"Optimising photosynthetic performance in strawberries using blue light"

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Globally, water usage has increased 6-fold in the past 100 years, twice as fast as the human population, and is forecast to double again before 2030, driven mainly by irrigation and agriculture. In the UK alone, the volume of irrigation water has risen 10-fold in the past 30 years and this trend is set to continue. Additionally, global temperature is predicted to rise by an average 2.7oC by the end of the 21st century, resulting in increased leaf/canopy temperature and a greater need for evaporative cooling. Stomatal transpiration is central to the expected crisis in water availability and crop production. Since stomatal behaviour influences photosynthesis, water use and leaf temperature, guard cells are an unexploited but important target for study to (i) improve plant water use under conditions of water shortage or adjust evaporative cooling to optimise leaf temperatures under heat stress where water availability is not limited. Stomata open in response to increasing photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). However, guard cells also exhibit a specific "blue" light response that increases stomatal conductance at intensities of blue light too low o drive net photosynthesis. Preliminary data obtained as part of a Berry Gardens funded pump-priming project suggested that blue light pre-treatment during the establishment phase could result in increased rates of photosynthesis later in the season.