Plants spectral absorption

We know that the light reach us in the form of electromagnetic spectrum. In that, only the visible spectrum is seen by us, remaining lights like Gamma rays, Ultra Violet rays, Infrared, Microwaves and so on are the invisible spectrum of light to the naked eye.

The visbile spectrum consist of seven colours viz., Violet, Indigio, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red, that we shortly call them as VIBGYOR colours. These are also the visible spectrum that falls between 400-700 nm. Some of you might remember them, as the colours seen through the prism in our school days.

Among these seven colours, plants absorbs more in blue and red light, due to the presence of certain pigments like chlorophyll and carotenoids that are present in the plants. These pigments absorbs light in blue and red region . Hence, the spectral absorption of plants are mainly in these two region of visible spectrum (Fig. 1.)

Fig. 1. Spectral absorption in plants (Image source: Jung and Arar , 2023)

These spectral absorption has several important practical applications in agriculture and horticulture, that will be discussed in the upcoming blog posts.

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