Propagation Efficiencies at Different LED Light Qualities for Leaf Cutting of Six Echeveria Cultivars in a Plant Factory System

The succulent plants of Echeveria genus are in increasing demand worldwide, but it is difficult to supply good quality young plants throughout the year because propagation efficiencies are depend on cultivar and environmental factors. This study was carried out to investigate the propagation efficiencies of leaf cutting in Echeveria cultivars at different LED light qualities in a closed-type plant factory system. Leaf cuttings cut from stock plants of six difficult-to-propagated cultivars ‘Afterglow (AG)’, ‘Berkeley Light (BL)’, ‘Mason (MS)’, ‘Subsessilis Light (SL)’, ‘Cream Tea (CT)’, and ‘Ben Badis (BB)’ were put into cutting media in the plant factory system maintained at a temperature of 24±2C and relative humidity of 60±10%, and watered with over-head irrigation twice a week. Cuttings were irradiated with sole or mixed red (R, 660 nm), blue (B, 450 nm), green (G, 530 nm), and far-red (FR, 730 nm) LEDs as follows: R10, R8+B2, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1. PPFD just above the cuttings was 200 μmol·m·s and photoperiod was 16/8 (light/dark) hours. As a result, propagation efficiencies were dependent on cultivar. Rooting and shooting were relatively easy in ‘SL’ but shoot formation in ‘AG’ was very difficult. Light qualities from LEDs also affected plant regeneration. Light conditions with a higher ratio of B, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1, promoted shoot formation and growth but inhibited rooting and root growth. R10 and R8+B2 with a higher ratio of R promoted rooting and root growth and inhibited shoot formation and growth of cuttings. In addition, the treatment with FR increased leaf size and biomass of the all plants. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the optimum compositions of LED light quality for the improvement of leaf cutting efficiency in difficultto-propagated Echeveria cultivars. Additional key words : adventitious root formation, rooting rate, shoot induction, shooting rate, succulent plant