LED Light Impacts on Specialty Crops

LEDs have been in existence for a long time now, but the wide range of adjustable narrow-band LEDs in horticulturally relevant wavelengths is relatively new. It is now possible to work towards understanding how to achieve precision lighting in production facilities while controlling plant attributes including morphology, development and biochemistry. Light is the energy source for plants but it also provides information that can shape the plants development. There are five different families of photoreceptors that sense the information carried in light but the chloroplast can also act as a sensor that can elicit similar responses. Research performed on crop and model organisms grown under different spectral compositions will be presented. How this fits into context with what is being published today and the challenges of interpreting these complex systems will be discussed.