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CN-119173135-B - Adjusting the fruit setting of peppers by dynamically adjusting the LED illumination spectrum

CN119173135BCN 119173135 BCN119173135 BCN 119173135BCN-119173135-B

Abstract

The invention provides a system (1000) for growing a pepper plant (10), wherein the system (1000) comprises a light generating device (100) and a control system (300), wherein the light generating device (100) is configured to provide device light (101) to the pepper plant (10), wherein the device light (101) comprises one or more of red light and far-red light, wherein the red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 600-700nm, and wherein the far-red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 700-800nm, wherein the system (1000) has an operational mode, wherein the control system (300) is configured to obtain an input signal, wherein the input signal is related to a plant load related parameter of the pepper plant (10), wherein the plant load related parameter is selected from the group comprising plant load, flowering rate, flower-loss rate, fruit setting rate and fruit-loss rate, wherein the control system (300) is configured to determine a plant load based on the input signal, and wherein one or more of (i) the control system (300) is configured to compare the plant load to a lower plant load, and if the plant load is below a threshold value, and if the plant load is below the plant load threshold value, the plant load is below the threshold value, and if the plant load is below the threshold value is selected from the plant load threshold value, and if the plant load is below the threshold value is greater than the threshold value, and if the plant load is greater than the threshold value is selected from the threshold value and the threshold value is greater than the threshold value (300), the target R: FR ratio is selected from a range <15, and the control system (300) is configured to expose the pepper plant (10) to the target R: FR ratio by controlling the light generating device (100).

Inventors

  • M.P.C.M. Kling

Assignees

  • 昕诺飞控股有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20230508
Priority Date
20220510

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A system (1000) for growing a pepper plant (10), wherein the system (1000) comprises a light generating device (100) and a control system (300), wherein the light generating device (100) is configured to provide device light (101) to a pepper plant (10), wherein the device light (101) comprises one or more of red light and far-red light, wherein the red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 600-700nm, and wherein the far-red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 700-800nm, wherein the system (1000) has an operational mode, wherein: -the control system (300) is configured to obtain an input signal, wherein the input signal is related to a plant load related parameter of the pepper plant (10), the plant load being the number of fruits hanging on the plant, wherein the plant load related parameter is selected from the group comprising plant load, flowering rate, flower abortion rate, fruit setting rate and fruit abortion rate; -the control system (300) is configured to determine a plant load based on the input signal, and wherein one or more of (i) the control system (300) is configured to compare the plant load with a lower plant load threshold and to select a target R: FR ratio of red to far-red light above a threshold ratio T if the plant load is below the lower plant load threshold, and (ii) the control system (300) is configured to compare the plant load with a higher plant load threshold and to select a target R: FR ratio below a threshold ratio T if the plant load is above the higher plant load threshold, wherein the threshold ratio T is selected from the range of 10-25; -the control system (300) is configured to control the light generating device (100) to expose the pepper plant (10) to a target R: FR ratio.
  2. 2. The system (1000) of claim 1, wherein the system (1000) comprises a sensor system (200), wherein in an operational mode: -the sensor system (200) is configured to determine a plant load related parameter of the pepper plant (10) and to provide a related sensor input signal to the control system (300); -the control system (300) is configured to determine a plant load based on the associated sensor input signals.
  3. 3. The system (1000) of claim 1, wherein the control system (300) comprises a user interface (301), and wherein in an operational mode: -the user interface (301) is configured to receive user input regarding plant load related parameters of the pepper plant (10) and to provide a related user input signal to the control system (300); -the control system (300) is configured to determine a plant load based on the associated user input signal.
  4. 4. The system (1000) according to claim 1, wherein the control system (300) is configured to determine a time derivative of the plant load based on the input signal, and wherein one or more of (i) the control system (300) is configured to compare the time derivative of the plant load to a plant load time derivative threshold and select a target R: FR ratio that is higher than a threshold ratio T if the time derivative of the plant load is higher than the plant load time derivative threshold, and (ii) the control system (300) is configured to compare the time derivative of the plant load to a plant load time derivative threshold and select a target R: FR that is lower than the threshold ratio T if the time derivative of the plant load is lower than the plant load time derivative threshold, and wherein the threshold ratio is selected from the range of 13-17.
  5. 5. The system (1000) of claim 1, wherein the plant load is a predicted plant load, and wherein one or more of the lower plant load threshold and the higher plant load threshold are selected according to a target yield, wherein the target yield comprises one or more of a number of fruits, a fruit quality, and a fruit ripening time.
  6. 6. The system (1000) of claim 1, wherein the plant load is a current plant load.
  7. 7. The system (1000) according to claim 2, wherein the sensor system (200) comprises a movable sensor device (210) configured to determine the plant load related parameter.
  8. 8. The system (1000) according to claim 1, wherein the pepper plant is selected from the genus capsicum.
  9. 9. The system (1000) according to claim 1, wherein the control system (300) is configured to control the light generating device (100) to subject the pepper plant (10) to a light exposure of at least 5mol/m 2 /d, and wherein the target R: FR ratio is a daily target R: FR ratio of the device light (101).
  10. 10. A horticultural system (400) comprising a system (1000) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the horticultural system (400) comprises a horticultural space (410) for accommodating pepper plants (10), and wherein the system (1000) is configured to provide device light (101) to the horticultural space (410).
  11. 11. The horticulture system (400) of claim 10, wherein the horticulture space (410) is configured to receive natural daylight (1), and wherein the device light (101) comprises supplemental device light.
  12. 12. The horticulture system (4000) of claim 11, wherein the system (1000) is configured to provide supplemental device light during a low natural lighting period in a latter half of a day, wherein a photon flux density of natural daylight (1) is ∈500 μmol/m 2 /s in a 400-700nm region during the low natural lighting period.
  13. 13. A method of growing a pepper plant (10), wherein the method comprises: -obtaining an input signal, wherein the input signal is related to a plant load related parameter of a pepper plant (10), the plant load being the number of fruits hanging on the plant, wherein the plant load related parameter is selected from the group comprising plant load, flowering rate, flower abortion rate, fruit setting rate and fruit abortion rate; -determining a plant load based on the input signal, and one or more of (i) comparing the plant load with a lower plant load threshold and selecting a target R: FR ratio of red light to far-red light above a threshold ratio T if the plant load is below the lower plant load threshold, and (ii) comparing the plant load with a higher plant load threshold and selecting a target R: FR ratio below the threshold ratio T if the plant load is above the higher plant load threshold, wherein the red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 600-700nm, and wherein the far-red light comprises one or more wavelengths in the range of 700-800nm, wherein the threshold ratio is selected from the range of 10-25; -exposing the pepper plant (10) to a target R: FR ratio by providing a device light (101).
  14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the threshold ratio is selected from the range of 10-20, and wherein the method comprises one or more of (a) selecting a target R: FR ratio >20 if plant load is below a lower plant load threshold, and (b) selecting a target R: FR ratio <10 if plant load is above a higher plant load threshold.
  15. 15. The method according to any of the preceding claims 13-14, wherein the plant load is a predicted plant load, or wherein the plant load is a current plant load, wherein the method further comprises exposing the pepper plant (10) to natural daylight (1), and wherein the method comprises providing device light (101) during periods of low natural lighting, wherein the photon flux density of natural daylight (1) is +.500 μmol/m 2 /s in the region of 400-700nm during periods of low natural lighting, and wherein the target R: FR ratio is a daily target R: FR ratio, and wherein the method comprises using the system (1000) according to any of the preceding claims 1-9 or the horticulture system (400) according to any of the preceding claims 10-12.

