Scant light Disaster Index Determination of Strawberry in
Greenhouse
F F Cheng
1,2
, H W Li
2
, Q X Jiang
3
, H Yu
2
, R Li
2,
Y L Wang
2
and J J Wang
1,4,*
1
Henan Key Laboratory of Agrometeorological Ensuring and Applied Technique,
China Meteorological Administration (CMA)
2
Zhengzhou Meteorological Bureau, Zhengzhou 450048, Henan, China
3
Luohe Meteorological Bureau, Luohe 462300, Henan, China
4
Henan Provincial Climate Centre, Zhengzhou 450003, China
Abstract. In northern China, the sunlight deficiency in the greenhouse is serious during the
late autumn and winter. The main purpose of this study is to determine the scant light disaster
index of strawberry in greenhouse. In terms oftwo experiments in a farmer‟s greenhouse we
measured the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), chlorophyll content (ChlC), yield, fruit sugar
content, and the growth of strawberry under different condition of sunlight shortage. Based on
analysis of expremental data, the scant light disaster grade index of two strawberry varieties
in greenhouse were identified. The results provide scientific basis for early warning of scant
light disaster and guiding the farmers to manage disaster on strawberry production in
greenhouse.
1. Introduction
Strawberry enjoys the “fruit Queen” reputation with the characteristics of lovely color, rich nutrition
and others [1]. In the fields of facility agriculture and sightseeing leisure agriculture, it is favored by
customers and far outstrips other fruits in recent years.
Light and temperature play important roles in plant growth especially in greenhouses, affecting
the dry mass distribution and the final yield of plants [2-3]. With the shading days increasing, the
effect on morphology, dry-matter partitioning, and photosynthetic response of grapevines in the
greenhouse was aggregated [4]. As a sun-loving plant [5], strawberry is negatively affected bysunless
weathers in many aspects such as leaf photosynthesis, yield and fruit quality [6-7]. Shading stress
also has important effects on the photosynthesis characteristic and chlorophyll fluorescence
characteristic of strawberry [8-11].
In the north of China, sunlight deficiency is a serious problem in greenhouse agriculture during
late autumn and winter, mainly resulting from less sunshine weathers such as cloud, rain, snow, fog,
haze and so on [12-15]. According to our observations, since November 6,2015,the scant light
disastrous weather had lasted for nearly one month in Zhengzhou area of Henan province, which
hindered the plant growth, led to low production and quality and being late in the market, and
brought heavy losses to the farmers. Thus, it is significant to investigate the relationship between the
duration of scant lighting and the disaster degree of strawberry production in greenhouse, which will
614
Cheng, F., Li, H., Jiang, Q., Yu, H., Li, R., Wang, Y. and Wang, J.
Scant Light Disaster Index Determination of Strawberry in Greenhouse.
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environmental Management, Science and Engineering (IWEMSE 2018), pages 614-620
ISBN: 978-989-758-344-5
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

help to make an early alerting according to weather forecasts.
Few studies have focused on the grading index of the scant light disaster. In this paper, by
detecting the adverse effect of scant light on net photosynthetic rate (Pn), chlorophyll content (ChlC),
yield, fruit sugar content, and the growth of strawberry, we aimed to determine the scant light disaster
grade index of strawberry in the greenhouse, so as to make an early warning and guide the famers to
manage disaster on strawberry production in greenhouse.
2. Materials and methods
The experimental greenhouse locates in the yellow river farm (Zhengzhou, Henan province, China,
34°54'N, 113°36'E, and 96.0 m elevation), running east to west and facing the south. The dimensions
of the greenhouse are 75.0 m length, 8.1 m width , and 3.8 m height. It is comprised of semi-circular
metal tubing, and covered with a low density polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastic. Experiments were
conducted from January to February in 2015 and 2016 respectively, during the flowering and fruiting
period of strawberry (Figure 1).
Figure 1. The panoramic view (a) and the interior view (b) of the greenhouse.
In this study, two strawberry varieties were chosen for 2015 and 2016 experiment, respectively.
One variety is „Red strawberry‟, with the characteristics of tall plant height, big fruit, high sugar
content, heavy fragrance, good quality but slightly lower yield, being planted in 2015, which is the
mainstream variety which is popular in the current market in China. The other strawberry cultivar is
„sweet Charlie‟, being planted in 2016,featured by strong vigor, high yield, tolerance to storage and
transportation, medium quality, slightly acid. As the main planting variety, it accounts for more than
80% of total planting area in Henan province .
Black shading nets with 20% light transmittance were used to cover the plants, which made the
treatments enjoyed the similar light intensity to the overcast condition.
The experiment in 2015 included 7 treatments: under the shading condition for 3 days (d), 5 d, 7 d,
10 d, 13 d, 16 d, respectively, and the control group (under the natural weather condition). The
experiment in 2016 included 9 treatments: under the shading condition for 5 d, 7 d, 10 d, 13 d, 16 d,
19 d, 22 d , 26 d respectively,and the control group (Table 1). Both of the experiments were
composed of 10 plants for each process.
Scant Light Disaster Index Determination of Strawberry in Greenhouse
615

