An Italian basil (a kind of vanilla, used for seasoning) growers chose to replace high-pressure sodium lamps with LEDs and found that it can promote plant growth while reducing farm energy consumption.
The grower is located in Reggio, Italy's southern port, and produces basil for salads, pasta and other dishes. He had previously used high-pressure sodium lamps in his greenhouse.
In order to avoid typical basil disease, growers use artificial light in the greenhouse for several hours each day, which adds to the cost.
Using red, super-red and blue LED lights in different proportions in the greenhouse, this model can speed up basil growth time, shorten harvest time by 5 days, and increase crop yields.
The grower manager Marco Boselli said, “We are concerned about bacterial proliferation because the Peronospara fungus was eradicated by the heat generated by the HPS lighting, but after using the LED, we did not encounter any problems”.
“We can also observe that our basil grows better and faster, because the proportion of blue light is lower, and the proportion in the LED program is 5%, compared with 24% in the previous HPS scheme.”
Sebastian Lyschic, global project manager of OSRAM Optoelectronics, stated: "Durable, energy-saving and long-lasting LED technology is becoming more and more popular and will soon replace the standard horticultural lighting."