The Effect of Intervals of Pulsed LED White Light on the Growth of Lactuca sativa

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Botany

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

Little is known about how lower frequencies of light could impact the growth of plants (Olvera-Gonzalez et al., 2021). While frequencies of 1,000 pulses per second are available to experienced scientists, they are not commercially available for someone who wants to grow their own plants (Miliauskienė et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of pulse light to save energy rather than using continuous light. It was hypothesized that as frequency increased, the lettuce plant would reach greater heights because the pulses were closer to continuous light. To conduct experimentation, 90 pots were filled with soil and had two lettuce seeds placed in them, which were then divided into three separate cardboard boxes that each contained a Light Emitting Diode (LED) strip. Each of the boxes had its own interval of light, continuous light, one Hz, and two Hz. Every other day, the plant height (cm) was measured to find any significant differences between the groups. The results indicated that the 30 plants under the quickest light interval (two Hz) showed the most growth, F(2,89) = 1.00, p = 0.372. Therefore, it was concluded that the quicker the pulse, the more growth would occur. With these results, the use of pulse light could be implemented more in agriculture.

Location

Furman Hall 108

Start Date

3-28-2026 9:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 28th, 9:45 AM

The Effect of Intervals of Pulsed LED White Light on the Growth of Lactuca sativa

Furman Hall 108

Little is known about how lower frequencies of light could impact the growth of plants (Olvera-Gonzalez et al., 2021). While frequencies of 1,000 pulses per second are available to experienced scientists, they are not commercially available for someone who wants to grow their own plants (Miliauskienė et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of pulse light to save energy rather than using continuous light. It was hypothesized that as frequency increased, the lettuce plant would reach greater heights because the pulses were closer to continuous light. To conduct experimentation, 90 pots were filled with soil and had two lettuce seeds placed in them, which were then divided into three separate cardboard boxes that each contained a Light Emitting Diode (LED) strip. Each of the boxes had its own interval of light, continuous light, one Hz, and two Hz. Every other day, the plant height (cm) was measured to find any significant differences between the groups. The results indicated that the 30 plants under the quickest light interval (two Hz) showed the most growth, F(2,89) = 1.00, p = 0.372. Therefore, it was concluded that the quicker the pulse, the more growth would occur. With these results, the use of pulse light could be implemented more in agriculture.