How to improve the soilless cultivation of sweet basil looking at light and nutrition?

Abstract: Sweet basil of the variety Genovese Gigante is an economically important crop with common use in the gastronomic, medical and cosmetic fields, to name a few, due to the high content of essential oils (EO). Indoor cultivation is a viable alternative to grow sweet basil all-year-round, independent of the outdoor conditions. There is a need to optimize the cultivation conditions for indoor growth in terms of both high productivity and optimal EO content. The study aimed to explore various light and nutrient regimes in order to assess their effects on morphology, growth rate (RG), EO composition and nutrient uptake of basil grown in a hydroponic system. Light emitting diode (LED) lights of blue and red were used and to generate various light treatment coloured cellophane are added. The light settings green, yellow and control (no added cellophane) were used. The light settings were combined with two nutrient regimes of the commercial fertilizers ‘Blomstra’ and ‘Hydro A+B’ by Gold Label. After two months of growth the sweet basil was assessed in terms of (a) the morphological and physiological traits plant biomass, height, leaf length and chlorophyll content (SPAD) as well as (b) the contents of EO and (c) the nutrient elements N, P, K, Ca, Na, Mg and S. The results showed a significant increase in biomass, height, leaf size and SPAD as did nutrient uptake (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, S) and the EO eucalyptol, linalool and eugenol with increasing PAR (green