Recently, Murcian company Konery installed a comprehensive management system based on translucent solar panels in tomato and broccoli crops at the Center for Edaphology and Applied Biology Del Segura (CEBAS) to study how they affect these crops' performance.
Antonio Luengo, the Minister of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Environment, and Emergencies of the Region of Murcia visited the facilities and said that "the test is very positive to advance the sustainability of the agricultural sector and its compatibility with environmental protection".
The results of the project reveal that "broccoli, a typical winter plant, is better adapted to receive less light or a lower quality light, and that tomatoes maintained their size," the advisor added.
In general terms, the data so far indicates that "the different light spectrums that the plants grown in greenhouses under the solar panels receive do not limit their photosynthetic efficiency, and therefore, they don't affect their growth. It does not affect their quality or volume, which is an important advance in the application of energy innovation in the agricultural sector," summarized Antonio Luengo.
CEBAS is a multidisciplinary research institute that carries out trials, studies, and projects in three related scientific-technical areas (Agricultural Sciences, Food Science and Technology, and Natural Resources). Its goal is to generate the necessary knowledge to develop strategies to achieve the sustainability of fragile resources in semi-arid areas, managing them correctly, making it possible to develop quality agriculture, and obtain healthy and safe plant foods in that environment.
Source: carm.es