Title : Thermal stress resilience in plants grown under LED lights
Abstract:
Plant growth is affected by different environmental factors, including spectral light and temperature. In the last few years, great attention has been paid to climate changes due to shifts in temperature pattern. The use of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) is an interesting and useful approach in controlled environment such as greenhouses, if compared to conventional light sources. This technology enables choosing a specific wavelength and intensity and identifying spectral recipes that could help the plant to counteract temperature stress. In this study, two cultivars of tomato seedlings (Mola and Regina) grown under white and red LEDs were analyzed to evaluate if they were resilient to thermal stress. The following light and intensity combinations were selected: white light at 100 µmol m-² s-¹ and 200 µmol m-² s-¹; red light at 100 µmol m-² s-¹ and 200 µmol m-² s-¹. The selection of the best LED light and its intensity were made considering previous data obtained in the first year of the project (https://www.uniba.it/it/ricerca/dipartimenti/dbba/ricerca/progetti-di-ricerca/progetti-nazionali/prin 2022-pnrr/paciolla_scheda-prin-pnrr-2022.pdf/view), where the blue light treatment was excluded due to a poor germination rate, low visual quality, and lower biometric and biochemical parameters. By monitoring biometrical characteristics (root and aerial part growth) and antioxidative responses (ascorbate-glutathione cycle), significant differences were found between the two cultivars. This result underlines that narrow-band blue and red LEDs differently affect plant metabolism and strengthen defence responses. On the other hand, the obtained data will be further analyzed via analysis of variance, to evaluate the presence of single and interacting effects of the selected lights (red and white LED), their intensities, and the cultivars.
This research was funded by the European Union Next-Generation EU-2022 Missione 4 “Istruzione e Ricerca- Componente C2 Investimento 1.1” PRIN22PNRR -Grant N. P2022XPJC5 - CUP: H53D23007290001
