LED lighting has a promising future in agriculture

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology organized a report on science and technology achievements of major projects of semiconductor lighting in the “Eleventh Five-Year” National 863 Program at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center to fully display the achievements and technological innovation achievements in the major semiconductor lighting projects of the “Eleventh Five-Year” 863 Plan. Cao Jianlin, vice minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology visited the exhibition in person. At the invitation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the 863 project “Application Research of Semiconductor Lighting Sources in Plant Tissue Culture” undertaken by Professor Xu Zhigang of the Agricultural College of Nanjing Agricultural University was exhibited. The series of research results of “LED plant tissue culture lights” and “LED plant lights” displayed by Nanjing Agricultural University have received extensive attention from the industry. A number of listed companies expressed their willingness to cooperate in research and development. Cao Jianlin stopped in front of the exhibition booth at Nanjing Agricultural University and listened to the introduction of scientific research results of the 863 project undertaken by Nanjing Agricultural University, giving him enthusiastic encouragement and praise. Leading expert in major semiconductor lighting projects and director of the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences Li Jinlu, accompanied the inspection.

In the national "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" 863 high-tech research plan, the Ministry of Science and Technology initiated the research process of LED application in the agricultural field innovatively. After a competitive defense, Nanjing Agricultural University successfully obtained the 863 project approval and funding, which is "11. During the "V" period, it was the only agricultural lighting project approved by the state. Based on the results of more than five years of accumulation and the characteristics of the tissue culture room, the project team optimized the spectral energy parameters, manufacturing processes and shape design, developed the LED tissue culture lamp, featuring high efficiency, energy saving, long life, and easy installation. Compared with fluorescent lamps, the use of LED tissue culture lamps can enhance the quality of seedlings, improve the quality of seedlings, shorten the seedling cycle and reduce energy costs; life expectancy is increased by 10 times; energy saving is 69.7%; initial investment can be recovered in 1.5 years. In the later period, the total cost savings will be 176,764 yuan during the life cycle, and the height of the shelf will be reduced by 35%, which will increase the operating comfort and work efficiency, and the space utilization rate will increase by 35%.

On December 5th, the "Plant Factory Innovation Innovation Conference" was held in the Reporting Office of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Leaders from the China Finance and Economics Office, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and other departments, Philips, Panasonic, Yeguang, Yangzi, and Oulin were present at home and abroad. A total of more than 150 delegates from well-known companies, peer experts and representatives from the press industry attended the meeting. At the conference, the high-tech enterprise of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing Zhonghuan Accessibility Horticulture Technology Co., Ltd., launched the newly-developed home-plant factory and home gardening products, and they also cooperated with Philips Lighting in the Netherlands and Mitsubishi Chemical in Japan. , Panasonic (China) Electrician, Taiwan billion light, Yangzi Electric, Oulin Group and other dozens of internationally renowned companies signed a strategic cooperation agreement, on the LED plant lighting source, industrial control, air-conditioning environmental control, nutrition solution preparation and other fields of technological innovation , market development, etc. reached an agreement and signed a strategic alliance. The convening of the conference not only marked the official birth of the first home-plant factory in China, but also heralded the formal formation of a strategic alliance for plant plant research and development.

The plant factory is recognized as the most advanced stage of facility agriculture in the world. It integrates high-tech such as modern biotechnology, information technology, new materials, mechanical engineering, and artificial environment control, and the yield can reach dozens of times or even hundred times that of open cultivation. It can also be produced on non-arable land, such as the Gobi, desert, islands, water, polar, space and even city skyscrapers, and is considered to be the most effective technical means to solve population, resource, and environmental problems in the future. At present, only a few developed countries such as Japan, the United States, and the Netherlands have mastered the relevant technologies.

The home plant plant and family gardening products released this time all use LED lighting, which is more energy-saving and environmentally friendly. It is understood that the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been engaged in research and application of LED in plant seedling factories since 2003. In 2006, it designed and built the first closed LED artificial light plant in China and developed it. Corresponding LED light environment control software and light environment control device. In April 2009, the research team successfully developed the first intelligent plant factory in China, using LED and fluorescent lamps as artificial light sources, and put into operation in Changchun. Currently, Philips, Everlight, etc. have collaborated with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences on LED lighting in agriculture.

Artificial illumination has become one of the important means for plant production. Artificial light sources used in the field of plants for many years mainly include high-pressure sodium lamps, fluorescent lamps, metal halide lamps, and incandescent lamps. The outstanding disadvantages of these light sources are high energy consumption and high operating costs. Energy costs account for about 50% to 60% of total operating costs. Therefore, improving light-emitting efficiency and reducing energy consumption has been an important issue in artificial light lighting applications in the field of plants. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, the total area of ​​plant tissue culture in China is now over 20 million square meters and the output value is about 20 billion yuan. With the continuous development of modern agriculture, the demand for agricultural lighting continues to expand, but with it comes a substantial increase in power consumption. With the deepening of the energy-saving concept, the huge market opportunities and energy consumption of agricultural lighting have brought new challenges to the traditional agricultural lighting technology, and it has provided excellent opportunities for the development and application of new types of agricultural lighting.

The characteristics of LED light sources and existing research bases indicate that LED can be widely used as a plant lighting source in plant cultivation, greenhouse supplement, plant tissue culture, and plant factories, and it can promote plant growth, regulate plant morphology, energy conservation, and environmental protection. The advantages can not only emit monochromatic light with narrow light waves, such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, infrared, etc., but also can be any combination according to different animal and plant needs, and it is also a cold light source with low heat characteristics, and can be close to Illuminating plants and improving space utilization can not only provide reasonable light environmental conditions for the growth of agricultural organisms, reduce the use of chemicals such as pesticides and hormones, ensure food safety, but also be a low-energy green light source, and has broad application prospects. It is an important development trend of future plant lighting sources.