Abstract: By using light emitting diode (LED) to accurately modulate spectral energy distribution, and with fluorescent light as the control, this paper studied the effects of light quality on the seedlings growth and physiological characteristics of rice cultivars ‘Wuyunjing 7’ and ‘Kangyou 63’. Light quality had significant effects on the seedlings growth, and there existed differences at different growth stages. Blue LED inhibited the height growth significantly, and increased the leaf soluble protein content of ‘Wuyunjing 7’ and the healthy index of the two rice cultivars at five-leaf stage. Red LED increased the stem diameter and healthy index at three-leaf stage and the leaf soluble sugar and starch contents at five-leaf stage significantly. Red-blue LED increased the root number, stem diameter, healthy index, root activity, and root soluble sugar content at three-leaf stage and the fresh mass, dry mass, healthy index, and leaf soluble sugar and sucrose contents at five-leaf stage significantly. Yellow LED increased the plant height and leaf pigment content at initial growth stage. Overall, red-blue LED was more beneficial to the culture of strong rice seedlings.

Key words: light quality, Oryza sativa, seedling, growth, physiological characteristics