged and reached high temperatures in the field. We tested different colored apple bags and their liners to determine the amount of light that is transmitted and whether bag color affected heating of the apples inside. Apple bags and liners were very effective at screening out sunlight; however, the absorbed light substantially warmed the bags and apples inside. No UV-A or B and less than 1% of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) passed through the outer bag regardless of bag color and the inner liners transmitted ≈9% of the UV-A, 3% of the UV-B, and 30% of the PAR. When ambient air temperatures were only ≈25°C, dark green bags or red or green liners warmed the sun-facing apple surface to ≈43°C, while light green bags warmed to ≈36°C. Wrapping apple bags in aluminum foil to increase bag reflectivity greatly reduced heat buildup and maintained sun-facing fruit surface temperatures only slightly above air temperature (≈27°C). Possible design improvements for apple bags used in hot, sunny climates will be discussed.
Abstract
Groups of poinsettia plants (Euphorbia pulcherrima willd. ex Klutzsch) were exposed at different seasons to enhanced levels of ultraviolet (280-320 nm) radiation, 01-13 weighted m W m−2 (UV-B), for 4 weeks in both vegetative and flowering growth stages. None of the cultivars showed any response in height, number of nodes, fresh weight, or dry weight. Some distorted leaves and bracts developed during the seasons of low light intensity but not during seasons of high light intensity, suggesting photorepair during the latter periods. The anthocyanin pigmentation produced in the bracts of flowering plants was partially destryoed by enhanced UV-B, whereas in vegetative plants the pigmentation in petioles was increased. Bracts from many of the treated plants showed increased absorbance in the UV-A and UV-B regions. Cultivars differed widely in their response to enhanced UV-B.
Cellulose diacetate has been widely used in UV-B enhancement studies under field and controlled-environment conditions since the early 1970s to remove wavelengths below ≈290 nm, without any evidence of toxicity effects. However, while conducting UV-B exclusion studies in window boxes covered with cellulose diacetate (CA) or in Plexiglas chambers lined with CA, there was marginal chlorosis and cotyledon epinasty in `Ashley' cucumber, which is normally resistant to elevated UV-B, while seedlings exposed to open sunlight and those grown under polyester (PE) film to exclude UV-B were free of visible injury. These findings suggested that the CA filter itself may be causing toxicity. To test this hypothesis, a UV exclusion study was conducted in which CA or Teflon (T), both UV-B and UV-A transmitting films, were used to cover window boxes in the following four combinations (top/bottom): CA/CA, CA/T,T/CA, and T/T. When CA was used as the bottom filter (CA/CA and T/CA), the plants showed significantly greater leaf injury and a 2- to 3-fold reduction in growth than when T was used as the bottom filter (CA/T and T/T). These findings suggest that toxicity is caused by CA itself rather than by solar UV-B radiation, possibly as a result of outgassing of phthalates known to be used as plasticizers in the manufacture of CA. Further evidence that CA was responsible for leaf injury was provided by a companion study in which T was replaced by PE and damage was still observed, although no significant growth effects of CA position were observed.