International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Supplementary Light Source Affects the Growth and Development of Codonopsis lanceolata Seedlings Xiuxia Ren 1,† , Ya Liu 1,† , Hai Kyoung Jeong 1 and Byoung Ryong Jeong 1,2,3,* 1 Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Plus Program), Graduate School, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea;
[email protected] (X.R.);
[email protected] (Y.L.);
[email protected] (H.K.J.) 2 Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea 3 Research Institute of Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +82-55-772-1913 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 16 September 2018; Accepted: 6 October 2018; Published: 8 October 2018 Abstract: Codonopsis lanceolata is widely used in traditional medicine and diets. However, there is no optimal protocol for the commercial production of C. lanceolata seedlings. This study was carried out to find the optimum supplementary light source for the production of C. lanceolata seedlings. Seedlings were grown for four weeks in a glasshouse with an average daily light intensity of 490 µmol·m−2·s−1 photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) coming from the sun and a 16-h daily supplementary lighting at 120 µmol·m−2·s−1 PPFD from either high-pressure sodium (HPS), metal halide (MH), far-red (FR), white LED (LED-w), or mixed (white: red: blue = 1:2:1) LEDs (LED-mix). The results showed that the greatest total biomass, stem diameter, ratio of shoot weight to shoot length, root biomass, and ratio of root weight to shoot weight were found in seedlings grown under supplementary LED-mix.