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HortiBiz: LED light recipe stadium grass at NAC Breda
Oreon and football club NAC Breda are renewing their partnership from the start of the new season. Oreon sponsors the club from the ‘Keuken Kampioen Divisie’ and in return Oreon will extensively test its LED lighting on the main field. Besides Oreon, NAC's own grass specialists from Hubra Field Management and the Higher Agricultural School (HAS) are involved in this scientific research.
Last year Oreon also tested at NAC, but the winter was very mild, where the freezing point was never reached for a longer period of time. The grass grew autonomous and it was not undeniably established which LED light recipe is best for stadium grass. Hubra concluded that the roots of the grass were firmer and did see added value, but Oreon wants to do an even better research and show scientific results.
That is what Oreon will do at the field in the Rat Verlegh Stadium. The stadium environment is particularly important; the weather influences are completely different than on an open field. There is much more shade and wind plays a different role. Moreover, the field is played intensively every two weeks, with all its consequences and challenges. These influences can never be imitated and Oreon is therefore pleased that they can use the NAC field. Another test set-up is placed at the HAS to study certain aspects in more detail.
The NAC stadium has no roof, but some parts of grass are permanently in the shade. Because grass needs heat, traditional HPS lighting is currently still widely used. After all, HPS radiates a lot of heat by definition. However, Oreon believes that LED can add value to outdoor grass and is investigating how they can add heat in combination with LED lighting. LED can provide more light, which is beneficial for the grass. Oreon will use various combinations to make the experiment a success: with HPS, with LED and with infrared elements, the company will explore in the coming season whether LED can indeed ensure the grass becoming stronger. In this way it can then be investigated what the perfect light recipe is.
