Hortic Res. 2018 Sep 1;5:47. doi: 10.1038/s41438-018-0049-7. eCollection 2018.
ABSTRACT
The plasticity of plant morphology has evolved to maximize reproductive fitness in response to prevailing environmental conditions. Leaf architecture elaborates to maximize light harvesting, while the transition to flowering can either be accelerated or delayed to improve an individual’s fitness. One of the most important environmental signals is light, with plants using light for both photosynthesis and as an environmental signal. Plants perceive different wavelengths of light using distinct photoreceptors. Recent advances in LED technology now enable light quality to be manipulated at a commercial scale, and as such opportunities now exist to take advantage of plants’ developmental plasticity to enhance crop yield and quality through precise manipulation of a crops’ lighting regime. This review will discuss how plants perceive and respond to light, and consider how these specific signaling pathways can be manipulated to improve crop yield and quality.
PMID:30181887 | PMC:PMC6119199 | DOI:10.1038/s41438-018-0049-7
About The Author
Patrick Blanchard MD
Meet Dr. Blanchard
Dr. Blanchard’s medical practice is an embodiment of Integrative health which brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. Conveniently located in sunny Florida and over the internet with ValiseMD’s secure HIPPA compliant telXmed servers. Since 1994, patients with a wide range of challenging medical problems have achieved optimum health using the best of natural medicine, judiciously combined with high-tech innovations. Breakthroughs are often achieved even after patients have consulted mainstream specialists and holistic practitioners.
Dr. Blanchard is founder and CEO of ValiseMD, Inc. He is board certified in Family Medicine since 1994 and awarded Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2001. He received the ‘Teacher of the Year’ award from the University of Kansas School of Medicine at completion of his residency in Family Medicine. He completed a fellowship at Wake Forest University in the field of vascular neurosonology. He holds a medical patent in the field of Gastroenterology. He holds an unrestricted license to practice medicine and surgery in Florida. He started his medical career as a Emergency Medical Technician, then as a Paramedic and later a Medical Doctor.