Importance of PPFD
What is PPFD, why it is essential, and the right amount of PPFD for indoor plants. Let's start by understanding what PPFD is.
What is PPFD?
Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD)
The Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) measures the light that actually arrives at the crop canopy in the Par zone.
The amount of light that actually reaches your plants within the PAR region or the number of photosynthetically active photons that fall on a given surface each second.
The PPFD is expressed in μmol/s.m²
Measuring PPFD
The PPFD measurement also depends on the height of the light source. The longer the distance of the grow light, the wider the coverage area of the usable PPFD for your crops, but the lower the intensity. Therefore, it is vital to know from which distance the light source was measured. Only by measuring the overall PPFD value over the entire lighted area and at different distances above the tree canopy can a useful comparison be formed between grow lights.
Why do we want to measure PPFD and why is it important for grow lights?
Since it’s possible to measure both the PPFD output from grow lights and also determine the ideal PPFD levels for plants, the grow light’s output should match the plant’s needs.
The PPFD as of today is the best available measure to compare grow lights in the market.
On lamp level the manufacturer specifies the PPF or light output of the grow light in the PAR zone.
Together with the light distribution of the lamp and the physical placement of the lamps on the project, the PPFD can be simulated.
You can easy see that lamps with a similar light level sometimes don’t give similar results on PPFD on the crops, which mainly comes from the differences in light distribution.
Growers need to understand the indoor lighting requirements of their plants to ensure maximum growth and production, and PPFD is an efficient way of achieving this. Carefully research PPFD maps before you invest in any LED grow lights.
With years experience support greenhouse & indoor farming projects, we realized how important to offer a precise and reliable simulation results. We allocate more capital to optical team to use Agi32, the optical software with higher efficiency and more accurate calculation to give our clients the reliable data. Besides, we also use the free lighting program Dialux to support the simulation process.
AGI32 has the most reliable engine. If you're doing things like calculating the lighting from recessed coves, or where there's a short distance between fixtures and the calculation points, or fixtures and the surfaces themselves, you'll find AGI32 the most reliable.
Large scale projects aren't a problem when calculate by AGI, Any type of building you can think of.
Then the team would offer the report telling how many & where to install the luminaires so as to get the best growth result with minimum luminaires in your project.
Working with a trusted and experienced partner is a good way to eliminate these troubles. Get in touch with one of our horticultural experts today and let us help you make the horticulture lighting simulation.
About the author:
Lingda Yao | [email protected]
