Newly created spray developed by researchers may significantly enhance farming in the UK and strengthen the country’s food security.
Scientists in the UK have designed an innovative spray for greenhouse glass that fine-tunes the light wavelengths reaching plants, leading to better growth and higher yields. This advancement could potentially allow for longer growing seasons in countries with less sunlight, like the UK, in a more eco-friendly manner.
Due to the UK’s short growing season caused by its climate and geographical position, we rely heavily on imports from Europe for most of our fruits and vegetables. Many of these are produced in expansive greenhouses that rely on artificial lighting, consuming large amounts of electricity.
Researchers at the Universities of Bath and Cambridge, in collaboration with commercial partner Lambda Agri, have developed a greenhouse spray that enables UK farmers to increase crop production in the future while using the same or even less energy.
This development has received strong backing from two UK Government grants: a £500k project from DEFRA and another worth £750k from DESNZ’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
The fundamental process of photosynthesis, where plants harness sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, is most effective when utilizing red light wavelengths. Green light, being the least efficient, is not absorbed by plants, which is why they appear green to the naked eye.
Since sunlight encompasses the entire color spectrum, a substantial amount of light that hits plants goes unused.
The new spray acts like a varnish on existing greenhouse glass; it absorbs blue light from sunlight and transforms it into red light, thereby increasing the amount of red light available to plants and boosting crop yields.
More sustainable technologies
While other researchers in the USA have previously enhanced plant growth using similar methods, they employed rare materials like indium, which are costly and challenging to recycle—with indium being used in phone screens.
In contrast, the collaboration between Bath and Cambridge, together with Lambda Agri, has opted for a patent-pending, cheaper, and more abundant material in place of indium.
Moreover, they are able to produce these materials using a chemical flow reactor, which accelerates the manufacturing process and facilitates scalability.
Sweeter fruit
Professor Petra Cameron from the University of Bath’s Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change (ISCC) explained: “Our coating functions similarly to how your gin and tonic glows under UV light at a nightclub—where the quinine in tonic water absorbs UV light and re-emits it as visible light.”
“Our coating includes molecules that capture UV light from the sun and convert about 80-90% of it into red light, thus enhancing photosynthesis efficiency. This allows us to produce more using less light.”
“Field trials showed a nine percent increase in basil yields grown in treated greenhouses.”
“This technology holds promise for extending growing seasons for various crops while utilizing less artificial light, leading to cost savings and lower carbon emissions.”
“In addition to altering the wavelengths of incoming light, the coating also scatters light, further improving yields.”
“There’s even some evidence suggesting it enhances flavor by increasing the sugar content in fruits.”
Professor Dominic Wright from the University of Cambridge’s Inorganic and Materials Section in Chemistry remarked: “This is an excellent application of fundamental molecular science to tackle a pressing real-world issue, particularly concerning food security and global warming.”
“The potential impact on the availability and cost of soft fruits and salad vegetables for consumers in the future is very significant, especially in northern European countries like the UK with less than ideal weather.”
Dr. Monica Saavedra from Lambda Agri added: “Lambda is committed to combating food poverty sustainably. Climate change is already impacting the UK, hence the reason for extensive government support for our mission. Both Cambridge and Bath universities are exceptional collaborators sharing our vision.”
The research team has submitted a patent for their innovative technology and published their findings in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies. They aspire to make this technology commercially accessible to growers in a few years.
