Plant Photobiology Light Measurement

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Plant Photobiology studies the interaction of light with living organisms. This application encompasses a number of areas including environmental photobiology, photomedicine, and UV photobiology, which is the study of the effects of ultraviolet radiation on plants, animals and humans.

Accurate measurement of light is PAR for the course

Plants change the light they receive from the sun and the carbon dioxide animals exhale along with water into the chemical energy they need for growth with the oxygen we, along with millions of other species of animals, need to breath as a waste product in a process called Photosynthesis.

The interaction of light and plant is a complex science involving various pigments within the plant such as chlorophyll, carotenes and xanthophylls that reflect or absorb energy from certain wavelengths of light they to maximize the photosynthesis process.

Understanding the exact variables within the light source and their effects on the plant is crucial to being able to understand how to produce bigger and better plants and to maximize their numbers in traditional and artificial growing environments.

PAR, or Photosynthetically Active Radiation, is the name given to the band of solar light that is useful to plants in the intake of energy and production of oxygen. This region of the solar spectrum corresponds to the portion of light that is visible to humans. Within the PAR region of the spectrum, the light is further broken down into the primary plant growth bands of blue, red, and far red.

The measurement of the PAR region and the individual plant growth bands is very important in modern agriculture, forestry, and oceanography. PAR measurement is an indicator of productive farmland and can be used as a means of judging investment potential. Through the use of sensors, maps of PAR availability and utilization throughout entire ecosystems such as the ocean reefs and rain forest canopies can be developed for conservation and reclamation as well as commercial agriculture.

Several available plant growth systems

International Light Technologies provides a complete range of plant growth radiometers including a system with a PAR plant growth detector designed through the joint efforts of International Light Technologies and a team of plant physiologists to specifically measure the effect of light on plant growth in the PAR region of the spectrum.

Detectors configured to measure the individual plant growth bands are also available as well as the ILT950 Portable Wideband Spectroradiometer, a powerful spectral analysis tool capable of working in the harsh environments typical of plant growth studies.