Light use efficiency of lettuce cultivation in vertical farms compared with greenhouse and field

Vertical farming is one of the options to contribute to increasing agricultural productivity. Literature data on the light use efficiency of vertical farms were analysed and compared to greenhouse and open field production. Furthermore, it is concluded that the light use efficiency in vertical farming can approach theoretical maximum values and that potential annual yield of a crop like lettuce can be as high as 700  kg m−2 layer of vertical farm. AbstractVertical farming is a relatively new fresh fruit and vegetable production system, where lamps (mostly light emitting diodes [LED]) are the sole light source. A high light use efficiency (LUEinc), defined as shoot dry weight per incident photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD; g  mol−1) integral, is crucial for the economic viability of vertical farming. Very different values for LUEinc have been reported in the literature and it is not clear whether LUEinc is higher in vertical farming than in greenhouse or open field cultivation. Values of LUEinc of lettuce grown in a vertical farm (53 studies), greenhouse (13 studies) and open field (8 studies) were collected from literature, as well as relevant cultivation aspects such as lettuce weight at harvest, cultivation period (plant age at harvest), daily light integral, cumulative daily light integral for the whole cultivation period, planting density and CO2 concentration. The average LUEinc for lettuce grown in a vertical farm was 0.55  g mol−1 which was highe...
Source: Food and Energy Security - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research