On May 8th, a bustling scene unfolded at the vegetable supply base in Lanxi Village, Maojing Town, Luodian County, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. Farmers were busy sorting, packing, and packaging 10 tons of high-quality chili peppers, ready to be shipped to markets in Guiyang and other areas, enriching the vegetable baskets of local residents.

Inside the greenhouses, intelligent supplemental lighting equipment was operating quietly. Through scientific supplemental lighting, the growing environment was adjusted, further optimizing the growth conditions for the chili peppers. This steadily improved the appearance and yield of the fruit, using technology to help the local vegetable industry improve quality, increase income, and achieve stable and high-quality production.

"Our supplemental lighting is mainly used on cloudy or rainy days when sunlight is weak to provide additional light to the plants, improving their photosynthesis, reducing flower and fruit drop, and thus increasing yield and quality," explained Zhao Shihao, the base's manager.

This tangible benefit to farmers is the result of the provincial vegetable industry technology system's targeted efforts to address the bottlenecks in winter and spring production in low-heat river valleys and to fill the gaps in winter and spring fruit and vegetable supply.

Lack of sunshine in winter and spring is one of the key constraints affecting the flowering and fruiting of greenhouse peppers in our province. To overcome these natural constraints, from November last year to March this year, the Cultivation and Nutrition Function Laboratory of the Provincial Vegetable Industry Technology System, relying on the Lanxi Village base of Guiyang Vegetable Basket Company in Maojing Town, Luodian County, conducted a supplemental lighting experiment for greenhouse peppers. They explored a technical path of "supplemental lighting on demand, intelligent control, and increased yield and quality," providing strong support for stable production and supply of winter and spring vegetables.

It is understood that the supplemental lighting system uses light intensity sensors for automatic monitoring and implements an "on-demand supplemental lighting" strategy. The LED plant supplemental lights used at the base can emit multiple wavelengths of light, including red, blue, and white light, precisely matching the light needs of peppers at different growth stages such as seedling, flowering, and fruiting, making targeted supplemental lighting more scientific and efficient. At the same time, the temperature, humidity, and light intensity inside the greenhouse were monitored throughout the process. "This system uses light sensors inside the greenhouse to collect data in real time and transmit it to the backend. The backend intelligently analyzes the data and automatically turns on supplemental lighting when the light is weak. It requires no manual intervention throughout the entire process and is highly intelligent," Zhao Shihao told reporters.

Data shows that an average of 8.04 hours of supplemental lighting was used per day during the supplemental lighting period, totaling 997.02 hours throughout the entire production season. After five yield measurements with the impact of supplemental lighting, the yield of peppers in the supplemented area increased by 20% compared to the non-supplied area, while fertilizer use decreased by 10%-15%.

"The yield has increased, and the peppers are of better quality-more beautiful in shape and with a shinier skin. The market appreciates them, and the price is one or two cents higher per kilogram than conventionally grown peppers," Zhao Shihao said. Based on the local market price of 4 yuan per kilogram for peppers, after deducting electricity costs and other related factors, supplemental lighting resulted in an average increase of 1476.6 yuan per kilogram, demonstrating significant economic benefits. Besides increased yield and profits, supplemental lighting technology also significantly improved the quality of chili peppers. According to test results from the same location last year, supplemented-light chili peppers matured approximately 7 days earlier, with a 13.79% increase in protein content, a 7.32% increase in soluble sugar content, a 50.12% increase in sugar-acid ratio, a 5.88% increase in amino acid content, and a 27.88% decrease in organic acid content. The flavor and nutritional quality of the fruit were significantly improved.

"This supplemental lighting experiment fully demonstrates the application value of intelligent light environment control technology in winter and spring greenhouse vegetable production. The next step is to continue optimizing supplemental lighting parameters, reducing input costs, and forming a replicable and scalable high-efficiency supplemental lighting model. This model will be gradually promoted to suitable production areas throughout the province, injecting technological momentum into the high-quality development of the vegetable industry and rural revitalization, and effectively strengthening the technological foundation for stable production and supply of vegetables," said Ma Chao, director of the Cultivation and Nutrition Function Laboratory of the Provincial Vegetable Industry Technology System. led explosion proof lights https://www.eneltec-led.com/products/led-explosion-proof-lights