Scientific publications

In the present study we compared the effects of three lighting modes on pea (Lathyrus oleraceus Lam.) shoots growth, yield, and nutritional value and estimated energy use efficiency of indoor production. Plants were grown under three LED lighting modes: 12 h photoperiod, 12 h photoperiod with 3-day pre-harvest treatment by continuous lighting (CL), and CL throughout the production period. Young pea shoots were tolerant to CL and had higher robustness index and nutritional value in respect to protein, soluble sugars and health-promoting bioactive compounds content when grown under CL compared to 12 h photoperiod. Three-day pre-harvest treatment by CL resulted in similar external and internal quality of pea shoots while energy use per kg of pea shoots was 54% less. We concluded that pre-harvest CL treatment can be used as a viable cost-effective strategy for the indoor production of high-quality pea shoots