Sugar accumulation and growth of lettuce exposed to different lighting modes of red and blue LED light

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The present study evaluated the growth response and sugar accumulation of lettuce exposed to different lighting modes of red and blue LED light based on the same daily light integral (7.49 μmol·m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>). Six lighting treatments were performed, that were monochromatic red light (R), monochromatic blue light (B), simultaneous red and blue light as the control (RB, R:B = 1:1), mixed modes of R, B and RB (R/RB/B, 4 h R to 4 h RB and then 4 h B), and alternating red and blue light with alternating intervals of 4 h and 1 h respectively recorded as R/B(4 h) and R/B(1 h). The Results showed that different irradiation modes led to obvious morphological changes in lettuce. Among all the treatments, the highest fresh and dry weight of lettuce shoot were both detected with R/B(1 h), significantly higher than the other treatments. Compared with plants treated with RB, the contents of fructose, glucose, crude fiber as well as the total sweetness index (TSI) of lettuce were significantly enhanced by R treatment; meanwhile, monochromatic R significantly promoted the activities of sucrose degrading enzymes such as acid invertase (AI) and neutral invertase (NI), while obviously reduced the activity of sucrose synthesizing enzyme (SPS). Additionally. The highest contents of sucrose and starch accompanied with the strongest activity of SPS were detected in plants treated with R/B(1 h). The alternating treatments R/B(4 h) and R/B(1 h) inhibited the activity of SS, while enhanced that of SPS compared with the other treatments, indicating that different light environment might influence sugar compositions via regulating the activities of sucrose metabolism enzymes. On the whole, R/B(1 h) was the optimal lighting strategy in terms of lettuce yield, taste and energy use efficiency in the present study.</jats:p>