More light doesn't always provide the best results
23/01/2019
The steering of light in the crop is very important. But crop advisors sometimes think that more light always provides better results. That's not always true! ‘The law of reduced yield increase’ is about the light efficiency in your crop, enabling you to determine when lighting is economically interesting and leads to the best results.
How does the law work? In the graph we show how the plant efficiently converts the light into assimilates, resulting in crop growth. The light level in this crop is most effective in zone A.
The point where a plant optimally (100%) converts light into assimilates varies per crop and is continually affected by the relative humidity, CO2 and temperature in the greenhouse. Therefore, the optimum varies per minute. HortiSense helps to monitor this optimum, enabling you to act accordingly.
In phase B, the effectivity of the light in the crop gradually decreases. There is still extra yield, but also extra costs, for example energy or write-off. The graph for light efficiency helps you to steer on light levels based on the need of the crop. The resulting data is a guideline for economic decisions. Would you like more advice on this? Our Life Cycle Advisors provide active support!
