Photochemical Acclimation of Three Contrasting Species to Different Light Levels: Implications for Optimizing Supplemental Lighting

Photosynthetic responses to light are dependent on light intensity, vary among species, and can be affected by acclimation to different light environments (e.g., light intensity, spectrum, and photoperiod). Understanding how these factors affect photochemistry is important for improving supplemental lighting efficiency in controlled-environment agriculture. We used chlorophyll fluorescence to determine photochemical light response curves of three horticultural crops with contrasting light requirements [sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), and pothos (Epipremnum aureum)]. We also quantified how these responses were affected by acclimation to three shading treatments-full sun, 44% shade, and 75% shade. The quantum yield of photosystem II (Phi(PSII)), a measure of photochemical efficiency, decreased exponentially with increasing photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) in all three species. By contrast, linear electron transport rate (ETR) increased asymptotically with increasing PPF. Within each shading level, the high-light-adapted species sweetpotato used high light more efficiently for electron transport than light-intermediate lettuce and shade-tolerant pothos. Within a species, plants acclimated to high light (full sun) tended to have higher FPSII and ETR than those acclimated to low light (44% or 75% shade). Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) (an indicator of the amount of absorbed light energy that is dissipated as heat) was upregulated with increasing PPF; faster upregulation was observed in pothos as well as in plants grown under 75% shade. Our results have implications for supplemental lighting: supplemental light is used more efficiently and results in a greater increase in ETR when provided at low ambient PPF. In addition, high-light-adapted crops and crops grown under relatively high ambient light can use supplemental light more efficiently than low-light-adapted crops or those grown under low ambient light.