Shedding Light on Better Tomatoes: Investigating the Impact of Far-Red Light in Greenhouse Horticulture

Are you passionate about plants and their growth? Have you ever wondered how light quality affects their development? With the advent and spread of LEDs, scientists can now manipulate plants' light environment and explore the effects of different light spectrums on plant growth. One such spectrum, far-red light (700 – 800 nm), has gained significant attention in the last decade due to its potential to alter plant architecture, photosynthesis, growth cycle, and response to stress.

Recent studies have shown that adding far-red light to fruiting tomato plants can increase their yield and quality by enhancing sugar transportation and metabolism within the fruits. As part of this thesis project, you will take part in a greenhouse experiment to investigate important aspects of far-red light's application in greenhouse horticulture, addressing pressing questions in the field of applied plant science with direct implications for industrial applications.

Used skills

• Measurements of plant growth and development.
• Assessment of fruit yield and fruit quality traits.
• Depending on the specific topic: yield component analysis, gas-exchange measurements, sugar analysis HPLC.
• Data analysis

Interested in doing a BSc or MSc thesis at HPP? Please contact the HPP student coordinator Katharina Hanika.