felipe maluta / esalq/uspRed and blue light used to illuminate sugarcane seedlings ensures production without lossesfelipe maluta / esalq/usp
One problem encountered in the in vitro production of sugarcane seedlings is competition for light. The conventional method adopted in biofactories uses fluorescent lamps that make some plants grow more than others, and the smaller plants end up dying. To eliminate this obstacle, researchers from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (Esalq), at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Piracicaba, developed a technique to increase the productivity of these seedlings using LED lights. A combination of blue and red light resulted in uniform growth, maintaining the seedlings at a smaller size. “Under red light, the chloroplasts, the region responsible for photosynthesis, become ‘stressed,’ making the plant reduce its size. Blue light serves to balance this process,” explains Paulo Hercílio Viegas Rodrigues, coordinator of the study. The study began with an undergraduate research project undertaken by Felipe Maluta, an agronomics engineering student. “The technique is already used for bananas and strawberries. What we did was apply this method to sugarcane for the first time,” says Maluta. The results were published in January 2014 in the journal Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira (Brazilian Agricultural Research).
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