PIGMENT CONTENT IN STRAWBERRY LEAVES (Fragaria sp.) EXPOSED TO DIFFERENT LIGHT QUALITY

Light is a very important environmental factor which affects plant growth and development in various important ways. Not only quantity, but also quality is very essential in determining the plant growth. The influence of light quality on chlorophyll and carotenoid content of strawberry leaves was examined. Plants were grown in a greenhouse under differing light qualities provided by polypropylene filter film (control without colored cover, yellow, green, blue, transparent, and red). The treatments were laid out in a randomized design, each treatment was replicated ten times. The filter films were set 1m above the crop canopy at the moment of transplanting and left until the end of the experiment. Eight months after transplanting both chlorophyll and carotenoid content in leaves were determined in alcoholic dilution using a spectrophotometer. The effect of different light qualities influenced chlorophyll content in leaves. The chlorophyll a content was highest in leaves under green and red light followed by blue, transparent and yellow light; the lowest chlorophyll a content was found in control plants. There were no differences in chlorophyll b content. The carotene / chlorophyll ratio was highest in leaves developed without cover, and lowest in leaves under green and red light. Results indicate that the use of colored covers for provision of selective light quality may be a used for increasing strawberry production.