Valoya:LED lighting is more popular with bees or bring additional benefits to the horticultural industry

LED plant growth lamp manufacturer Valoya recently announced that it has found that the solid-state lighting (SSL) technology can bring additional revenue for gardening. The study found that Bumblebee pollination is very active in the SSL equipment, while in the traditional high pressure sodium (HPS) lamp, the bees only in the presence of certain natural light activities.

LED is not new to horticulture. By matching the LED light to the peak of plant photosynthesis sensitivity, the researchers found that crop yield was higher than that of HPS. In addition, LED lighting can be applied to the lamp string or barrier between crops to provide a full range of lighting to reduce the energy consumption of artificial lighting.

This study focuses on investigating bee activity. In the polar regions, because of the short growing season and the lack of sunshine in winter, the use of artificial lighting is particularly important for crops. Here, the growth of crops can not help bees.

The study compared HPS lighting with Valoya's LED lamp, which uses the company's AP67 plant conventional growth spectrum. All of the company's growth lamp products are using this option, can reduce the energy consumption of 18% far red region, and no UV radiation.

Bee activity under artificial lighting

LED lighting offers two main advantages over the bees. At four a.m., when the LED light was turned on, the bees in the hive immediately became active. The researchers captured the activity by high-speed cameras. Under the condition of HPS, when the artificial lighting is switched on, the bees remain in the hive and become active only when the natural light is exposed to the greenhouse. It is clear that the bees have three color vision, can see three spectral regions, rather than the typical HPS spectrum.

The researchers note that the HPS device will heat, the bees occasionally hit the lamp and killed. And LED lighting does not exist this problem. President Valoya LarsAikala said, "we are currently all of our products are comprehensive research and development, including the effects of target and non target insects; we understand that aphids breeding in our LED products under the rate of more than HPS, red and blue LED equipment is low, and our products are conducive to the activity of bee".

Purdue University study

The Purdue University horticulture professor CaryMitchELl also recently published a new report on the impact of LED lighting on the tomato planting. Mitchell believes that crop cultivation should be carried out in the vicinity of the consumer areas, rather than transported from distant areas such as Mexico. The use of LED lighting in the local plant, can reduce transportation costs and provide higher quality products, because can be picked fruit rather than halfcooked when.

In a recent study on tomatoes, Mitchell said that HPS devices and LED devices have little effect on improving production, but LED lighting can reduce energy consumption by 25%. Mitchell believes that the use of vertical LED lamp string to provide light for plants with low position can increase the yield; he will aim at the theory test, and plans to taste test were grown at LED lighting and natural light in tomato.