Additional information

Fluophores are chemical substances that can emit light when excited by it. When they are embedded in greenhouse plastics, they offer the possibility of transforming sunlight wavelengths that are not assimilated by plants into light which promotes photosynthesis. The INRA institute of horticulture and seeds research in Angers has been testing how these plastics can increase productivity in a melon crop.

Fluophores are degraded by ultraviolet light and currently last a month. Researchers are currently testing plastics with fluorophores that can last a whole growing season.

In spite of the shortcomings to be tackled, tests in the melon crop have shown an increase of a 7% of melon production in comparison to melons produced in a greenhouse covered with conventional plastics. Melons also got ripe earlier and had higher sugar content. Fluophores offer the possibility of regulating the wavelength that the crop receives and thus adapt it to the type of plants to produce and the plant characteristics to improve. This would allow for example fostering flowering, crop yield or the taste of the vegetable.