Paper · 2026 · Frontiers in Plant Science

Growth and yield of greenhouse eggplant under extended photoperiods using light emitting diodes

Daniel Terlizzese; Jason Lanoue; Celeste Little; et al.

7
claims
13
verbatim quotes
0
citations
2
research areas
✓
Open access · cc-by

Abstract

Supplemental lighting can significantly increase production of greenhouse vegetable crops during seasons of low natural light, but the cost of electricity to support supplemental lighting often poses a substantial burden on greenhouse growers. Electrical costs can be mitigated, while maintaining the same daily light integral (DLI), by decreasing the light intensity and extending the supplemental photoperiod. We provided greenhouse eggplant ( Solanum melongena ) cv. Jaylo with three distinctive supplemental light photoperiods: 16-hour of white light, 20-hour of white light, and 16-hour of white light followed by 8h of blue light [24-hour continuous lighting (CL)]. Each photoperiod treatment had a supplemental DLI of 8.64 mol day -1 and was compared to an unlit control group which only had natural light. No significant difference in fruit yield was found between any of the lit treatments, but supplemental lighting treatments increased total yield by 124-144% relative to the unlit control. A 20-hour photoperiod contributed to elevated levels of leaf stress early in the trial, recorded through dark-adapted and light-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence metrics, while plants treated with 16-hour of supplemental light achieved the greatest vegetative biomass. However, leaf stress was not recorded in the 20-hour treatment plants as the trial progressed, as the natural light DLI rose. Our data illustrated that a CL strategy resulted in similar yields and comparable plant growth as other supplemental photoperiods; therefore, we implore greenhouse eggplant growers to utilize a dynamic 24-hour photoperiod to possibly reduce the electrical cost of supplemental lighting during the winter.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 7

Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectnot significant (as stated)measured

Claim · model-written summary

Fruit yield did not differ significantly among supplemental light treatments.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
lit treatmentse0
Outcome
fruit yielde0
Direction
No significant differencee0
Comparator
lit treatmentse0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“No significant difference in fruit yield was found between any of the lit treatments”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 814–898 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Supplemental lighting increased total yield by 124-144% relative to an unlit control.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
supplemental lighting treatmentse0
Outcome
total yielde0
Direction
increasede0
Value
124-144%e0
Comparator
unlit controle0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“supplemental lighting treatments increased total yield by 124-144% relative to the unlit control.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 904–1001 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultnegativemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

A 20-hour photoperiod elevated early leaf stress.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
20-hour photoperiode0
Outcome
leaf stresse0
Direction
elevatede0
Qualifier
early in the triale0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“A 20-hour photoperiod contributed to elevated levels of leaf stress early in the trial, recorded through dark-adapted and light-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence metrics”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1002–1170 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Plants with 16 hours of supplemental light had the greatest vegetative biomass.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
16-hour of supplemental lighte0
Outcome
vegetative biomasse0
Direction
greateste0

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“plants treated with 16-hour of supplemental light achieved the greatest vegetative biomass.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1178–1269 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultpositivemeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Leaf stress was no longer recorded later in the 20-hour treatment as natural light rose.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
20-hour treatmente0
Outcome
leaf stresse0

Not reportedDirection

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“leaf stress was not recorded in the 20-hour treatment plants as the trial progressed, as the natural light DLI rose.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1279–1395 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Continuous lighting gave similar yields and plant growth to other supplemental photoperiods.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenat0
Treatment
CL strategye0
Outcome
yields and comparable plant growthe0
Direction
similare0
Comparator
other supplemental photoperiodse0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“a CL strategy resulted in similar yields and comparable plant growth as other supplemental photoperiods”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1422–1525 · show in text ↑
t0

“eggplant”

✓ located verbatim in the source · title, characters 31–39 · show in text ↑
Recommendationauthor interpretationoriginal resultpositivebasis n/a

Claim · model-written summary

The authors recommend a dynamic 24-hour photoperiod to possibly reduce winter lighting electricity costs.

Taxon
eggplantSolanum melongenae0
Outcome
utilize a dynamic 24-hour photoperiode0
Qualifier
possibly reduce the electrical cost of supplemental lighting during the wintere0

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena · TaxonBeraDigle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“we implore greenhouse eggplant growers to utilize a dynamic 24-hour photoperiod to possibly reduce the electrical cost of supplemental lighting during the winter.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1538–1700 · show in text ↑

light · growth · Solanum melongena (eggplant)Results differ

12 papers: 7 positive, 5 negative or no effect

6 papers in the same direction as this paper · 5 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. positive
  3. negative

8 papers more in this group

See all 12 papers →

light · yield · Solanum melongena (eggplant)Positive and negative results

7 papers: 6 positive, 1 negative or no effect

5 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. negative
  2. positive
  3. positive

3 papers more in this group

See all 7 papers →

Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.