A team of scientists from the faculties of engineering and agriculture at Hokkaido University and the Institute for Design and Research of Chemical Reactions (Japan) has developed a europium-based thin-film coating that accelerates plant growth, reports Phys.org portal.
This technology could increase the rate of plant reproduction and has the potential to help solve global food supply problems.
Plants convert visible light into energy through a process called photosynthesis. In addition to visible light, sunlight also contains ultraviolet (UV) rays. The researchers in this work sought to provide plants with additional visible light for use in photosynthesis using a wavelength converting material (WCM) that can convert ultraviolet light to red.
The researchers developed WCM based on the europium complex and created a thin-film coating that can be applied to commercially available plastic sheets.
Scientists have shown that the film converts ultraviolet light to red, but does not block useful visible light from the sun.
The film was tested by comparing plants grown with and without WCM coated sheets. The tests were carried out on Swiss chard and Japanese larch.
In summer, when the day length is maximum and the sun exposure is strong, Swiss chard plants grown with and without WCM films were practically the same. However, in winter, when days are shorter and sunlight is weaker, Swiss chard plants grown using WCM films showed 1,2 times the height and 1,4 times the biomass after 63 days. The researchers attribute this accelerated growth to the increase in the amount of red light provided by the WCM films.
Trials involving Japanese larch trees also showed accelerated plant growth. The seedlings showed a higher relative growth rate in the first 4 months resulting in a 1,2 times larger stem diameter and a 1,4 times greater total biomass than trees grown without WCM cover.
Importantly, this allowed the seedlings to reach the standard size for planting in the Hokkaido forestry within one year. The use of WCM films can reduce the growth period of seedlings from two years to one year, resulting in more economical plant production.