Effect of organic photovoltaic and red-foil transmittance on yield, growth and photosynthesis of two spinach genotypes under field and greenhouse conditions

The galloping rise in global population in recent years and the accompanying increase in food and energy demands has created land use crisis between food and energy production, and eventual loss of agricultural lands to the more lucrative photovoltaics (PV) energy production. This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of organic photovoltaics (OPV) and red-foil (RF) transmittance on growth, yield, photosynthesis and SPAD value of spinach under greenhouse and field conditions. Three OPV levels (P0: control; P1: transmittance peak of 0.11 in blue light (BL) and 0.64 in red light (RL); P2: transmittance peak of 0.09 in BL and 0.11 in RL) and two spinach genotypes (bufflehead, eland) were combined in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with 4 replications in the greenhouse, while two RF levels (RF0: control; RF1: transmittance peak of 0.01 in BL and 0.89 in RL) and two spinach genotypes were combined in a 2 × 2 factorial in randomized complete block design with four replications in the field. Data were collected on growth, yield, photosynthesis and chlorophyll content. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant reduction in shoot weight and total biomass of spinach grown under very low light intensities as a function of the transmittance properties of the OPV cell used (P2). P1 competed comparably (p > 0.05) with control in most growth and yield traits measured. In addition, shoot to root distribution was higher in P1 than control. RF reduced shoot and total biomass production of spinach in the field due to its inability to transmit other spectra of light. OPV-RF transmittance did not affect plant height (PH), leaf number (LN), and SPAD value but leaf area (LA) was highest in P2. Photochemical energy conversion was higher in P1, P2 and RF1 in contrast to control due to lower levels of non-photochemical energy losses through the Y(NO) and Y(NPQ) pathways. Photo-irradiance curves showed that plants grown under reduced light (P2) did not efficiently manage excess light when exposed to high light intensities. Bufflehead genotype showed superior growth and yield traits than eland across OPV and RF levels. It is therefore recommended that OPV cells with transmittance properties greater than or equal to 11% in BL and 64% in RL be used in APV systems for improved photochemical and land use efficiency. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11120-023-01028-8.