Table 1. Experimental design of 2015 and 2016 in the greenhouse.
Year Variety
Treatment
2015 Red strawberry
shading condition(3 d, 5 d, 7 d, 10 d, 13 d, 16 d)
control group
2016 Sweet Charlie
shading condition(5 d, 7 d, 10 d, 13 d, 16 d, 19 d, 22 d , 26 d)
control group
We measured the Pn of plant leaves with portable photosynthesis-fluorescence measurement
system (LI-6400XT, USA), measured the ChlC with portable chlorophyll meter (SPAD-502Plus),
measured the sugar content of the ripe fruit with portal sugar meter, and counted the amount of fruits
for each plant, 5 random plants per treatment. All these jobs mentioned above were done from 9 to 11
in the morning.
The Duncan method was used for multiple comparisons evaluated at p<=0.05.
3. Results
3.1. Effects of scant light on Pn of strawberry leaves in greenhouse
Characteristics of Pn were shown in Figure 2. The figure indicated that (1) the Pn value of plant
leaves under the shading conditions was significantly lower than that of control group (CG). (2) The
difference of Pn value was relatively large between the two varieties.
Shading resulted in the decline of photosynthetic rate. As a result, the accumulation of
photosynthetic product was less, which affected the vegetative growth of plant.
IWEMSE 2018 - International Workshop on Environmental Management, Science and Engineering
616

Figure 2. The Pn of strawberry leaves. a illustrates the Pn of „Red strawberry‟ leaves in 2015, b
illustrates the Pn of „Sweet Charlie‟ leaves in 2016. CG (control group), ST (shading treatment).
3.2. Effects of scant light on ChlC of strawberry leaves in greenhouse
Characteristics of ChlC were shown in Figure 3. The figure indicated that (1) The ChlC began to
decrease after 7 days scant light in 2015,and it expressed a sharply decline after 10 days shading. (2)
The ChlC began to decrease after 19 days scant light in 2016. (3) Two sets of experimental data
presented the similar characteristic, that was, the ChlC rose first and then fell. However, turning point
of „Sweet Charlie‟ was much later than that of „Red strawberry‟, indicating that :
Figure 3. The ChlC of plant leaves. a illustrates the ChlC of „Red strawberry‟ leaves in 2015, b
illustrates the ChlC of „Sweet Charlie‟ leaves in 2016.
3.3. Effects of scant light on sugar content of strawberry in greenhouse
Table 2 showed that (1) It made no difference to the soluble solids content (SSC) of fruit within 3
days scant light. (2) After more than 3 days scant light, the SSC of fruit was lower than that of CG.
(3) There was no ripe fruit after more than 16 days scant light. (4) Compared to CG, the difference
was significant on the SSC after 7 d, 10 d, and 13 d scant light, indicating that scant light more than 7
days affected the SSC of „red strawberry‟ obviously.
Table 2 also indicated that (1) The SSC of strawberry fruit under each scant light treatment was
lower than that of CG. (2) Comparing to CG, the difference of SSC was significant after more than
10 days scant light, but not of 5 days or 7 days treatment, indicating that scant light more than 10
Scant Light Disaster Index Determination of Strawberry in Greenhouse
617