Description

Adjusting the fruit setting of peppers by dynamically adjusting the LED illumination spectrum Technical Field The present invention relates to a system for growing plants. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a horticultural system comprising such a system. However, the invention also relates to a method of cultivating plants. Background Plant growth lighting devices and systems are known in the art. For example, US9854749 describes a system for plant growth comprising a first LED device configured to emit light of a first color, wherein the first LED device is configured to emit light having a controlled beam half angle of less than or equal to 60 °, and a second LED device configured to emit light of a second color, wherein the second LED device is configured to emit light at a controlled beam half angle of less than or equal to 60 °, and wherein the system is configured to produce an emission spectrum having a first emission peak below 500nm and a second emission peak above 600 nm. The first emission peak is at 425-475nm and the second emission peak is at 635-685nm. Furthermore, the system is configured to have a third emission peak at 500-600 nm. The photon flux of the emission spectrum contains between 5% and 10% green light. US 2021/012727 A1 discloses a method for controlling bolting using high levels of far red. The disclosed method comprises providing first horticulture light to the plant during the control mode, wherein at least 15% of the photons of the first horticulture light have a wavelength selected from the range of 700-800nm, wherein at least 45% of the photons of the first horticulture light have a wavelength selected from the range of 640-700nm, and wherein at most 10% of the photons of the first horticulture light have a wavelength selected from the range of 400-500 nm. Disclosure of Invention Plants use a process of photosynthesis to convert light, CO 2, and H 2 O into carbohydrates (sugars). These sugars are used to fuel metabolic processes. Excess sugar is used for biomass formation. The formation of such biomass includes stem elongation, leaf area increase, flowering, fruit formation, and the like. The photoreceptors responsible for photosynthesis are chlorophyll. In addition to photosynthesis, photoperiod, phototropism and photomorphogenesis are also representative processes related to interactions between radiation and plants: photoperiod refers to the ability of a plant to sense and measure the period of radiation (e.g. to induce flowering), Phototropism refers to the growth movement of plants toward and away from radiation, and Light morphogenesis refers to a morphological change in response to the quality and quantity of radiation. The two important absorption peaks of chlorophyll a and b lie in the red and blue regions, respectively, especially from 625-675nm and from 425-475 nm. In addition, other local peaks are present in the near UV region (300-400 nm) and in the far red region (700-800 nm). The main photosynthetic activity appears to occur in the wavelength range of 400-700 nm. Radiation in this range is known as Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR). In the context of horticultural lighting, near UV is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 300-400nm spectral range, blue is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 400-500nm spectral range, white is defined as a wavelength selected from the 400-700nm spectral range (these selected wavelengths together may constitute white light, e.g. a combination of blue, green and red wavelengths), green is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 500-600nm spectral range, red is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 600-700nm spectral range, deep red is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 640-700nm spectral range, and far red is defined as one or more wavelengths selected from the 700-800nm spectral range. Thus, dark red is a sub-selection of red. Other photosensitizing processes in plants include photosensitizing pigments. The activity of photosensitizing pigments directs different responses such as leaf expansion, neighbor awareness, shade avoidance, stem elongation, seed germination and flowering induction. The photopigment light system comprises two forms of photopigments, pr and Pfr, which have their sensitivity peaks in 660nm red and 730nm far red, respectively. In horticulture, photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) is measured in photons per second per unit area (in μmol/sec/m 2; one mole corresponds to 6 x 10 23 photons). In practice, when e.g. top illumination or a combination of top illumination and intermediate illumination is applied, especially for tomatoes, the red PPFD used may typically be 200 μmol/sec/m 2 and the ratio of blue to red may typically be 1:7 (wherein red and blue are specifically selected from 625-675nm and 400-475nm, respectively). In particular, the photosynthetic photon flux density may include about 10% blue and abou