Purple LEDs for Smart Agriculture

Science has done many inventions and developments in day today life of human civilization. Artificial light sources have been among one of the most important invention of human kind. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation and it is available to us in both natural and artificial form. There are many natural sources of light such as sun, moonlight and stars. Whereas artificial sources of light are categorized on the basis of two different phenomenon one that works on the principle of incandescence i.e incandescent bulbs, candles, burning of woods and another one works on the principle of luminescence such as fluorescent bulbs, LED lights, fireflies. LED lights have seen tremendous growth and development due to their large scale application. LED lights are enviournmental friendly as well as due to their low costing they are easily affordable.

Agriculture system faces lot of obstacles due to change in climate, unpredictable changes in the nature light sources as well as in the cold weather regions where sufficient amount of sunlight is not available for the photosynthesis process. For good agriculture output plants highly rely on the natural light sources. Plants need different kinds of light spectra for the different stages of their growth. Below figure shows the spectra which are used by the plants for there growth.

Blue light (400nm-520nm) is essential for the photosynthesis process as it affects its chlorophyll content and highly effective for the seedling purpose, it is also essential for the vegetable growth. Red light (620m-660nm) and far-red light (700nm-730nm) is highly essential for the stems growth and flower growth. Red light spectra highly affect the photo chrome reversibility and it enhances the stem growth along with the chlorophyll. Production of Purple LEDs is highly encouraged for the smart agriculture plant growth. Combination of blue and red light spectra can be very useful for the same matter.

Phosphor coated LEDs can efficiently be used for the generation of purple LEDs which can emit light in blue and red region or there combination thereof. With the help specific light spectra we can enhance the growth of plants. Many countries are already emphasizing the culture of LED smart agriculture especially in that region where natural climate is an issue. Many companies and states of India is working on the same field. Combined with IoT it can open many options and increase the development of plant growth and many different types of vegetations.