days affected the SSC of „sweet Charlie‟ significantly.
Table 2. Effects of different treatments on the sugar content of strawberry in the greenhouse.
„Red strawberry‟(2015)
„Sweet Charlie‟(2016)
Treatment
SSC /
o
Brix
Compared with CG/%
Treatment
SSC/
o
Brix
Compared with CG/%
CG
12.5d
CG
8.3 c
3 d
12.5d
0
5 d
12.1d
-3.2
5 d
8.1 c
-2.4
7 d
11.4c
-8.8
7 d
8.0 c
-3.6
10 d
9.4b
-24.8
10 d
7.3 b
-12.0
13 d
7.5a
-40.0
13 d
6.8 b
-18.1
16 d
16 d
5.2 a
-37.3
19 d
4.5 a
-45.8
22 d
4.4 a
-47.0
26 d
4.4 a
-47.0
3.4. Effects of scant light on strawberry yield in greenhouse
Table 3 demonstrated that (1) The fruit number of scant light treatment was obviously less than that
of CG. It made a reduction of 7.1%, 9.3%, 9.8%, 24.6%, 60.7% and 83.1% respectively after the
scant light of 3 d, 5 d, 7 d, 10 d, 13 d and 16 days respectively. (2) Comparing to CG, the difference
of fruit number was significant after the scant light of 10 d, 13 d and 16 days respectively, but it was
not significant after the scant light of 3 d, 5 d and 7 days, illustrating that low light more than 7 d
affected the fruit number of „red strawberry‟ obviously.
Table 3 also showed that (1) There was a slight increase in the fruit number after 5 days scant light,
the value was 2.6%, this might be caused by the difference of individual samples. This also revealed
that there was no effect on fruit number within 5 days scant light. (2) It made a reduction of 4.7%,
2.6%, 17.7%, 15.6%, 20.3%, 37.0% and 44.81% respectively after the scant light from 7 days to 26
days. (4) Compared with CG, the difference of fruit number was significant after 13 days shading,
indicating that more than 13 days scant light affected the fruit number of „sweet Charlie‟
significantly.
A comparison of fruit number on the two varieties revealed that (1) The fruit number of „red
strawberry‟ was less than that of „sweet Charlie‟ for all the treatments. (2) The fruit number of „red
strawberry‟ decreased greatly with the increase of scant light days, indicating that the disaster
resistance ability of „red strawberry‟ was less than that of „sweet Charlie‟.
Table 3. Effects of different treatments on the fruit number of strawberry in the greenhouse.
„Red strawberry‟(2015)
„Sweet Charlie‟(2016)
Treatment
Fruit /number
Compared with CG/%
Treatment
Fruit /number
Compared with CG/%
CG
18.3d
CG
19.2 c
3 d
17.0d
-7.1
5 d
16.6d
-9.3
5 d
19.7 c
2.6
7 d
16.5d
-9.8
7 d
18.3 c
-4.7
10 d
13.8c
-24.6
10 d
18.7 c
-2.6
13 d
7.2b
-60.7
13 d
15.8 b
-17.7
16 d
3.1a
-83.1
16 d
16.2 b
-15.6
19 d
15.3 b
-20.3
22 d
12.1 a
-37.0
26 d
10.6 a
-44.8
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3.5. Effects of scant light on plant growth in greenhouse
The „red strawberry‟ growth observations in 2015 were as follows: (1) there was almost no effect on
the growth of „red strawberry‟ within 7 days scant light. (2) The effect was slight on the growth
between 7 and 10 days scant light, with the symptom of yellow leaves and less ripe fruit. (3) When
the low light spanned 11 to 13 days, the phenomenon of leaves turning yellow was serious, the flower
and fruit number was little, stems, leaves and fruits began to mildew. (4) The scant light spanning 14
to 16 days made it so worse that stems and leaves turned yellow and dried seriously, no flower, no
fruit. These injuries could not be recovered.
The strawberry „sweet Charlie‟ growth observations in 2016 were as follows: (1) there was almost
no effect on the growth of „sweet Charlie‟ within 10 days shading condition. (2) The effect was slight
on the growth between 10 and 19 days scant light. (3) The scant light spanning 20 to 26 days didn‟t
seem make a significant influence on the growth, but through careful observation, we found that most
of the stem base had got black and rotten.
Two years experimental observations allowed us to conclude that (1) 7 days scant light made no
significant effect on the two strawberry varieties growth. (2) More than 14 days scant light made „red
strawberry‟ injured that could not be recovered, but it made a great effect on the „sweet Charlie‟
strawberry until 20 days scant light, this indicated that „sweet Charlie‟ has the stronger resistant
ability than „red strawberry‟.
4. Conclusions and discussion
Based on two sets of experiment, it is revealed that the scant light condition significantly influenced
the strawberry on the Pn, ChlC, fruit number, sugar content and the growth. Two varieties had the
different resistant ability: the anti-disaster capacity of „sweet Charlie‟ was stronger than that of „red
strawberry‟.
By analyzing the influence of scant light on the Pn, ChlC, fruit number, sugar content and the
growth of strawberry, we identified the scant light disaster grade index of strawberry in the
greenhouse. The grade index of „red strawberry‟ was mild disaster (1-6 days), moderate disaster
(7-10 days), and severe disaster (more than 10 days). The sunless disaster indicator of strawberry
cultivar „sweet Charlie‟ was light disaster (1-9 days), medium disaster (10-19 days),and heavy
disaster (more than 19 days).
In production, based on the weather forecast, sunless forewarning can be made to help the farmers
to manage the scant light disaster in greenhouse.
In this study, the ChlC rose first and then fell, which may be the adaptive response of plant to low
light stress [16]. The ChlC increased when the light intensity decreased, which was beneficial to
improve the plant leaves‟ ability of absorption and utilization of low light and scattered light [17-18].
But after a long period of shading, the photosynthetic products decreased, the
respiratory consumption was still at a high level, which caused the cell damaged,
physiological metabolism was blocked, so the ChlC began to decrease [19].
Ferree and Stang [20]reported that shading reduced the strawberry production during the flower
formation, Demirsoy et al [21] also reported that the strawberry yield was significantly reduced by
shading during the flower initiation period. These were in agreement with our observations.
The recovery experiment after shading haven‟t been carried out yet. In future study, different
recovery treatments can be designed to observe and measure correlation indexes of the strawberry
after shading.
Acknowledgements
This study has been financially supported by Henan Key Laboratory of Agrometeorological Ensuring
and Applied Technique, CMA (Grant AMF201709,AMF201509), and the scientific research projects
of Henan Meteorological Bureau (Z201518).We would also like to thank the experts from Henan
Scant Light Disaster Index Determination of Strawberry in Greenhouse
619

Meteorological Bureau, Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, and Henan agricultural university for their valuable comments.
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