I've been having a hard time understanding the chart though:
See in the middle (greenish) region, Absorption is very very low. Yet it shows significant Photosynthesis Rate there. My question is, does it mean it will absorb very little and make only modest use of what it absorbs?
Or does this mean the plant absorbs very little but responds very strongly to what it absorbs?
Look at 550nm. About 3% Absorption but 25% Photosynthesis Rate. Do I read this as absorbing 3% and at a rate of 25% it's only 0.75% efficient unless we can capture the nonabsorbed reflected light and reflect it back onto the plant a second and third time and so on until it absorbs?
OR, do we say it absorbs 3% but that it reacts 8x stronger, producing a 25% PR? I don't see how, since the % unit would make no sense, I believed the % unit was mw stored chemical energy per mw of light in. One can't absorb 30mw of a 1w source and get 250mw of energy. So this interpretation doesn't seem to pass the sanity check.
Still most growlight manufacturers use the lower PAR chart there, even though I'm unclear on its relevance. I mean if it's showing that there's 25% response at 550nm that's kinda deceptive if the pigments only use 0.75% of the incoming light.
The Wikipedia descriptions are in general terms, but it seems no one wavelength can feed the plant even if the PAR chart shows it to have a top-notch response. Reason being that photosynthesis "Z-scheme" shows 2 steps and I think that 2 different wavelengths are required to complete the cycle. And there are not just 2 different types of chlorophyll but the
carotenes and
xanthophylls with their own wavelength needs. Two LED wavelengths might not be able to best meet these needs either. I'm not sure. I'm sure it depends on what plant you're trying to grow too. Your plant may have different ratios of cholor a/chloro b/carotenes/xanthophylls.
This could actually lead one to conclude the light requirements are the OPPOSITE of the PAR chart. If you have a photosynthetic step with a poor 5% response to a wavelength and it's essential to completing a cycle needed for growth, nutritional content, or flavor, then maybe you need to add much MORE energy at that wavelength to ensure the process's needs are met. Or maybe this step only needs a trivial amount of energy and the bulk of the process happens at a high peak response? The issue seems more complex than the chart can display.