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Optimizing spectral quality with quantum dots to enhance crop yield in controlled environments.

ABSTRACT: Bioregenerative life-support systems (BLSS) involving plants will be required to realize self-sustaining human settlements beyond Earth. To improve plant productivity in BLSS, the quality of the solar spectrum can be modified by lightweight, luminescent films. CuInS₂/ZnS quantum dot (QD) films were used to down-convert ultraviolet/blue photons to red emissions centered at 600 and 660?nm, resulting in increased biomass accumulation in red romaine lettuce. All plant growth parameters, except for spectral quality, were uniform across three production environments. Lettuce grown under the 600 and 660 nm-emitting QD films respectively increased edible dry mass (13 and 9%), edible fresh mass (11% each), and total leaf area (8 and 13%) compared with under a control film containing no QDs. Spectral modifications by the luminescent QD films improved photosynthetic efficiency in lettuce and could enhance productivity in greenhouses on Earth, or in space where, further conversion is expected from greater availability of ultraviolet photons.

SUBMITTER: Parrish CH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7840809 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Optimizing spectral quality with quantum dots to enhance crop yield in controlled environments.

Parrish Charles H CH Hebert Damon D Jackson Aaron A Ramasamy Karthik K McDaniel Hunter H Giacomelli Gene A GA Bergren Matthew R MR

Communications biology 20210127 1

Bioregenerative life-support systems (BLSS) involving plants will be required to realize self-sustaining human settlements beyond Earth. To improve plant productivity in BLSS, the quality of the solar spectrum can be modified by lightweight, luminescent films. CuInS<sub>2</sub>/ZnS quantum dot (QD) films were used to down-convert ultraviolet/blue photons to red emissions centered at 600 and 660 nm, resulting in increased biomass accumulation in red romaine lettuce. All plant growth parameters, e ...[more]

PMID: 33504914

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Project description:Bioenergy sorghum is targeted for production in water-limited annual cropland therefore traits that improve plant water capture, water use efficiency, and resilience to water deficit are necessary to maximize productivity. A crop modeling framework, APSIM, was adapted to predict the growth and biomass yield of energy sorghum and to identify potentially useful traits for crop improvement. APSIM simulations of energy sorghum development and biomass accumulation replicated results from field experiments across multiple years, patterns of rainfall, and irrigation schemes. Modeling showed that energy sorghum's long duration of vegetative growth increased water capture and biomass yield by ~30% compared to short season crops in a water-limited production region. Additionally, APSIM was extended to enable modeling of VPD-limited transpiration traits that reduce crop water use under high vapor pressure deficits (VPDs). The response of transpiration rate to increasing VPD was modeled as a linear response until a VPD threshold was reached, at which the slope of the response decreases, representing a range of responses to VPD observed in sorghum germplasm. Simulation results indicated that the VPD-limited transpiration trait is most beneficial in hot and dry regions of production where crops are exposed to extended periods without rainfall during the season or to a terminal drought. In these environments, slower but more efficient transpiration increases biomass yield and prevents or delays the exhaustion of soil water and onset of leaf senescence. The VPD-limited transpiration responses observed in sorghum germplasm increased biomass accumulation by 20% in years with lower summer rainfall, and the ability to drastically reduce transpiration under high VPD conditions could increase biomass by 6% on average across all years. This work indicates that the productivity and resilience of bioenergy sorghum grown in water-limited environments could be further enhanced by development of genotypes with optimized VPD-limited transpiration traits and deployment of these crops in water limited growing environments. The energy sorghum model and VPD-limited transpiration trait implementation are made available to simulate performance in other target environments.

Dataset Information

Optimizing spectral quality with quantum dots to enhance crop yield in controlled environments.

Publications

Optimizing spectral quality with quantum dots to enhance crop yield in controlled environments.

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