Jiyin Shen

Hangzhou Youyichun Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, 311115, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Genomics and Applied Biology, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 4   
Received: 16 Jun., 2026    Accepted: 25 Jul., 2026    Published: 07 Aug., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Light is a critical environmental factor regulating strawberry growth, fruit development, and quality formation. With the expansion of protected cultivation systems, optimizing light management has become an effective strategy for improving fruit yield and enhancing nutritional and sensory attributes. This review summarizes recent advances in the effects of light intensity, photoperiod, light quality, and canopy light distribution on strawberry fruit quality and sugar accumulation. Light regulation influences photosynthetic carbon assimilation, carbohydrate transport, and source-sink relationships, thereby affecting the accumulation of soluble sugars, organic acids, anthocyanins, and flavor compounds. Artificial lighting technologies, particularly LED supplemental lighting, provide precise control of spectral composition and light dosage, promoting photosynthetic efficiency and improving fruit sweetness under low-light conditions. In addition, canopy management practices, including leaf removal, planting density optimization, and reflective mulching, enhance light interception and improve fruit uniformity. At the physiological and molecular levels, light signals regulate sugar metabolism-related enzymes, photosynthetic pathways, and hormone interactions through photoreceptors and transcriptional networks. Case studies demonstrate that optimized light environments can significantly enhance strawberry fruit quality in greenhouse production. Future research should focus on integrating intelligent sensing technologies, environmental modeling, and multi-factor regulation to establish precise and sustainable light management systems for high-quality strawberry production.

Strawberry; Light management; Fruit quality; Sugar accumulation; LED supplemental lighting