Light for our cucumbers!

The cultivation of high wire trellised cucumbers is booming in the Pays de la Loire region. However, this high-performance cropping system raises questions about the crop's light interception because of the self-shading effect of the upper leaves on the basal part of the plant. With the aim of improving the competitiveness of the region's producers and optimising the crop, a modelling approach and experiments make it possible to characterise the physiological behaviour of the plants in relation to the light resource.

Spatial modelling at the service of high-wire trellised cucumbers
Speaker: Gerhard BUCK-SORLIN

The development of the high-wire trellised cucumber crop is a new production perspective that requires a significant experimentation effort in order to support the competitiveness of greenhouse vegetable farms. "Greenhouse" tools are evolving towards greater environmental and energy efficiency. Based on 3-D computer modelling tools and advanced lighting technologies, part of the CONSERFILO project (a project submitted within the framework of Arelpal and co-financed by the Pays de la Loire Regional Council) aimed to understand the physiological functioning of the plant in its environment. Explanatory models that combine the reconstruction of the plant's architecture in three dimensions (as well as its dynamics through time) with the calculation of the light microclimate and photosynthesis are excellent tools for analysing the response of a plant to its environment, and thus provide a framework for optimising crop practices for the spatial distribution of light sources in greenhouse production systems equipped with LED or HPS lamps.

Vertical modification of light distribution: what are the impacts on the crop?
Speaker: Landry ROSSDEUTSCH

The high-wire trellising of the cucumber crop generates a strong self-shading effect of the upper leaves on the basal part of the plant. In connection with the modelling approaches proposed previously, a comparison of light systems was carried out over two years on a winter and summer crop. The objective was to experiment with different vertical light distributions by using artificial lighting in the middle of the crop. The agronomic and physiological behaviours as well as lighting control strategies allow professionals to be guided in the acquisition of a 1 or 2 level lighting solution depending on the production strategy.