Effect of blue light on the photosynthesis and flavonoid accumulation in leaves of Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam.

In plants, blue light with a short wavelength can promote light reaction in photosynthesis and increase dry mass. Photosynthesis plays an important role in supporting carbohydrates for primary and secondary metabolism processes. Flavonoids are phenolic compounds, a class of plant secondary metabolites, that can be obtained from many medicinal herbs. These phenolic compounds are involved in the reactive oxygen species scavenging system, inhibit lipid peroxidation by free-radical, chelate redox-active metals resulting in their antioxidant ability and cardioprotective effects. In this study, H. corymbosa (L.) Lam., one of the common medicinal herbs, was cultured for 4 weeks under conditions of 450 nm blue LED (light-emitting diode) lights at the different light intensity as treatments and fluorescent lamp light as a control to investigate the effects of blue light on photosynthesis and flavonoid accumulation in leaves. The results show that blue light at 450 nm promoted photosynthetic rate by enhancing stomatal opening, electron transport rate in light reaction. Blue light also enhanced photoprotection by decrease the quantum yield of non-photochemical losses, increase the quantum yield of non-photochemical quenching and gained 24% more in dry mass. The accumulation of flavonoid and total phenolic compounds in leaves was followed by a decrease in sucrose. These events proved that blue light enhances photosynthesis and increase carbohydrate and flavonoid accumulation in leaves.