Abstract: In order to study the effects of different shading measures on the growth, yield and nutritional quality of sprouts under natural illumination, three kinds of sprouts including pea, radish and sunflower were shaded by conventional shading nets with shading rates of 90%, 65% and 50%, respectively, and no shading treatment was used as control. The changes of temperature and humidity in the cultivation tray and the changes of growth, yield and quality of sprouts were measured and analyzed under different treatments. The results showed that the effect of shading treatment on the temperature in the cultivation tray was timevarying. In the daytime (06:00-18:00), the shading treatment reduced the temperature in the cultivation tray at different degrees, and the higher the shading rate the stronger the illumination, the greater the temperature
reduction range. At 15:00, the temperatures in the cultivation tray treated with shading rate of 90% and 65% decreased by 14.9% and 11.4% compared with the control, respectively. Compared with the control, the humidity in the cultivation tray of shading treatment increased, but there was no significant difference between shading treatments and control. The above-ground fresh weight of 100 plants, yield, VC content and taste evaluation scores of three kinds sprouts of shading treatments increased at different degrees, while the above-grounddry weight of 100 plants, chlorophyll content and cellulose content decreased. The yield of pea seedlings treated with 65% shading rate was the highest, which significantly increased by 5.4% compared with the control. The VC content and taste evaluation scores of pea seedlings treated with 90% shading rate were the highest, which significantly increased by 4.6% and 169.2% compared with the control, respectively, while the cellulose content was the lowest, which significantly decreased by 53.0%. The seedling height, yield, VC content and taste evaluation scores of sunflower seedlings treated with 90% shading rate were all the highest, which significantly increased by19.2%, 6.7%, 4.3% and 70.6% compared with the control, respectively, while the cellulose content was the lowest, which significantly decreased by 46.6%. Comprehensive evaluation showed that 65% shading rate treatment could be used in radish seedling production, 65% shading rate treatment could be used in pea seedling production aiming at yield, and 90% shading rate treatment could be used in quality production of pea seedling, 90% shading rate treatment could be used in sunflower seedling production of greenhouse and plastic tunnel. |