In precision indoor farming, continuous scientific research is essential for the optimal development of crop production. Universities and research institutes are constantly working on how LED lighting with different light intensities and spectral compositions affects the growth and development of plants, at which intensity and spectral composition they grow faster, produce more, or the crop becomes tastier. The Tungsram Agritech team also takes part in the research work in cooperation with several Hungarian universities and research institutes, one of whose partners is the Agricultural Institute of the Agricultural Research Center (ATK).
The main profile of the Agricultural Institute in Martonvásár, which belongs to the ELKH, is wheat and corn breeding, but a number of other researches related to crop production are also carried out, the results of which are extremely important for agricultural development. Our colleague, Lőrinc Utasi, who is a student of the SZIE Doctoral School of Plant Sciences, is also doing a research there which is necessary for obtaining his PhD title.
They use Tungsram Agritech lamps and software for one of their current projects. The experiment is currently over the first year, however, the entire project will last 4 years with plants most commonly grown in greenhouses such as lettuce, spinach, and tomato and pepper seedlings. According to Dr. Éva Darkó, a senior researcher at the ATK Agricultural Institute, the variability and programmability of the spectral composition was the main consideration when they chose the LED lighting for the research and the Tungsram Toplight Research Module meets these requirements. Currently, 10 5-channel Toplight Research lamps are used for the experiments, two of which have UV supplementation and the remaining eight have two types of blue LEDs of different wavelengths, and all have the option of using a far-red light supplement. Research Lamp settings can be changed using our new PowerGrow software, which we are constantly updating to provide an even more user-friendly version for our partners. The Institute of Agriculture has also proposed several development ideas to which the Tungsram Agritech team has responded quickly and in an organized manner to increase the speed and efficiency of research.
Of course, as the lifespan of the lamps is much longer than the length of the experiment, and the research is greatly aided by the variable spectrum, the Institute is happy to use our products for future projects as well.
