HORTICULTURAL APPLICATIONS OF LEDS WITH LETTUCE AND TOMATO AND TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS

Abstract

LEDs have varied applications in horticulture with both food and floriculture crops. The current study investigated their use with both lettuce in the greenhouse and tomato in growth chambers. Lettuce work focused primarily on electrical efficacy of LEDs when compared with traditional HPS lights and their effect on 13 different varieties of lettuce. It was found that LEDs were, on average, twice as productive in terms of edible biomass produced per kWh used. Some photomorphological effects were observed in height and width characteristics after further investigation. Tomato growth focused on the effects of varying ratios of red:blue light on flower number, developing fruit, seedling height, and ascorbic acid concentration, and found significant effects in all categories except ascorbic acid production. The educational component of this thesis springs from the development of a curriculum supplement for 6th to 8th graders, following the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), using Plant Science as a basis for scientific inquiry.