The measurement of photosynthetically active radiation

In crop ecology, the two most popular definitions of photosynthetically active radiation are the irradiance (radiant power flux density) in the waveband 400 to 700 nm, and the quantum flux density in the same waveband. Instruments calibrated in either of these two units are available. Calculations show that the quantum flux measurement is less subject to the systematic error caused by the spectral response not matching the action spectrum for photosynthesis in an “average crop plant” (11) than is the irradiance measurement. The range of errors is ±6 and ±16 per cent, respectively, for the 9 natural and artificial light sources examined. The imperfections of the instruments themselves are not included.