Morpho-Physiological Responses of <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> L. to the LED-Sourced CoeLux^® System

• Main Authors: Peter Beatrice, Mattia Terzaghi, Donato Chiatante, Gabriella Stefania Scippa, Antonio Montagnoli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Plants
• Subjects: CoeLux^®; LEDs; light intensity; light spectrum; <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>; photomorphogenesis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/7/1310

The CoeLux^® lighting system reproduces the true effect of natural sunlight entering through an opening in the ceiling, with a realistic sun perceived at an infinite distance surrounded by a clear blue sky. It has already been demonstrated that this new lighting system generates long-term positive effects on human beings; however, there are no investigations so far concerning the plant responses to CoeLux^® lighting. To fill this gap, the model plant <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> L. was grown at four different distances from the light source, corresponding to four different light intensities (120, 70, 30, 20 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹). High-pressure sodium lamps were used as control light. Plant phenology and morpho-physiological traits were monitored to assess for the first time the ability of plants to grow and develop under the light spectrum and intensity of the CoeLux^® system. Plants grown at the lower light intensities showed a delayed life cycle and were significantly smaller than plants grown with more light. Furthermore, plants grown under the CoeLux^® light type showed an additional deficit when compared to control plants. Overall, our results show that both the light spectrum and intensity of the CoeLux^® system had a strong impact on <i>A. thaliana</i> growth performance.